An enjoyable fantasy adventure, this was a merger of James Bond, Indiana Jones and National Treasure (2004).  It's based on the novel Sahara: A Dirk Pitt adventure by Clive Cussler.  The reviews of the book in Amazon.com are extremely polarized; it's either very bad or very good.  I suspect the film is better than the novel. 

            Several things contribute to the success of this movie.  There are two storylines that merge fairly quickly and connect in unusual and unexpected ways as the plot progresses.  The dialogue for the two male characters in the treasure-hunting plot, Dirk and Al, includes clever and funny banter.  There are several action sequences borrowed from old-fashioned Western films.  Characterization of the bad guys is so outrageous that we know the violence they perpetrate is a farce.  And the exploits of our heroes is also so outrageous that we classify them as caricature superheroes and aren't surprised at their unbelievable action feats.  Finally, the story moves quickly with rising action, our heroes faced with numerous impossibly difficult obstacles, a climax and an equally unbelievable but satisfying resolution. 

            Matthew McConaughey plays Dirk, the lead protagonist.  In Across the Sands of Sahara, a segment of the DVD Special Features, we learn the McConaughey spearheaded interest in this film project and he wanted the role of Dirk.  I haven't seen him in other recent films although I was impressed with his role as an attorney in both Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001) and A Time To Kill (1996).

            Steve Zahn plays Al Giordino, Dirk's sidekick and also the comic relief.  He typically greeted enemies with an automatic weapon and, "Hi!  Howya Doin'?"  Penelope Cruz plays Dr. Eva Rojas, a World Heath Organization medical doctor on a crusade to do "good" in Africa, one of the storyline threads.  William H. Macy plays Admiral Sandecker.  He's great as the straight man.

            The same DVD segment mentioned above covers the filming that was done in Morocco and not in Mali, the supposed venue, and the ordeals on site.  They could only work during winter & spring and still they encountered 149-degree weather, sand storms, floods that washed out their bridges and a plague of locusts.

            The film prologue depicts The CSS Texas, a Confederate Iron Clad loaded with treasure, under fire from the Federal forces and presumably escaping.  The real CSS Texas was captured by the Federal forces in 1865, before it was completed.  It was taken to the Norfolk shipyards and sold.  So it never got to Africa, but what the heck.  It's all fiction. 

            Reviewed September 4, 2005.                       Copyright 2005 Charles T. Markee

            MPAA: Rated PG-13 for action violence.