Sahara

 

I just saw a sneak preview of Sahara last night.. found out about the free tickets at the last minute & jumped at the chance! This isn’t really categorized as a science fiction movie, but at many points it sure felt like it. Some aspects of the movie were much too hard to believe.

Steve Zahn is a favorite comedian of mine, & I usually enjoy Matthew McConaughey films. Penelope Cruz, I could take or leave. And my opinions of them didn’t change after this movie.

I’ll give a basic rundown of the plot for those who don’t know much about the film.
Dirk (McConaughey) has a life-long goal of finding a legendary Civil War battleship. When he receives a old Confederate coin from a local in Africa, he believes the ship somehow made its way across the ocean and into Africa. The other story (which became the main plot & somehow overlapped Dirk’s story) was about a couple doctors in search of a source of what they think is the beginnings of a plague that had started spreading through certain villages in Northwest Africa. The plot was really stretching it at points, especially trying to get the two stories to converge. At times I felt like I was watching two separate movies. But I don’t want to give anything away to those who will watch the film.

All-in-all it was a very fun, action/adventure movie. Without Steve Zahn though, I wouldn’t have liked it as much. He added a lot of laughs in areas where the movie might have dragged… and in some areas where there was action happening too! I think they hired Cruz on just her looks or cool accent, because she definitely didn’t shine as an actress. She was in most of the movie, but she had the personality of a houseplant. McConaughey played the same role he always does… the cute, funny, hero… who needs a shave.