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SAHARA review
Living in Austin has its advantages. One of the greatest is getting to attend premieres at The Paramount Theater. Ok, technically this wasn’t a premiere. This was Matthew McConaughey’s home town screening, which just happened to take place in advance of the “World Premiere”.
The screening was benefiting the Austin Film Society and their Texas Filmmaker’s Production Fund which places over $70,000 shells in the hands of filmmakers, while also helping them with post production and even shooting arrangements. In all – a good cause!
I was very conflicted about SAHARA before attending. I haven’t liked any of the trailers, but I love Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt character… but the trailers seemed to be something entirely different. There didn’t seem to be any of that real spirit of adventure going on there, it just felt like goofy lines… And was McConaughey Dirk Pitt? I couldn’t tell. On the surface, having Breck Eisner as director was a real “what the hell,” but had I looked closer, I would have learned he directed the best episode of Spielberg’s TAKEN, episode 2, which really was outstanding. But I didn’t know that going in.
However, it was an Austin Film Society event, I had to go – maybe it’ll be fun. I remember, the Film Society did a screening of Stephen Soderbergh’s OUT OF SIGHT – and everyone thought that was going to be ass in advance, saw it, and wow wow wow. So they have a history of landing cool.
I decided to bring my Granny, Doc Falken, RoRo and Father Geek along – This was being marketed as a family film adventure – let’s see if it works. So before the film, University of Texas Head Coach Mac Brown takes the stage to introduce Matthew, but first points out Darryl Royal sitting in the audience. WOW! To one that hemorrhages burnt orange like me, that’s cool as hell. Then he brings out Matthew… Then some official from the city of Austin comes out and presents McConaughey with a Bongo set! And Matthew begins playing the Bongos – fully clothed. It was hilarious.
When Matthew took the mike finally, he really created an air of… man, I want to like this thing. McConaughey is just intrinsically likable as hell. It isn’t that I don’t like him - I do – I just wasn’t sure what this Breck Eisner was gonna do to this movie.
The film begins with the story of the Civil War Ironclad battleship Texas that disappeared off the east coast during this Nation’s darkest days. Then we find ourselves in Dirk Pitt’s office / work area. It was this shot that caught me off-guard. It’s the opening credits – but one long exploratory shot of all the items in this room… Dirk’s history, his mates, they guys he’s worked with, adventures he has had. It is humorous and serious. Finally we make our way to a globe and suddenly we’re in Lagos… At this point we meet Penelope Cruz’s character. She’s working for the World Health Organization and trying to find out the source of a plague that is showing up. Essentially – it’s through her that we first meet Dirk Pitt. At first, it was just a man pulling himself into a boat… a distant shot. Then we join Cruz in trouble, being attacked, when suddenly as she’s blacking out – stolen glances of a hero emerges… Then cut to her waking aboard a ship, she meets Steve Zahn’s Al Giordino – Dirk’s right hand man… and from there – we’re off.
What follows is an adventure film right out of the pages of Clive Cussler. If you aren’t really familiar with what that entails, think of it like this. It’s kinda like Indiana Jones and James Bond, by way of Jack Burton and Buckaroo Banzai. He’s a bit of a fortune hunter, but one that knows the greater good. As told in this film, which is just fun as hell – Eisner completely captures that sense of history between Dirk and Al… and Admiral James Sandecker (William H Macy perfectly cast) and ol CIA Agent Carl (Delroy Lindo cool as hell). It isn’t overtly tongue in cheek, but when they get in dire trouble – it isn’t new to them – they’ve seen trouble before – sometimes even the same kind of trouble. They’re no strangers to adventure and they handle it instead of panicking.
Best thing about the film is the interaction between Matthew and Steve Zahn. There’s just such an honest history of genuine friendship and shared adventure between them. The timing of their looks, the way they regard one another… it isn’t like one is above the other – it’s more like best friends that each are accomplished adventurers and Dirk just happens to be more senior.
The film is beautiful, shot in Morocco and showing off the beautiful and vital culture there. The film is greatly entertaining in a clean good old fashioned way, while having a beat and coolness that at times feels totally James Bond or The Incredibles – this is mainly due to Clint Mansell’s wonderful score and the scope and grandeur that Breck captured in the film. The big evil thing at the end is so James Bond-y, but just cooler than any recent attempts at “the big bad thing.”
The highest complement is that they completely captured the spirit and feel of Cussler’s finest character. If you’re a fan, you’ll squeal with delight – if you have never read them, you’ll enjoy your time discovering a new character. And the best news we have is that we have a new director to be watching. Cool!
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But now the real question: Who's going to be the first to cry "sell-out" because Harry is praising Eisner Jr.'s flick?
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Should be "first" to roast.
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Am I wrong or isn't the author's name Clive Cussler? Is Clusser some kind of geek re-branding?
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I'm a Cussler fan - my folks got me into the books. We've all been looking forward to this one, though I was nervous about how they were chaning Al's part.
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I always support the home team too, but seriously, when was the last time you panned anything coming out of Austin? I would yell plant, but this kind of sucking up just aint cool.
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The trailers made me want to hate this movie, and as a long time Dirk Pitt fan, you've lit a glimmer of hope in my sould. Now I'm ready to go see it.
-X -
I was probably going to see this anyway, but what the hell. It's good to see more and more directors can translate a good book and make it into a good movie.
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I guess one of the disadvantages of being in Austin is being the product of a shitty public school system and not knowing the difference...
I just saw a screening of Sahara in So Cal - it was an enjoyable 2 hrs - sort of James Bond meets The 3 Stooges. Steve Zahn plays the goofy sidekick very nicely. A lot of action and laughs. A matinee or a rental. Take your pick. -
I've read all Cussler's Pitt-novels, but I can't say I am teribly exciting to check this one out. I'll probably wait for DVD or give it a chance in the theater when I'm bored. Reeks a bit to overproduced, by the numbers studio-crap to me.
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I already say this movie.
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I saw an advanced screening tonight in South Florida. I was really prepared for it to suck. I told my date it probably wasn't any good. Happily I was wrong. The movie was big fun. McConaughey and Zahn were funny at the right times and had a good buddy-buddy thing. Cruz was the yum. The action was cool. This movie should do 100 million easily. (The advanced screening was a sign of the studio's confidence). I'm ready for the next Dirk Pitt adventure. I want to read Cussler now....
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Any man caught squealing with delight should have their toy lightsaber inserted into them!
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Yea, those were good times. Now he just kinda endorses them. I'm all for getting behind a good picture, but what about letting us know when one sucks? Did you really get so tired of writing reviews where you couldn't relate the experience to an orgasm that you just stopped writing about movies you don't like?
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Before or after the review was posted? Aint-It-Cool-New$$$$ indeed.
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As they are hoping this will be a franchise Sahara for me was a strange choice for the first film as its the 11th book and some of the best Dirk Pitt stories are earlier in the series at least from what ive read their trying to be fairly faithful to the book though....theres only one other niggle that i still have(before seeing the film) and thats the charactor of Al Giordino who(as described) is`nt very similar to either Zahn or the charactor as played in Sahara
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I just gotta say...are you people out of your mind on crack? Or are only 12 year olds with Hulk Hogan action figures voting in this? Jason vs. Freddy is currently ranked number 2 in the series. That's the worst one of the series next to Jason Goes to Hell (worst) and Jason X (next to worst). Hell, Jason vs. Freddy isn't even really part of the Friday the 13th series and it's beating out all the classics...Part 2 (where Jason first starts hacking up innocent pedestrians), Part 3 (in fucking 3D), Part 4 (where Corey Feldman becomes Jason), Part 5 (house of retarded, nymphomaniacs vs. pretend Jason), Part 6 (Arnold Horshac digs up Jason and Alice Cooper sings on overturned RVs), Part 7 (Carrie vs. Jason), and hell, I even like Part 8 more than Freddy vs. Jason (Jason takes the subway, bitch). Come on folks, won't the real fans of the series go and make their voices heard. I don't know where else to post this. There's no thread on the actual poll.
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I guess they saw the success of the Bourne movies and decided to approach Kussler's Pitt with the same hopes. We'll see.
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Mar 31, 2005 10:35:58 AM CST
But the question is, did you like it as much as you LOVED "The M
by chastain-86
I hold you personally responsible, Knowles.
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Mar 31, 2005 10:46:16 AM CST
Not necessarily a "strange choice"--there isn't much continuity
by frankdrebin
But the one constant is Pitt's intro, exactly as described by Harry: a beautiful but brainy female scientist stumbles upon a piece of the bad guy's plan, the henchmen go after her, and then a mysterious stranger miraculously appears to save her. Formula, but satisfying.
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but I hold out hope that the movie is enjoyable. Speaking of bad ads, did anyone else think the TV spot for the Incredibles was god-awful. They actually stretched the picture on most of the shots from the movie...
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Mar 31, 2005 11:03:00 AM CST
If this doesn't turn into a franchise, the studio should try aga
by frankdrebin
The first book "Golden Buddha" was blah (the good guys are never really in any danger), but the second book "Sacred Stone" is a lot of fun (even though it deals with Middle East terrorists). The series is about a group of troubleshooters-for-hire, with a high-tech command center disguised as a rustbucket freighter. It's an "ensemble adventure" where each expert from the crew handles his/her piece of the plan. A movie version would be like "Mission:Impossible", with the boss selecting which members of the team should tackle the objective (which is what the M:I movies SHOULD HAVE BEEN, until Tom Cruise turned them into vanity projects.)
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Is that what happens when a Texan is "giddy" from getting a bunch of "pwesents"? Hey, has there ever been a "Baby Huey" Harry animation? I think we need one! :-)
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Clive Cussler's books don't translate well to the big screen for some reason.
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Cause I want them to make Inca Gold, my personal favorite Pitt book.
GFY -
Mar 31, 2005 3:26:28 PM CST
McConaughey should be required to play all his characters as Woo
by garbageman33
Alright, alright, alright. It's been all downhill for him (not to mention Ben Affleck) since then.
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Mar 31, 2005 4:50:38 PM CST
That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get old
by loopydave76
You said it, Garbageman33.
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You know the sage like old dude who always shows up
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Mar 31, 2005 5:42:27 PM CST
Alright Alright Alright! lets play the bongos and smoke some wee
by orionsangels
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Alright Alright Alright. Wooderson is the best. Slater is close second. Oh yeah, this film looks kinda good. Maybe il rent it.
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Funny that it's ok for Liberals to give their 'sons/daughters/friends' jobs in the Movie Industry - Breck Eisner, where have I heard that name?... - but they love to rag on evil Repub Capitalist who might also enjoy doing business with companies they know and trust. Once our illustrious Congress gets done with these steroid crazed athletes they can look into fining the piss out of the Howies in Hollywood.
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And then Congress can look into the Bush/Cheney "axis of weasels" awarding contracts in Iraq to Halliburton without a bidding process, ignoring the overcharging and falsifying of records, and overriding the War Profiteering Act so their buddies can milk Iranian citizens/US taxpayers dry.
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Mar 31, 2005 7:24:26 PM CST
Sorry for the politcal posting. It was a knee-jerk reaction to
by frankdrebin
Also 'Iranian' should have been 'Iraqi' -- I mixed up our current war with our next war. "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LeVey
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I'm with y'all that question the choice of this book to kick off this franchise series. I always kind of wanted the 1st movie (after the debacle that was 'Raise The Titanic') to be 'Nightprobe." Always liked that one.
Oh well... -
There goes my point! Ha! This sounds like fun, though.
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Isn't it funny how conservative republican Clive Cussler pulled strings to get a role for his daughter in this film. Funny how ultra conservative billionaire Philip Anschutz provided financial backing for this project to have been made in the first place.
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Apr 01, 2005 11:29:13 AM CST
Isn't McConaughey a little too young to play Dirk Pitt?
by excaliburffolkes
I seem to remember from the novels that Dirk was a retired navel officer in his mid-forties, whereas McConaughey was 34 when they filmed this movie.
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I've never seen him in anything (movie, interview, ANYTHING) where I didn't want to hit him with something heavy. Repeatedly. Until he was like unto a thing of paste.
I wouldn't actually do that, but something about him always makes me want to.
I guess I just don't like the guy. -
Frank, easy to call someone a troll when you don't have any ammo to argue back with. Iran, Iraq, why let facts get in the way of a good story? Maybe you're one of those guys who got a job from a relative, not due to talent.
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Come on. You can do better than the moveon.org propaganda, can't you?
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saw this in boston private screening
as bad as a roller coaster for all the jumiping it does....predictable -
I like the new wave of grown up adventure movies that we are getting. This movie is just that... an adventure. Great fun. Leaves you looking forward to the next. I like it as much as I did the Bourne Identity. I am really glad to finally see Mathew McConaughey in a great role and with a future franchise. You could tell from A Time To Kill that he had potential to be a big movie star. Good for him.
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Apr 08, 2005 9:04:50 PM CDT
fun popcorn action-adventure flick - totally lacked the pretensi
by trader groucho 2
good cast down the line - tho i AM biased. props to the person or people who found a new but somehow familiar way to bring down a helicopter. cool ongoing bits - zahn keeps losing his hat, "there's no way that should have worked". and now my minor quibbles. breck eisner handled the action fairly well. some of the early expository dialogue dragged a little. and what is it with frenchmen in these movies lying thru their teeeth that they did it but never being able to just kill the girl???
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I have read many of the Pitt books and was expecting a King Solomon's Mines level movie. I actually found this to be incredibly enjoyable. Al wasn't like he should have been, but after I gave it some careful thought, I realized I didn't give a shit. Photography and music were both top notch. My boyfriend had hoped the movie would suck so that Breck Eisner would disappear into his own posh oblivion, but he handled his duties very well. Hope we see more of these. It was a blast.
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Apr 09, 2005 4:18:50 AM CDT
the plot got kind of creaky in the 3rd act, and it was a tad too
by tall_boy
better action movie than post, if just for the chemistry between Zhan and Matthew M. (the boy is likabale in a movie?! Horrors!) didn't get into the 3rd act, with all the superweapons / "cut the head and the snake will die" stuff. But mostly, worked rather well.
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M.M. did a very nice job as some dude who does a lot of treasure hunting. Cruz played a presentable doctor who knew what she was investigating. The sidekick dude also provided some decent comic relief, which seemed to be authentic due to it being somethings actual people who say. The story was also nice, albeit a little like a puzzle. A hunt for a civil war ship leads to a hunt for a deadly poison which results in a rich gold find and a business man who gets a taste of his own medicine. ___KNEEL___
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it's a fun little popcorn movie, nothing more, nothing less. I'd say it's on par with National Treasure, but if you made me choose I'd have to say I enjoyed NT more than this film. The Mummy films were better, IMHO (at least the 1st one anyway), with all the aforementioned movies being a pale imitation of Indy. I have to disagree with some who liked the score; I didn't find it engaging enough. Also, there were some pretty unbelievable, over the top scenes. Like the one on the speeder boat, where the baddies machine gun the boat, you see bullet holes riddle the chair that Zhan is hiding behind and yet he never gets hit? What the hell is the chair made off, steel? I mean, come on, I new I'd have to suspend disbelief a bit, but that was ridiculous. I did like the end with the chopper and the
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Apr 15, 2005 4:17:05 AM CDT
shrink - these ARE life and death choices, when you consider the
by trader groucho 2
or forever ruining your memories of some beloved favorite film, or sneaking into your dreams, or becoming a refernce point in your conversations.....
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I thought it was good - but the slightly jumpy bits had me clawing my seat... let me explain!!
I went to see this movie at a Vue cinema - used to be Warner Bros - and in their inhouse mag Unreel, they promised cannibalism!!! I have no idea where they got their information from, but anyway, i was pooping my pants over nothing!! I think i will rent it when it comes out and enjoy the safe knowledge of no people eating!
liked it very well, and very much appreciate the welcome return to treasure map style adventure movies!! Well worth the popcorn -
..at least for me. First time I had Thai the lady handed me a plate and the first bite was delicious. But each bite afterwards got worse and worse. I enjoyed Sahara while in the theater but the more I thought about it, the more disappointed and confused I was. Just left a bad aftertaste.
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Your taste bud probably gone up the sour from licking too licking one too many shithole.
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Throughout the movie, I found myself watching Zhan. Weird.
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She has hairy underarms (as seen in captain corelli's mandolin) and her face as well as her voice, not to mention her accent is ugly. Nothing about her is attractive. She should go back to the streets of madrid and beg for pennies. She has 0 star power.
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seems every time i read a review here, it always comes down to how good looking the main actress is. it`s both mr. k and alot of the folks who write in. anybody remember that poetic little number about miho`s cunt in sin city- ginsu pussy or something like that? jesus christ, men, act your fucking age! unless you`re 12-15 years old, you don`t have an excuse to speak like such no-love-getting, frustrated, pathetic excuses for masculinity. unless you want to remain the same crass little fuckers sitting in front of your computers comparing dick sizes forever (and boys, your macho, big-man, "i could fuck her" talk isn`t fooling anyone), you oughta try excercising your bodies and minds a little, as well as treating the ladies with a bit more respect. they like that, you know... oh, you don`t. big surprise there.
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Backstreets, it always will be. I just love it okay? Now fuck off bitches.
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"As they are hoping this will be a franchise Sahara for me was a strange choice for the first film as its the 11th book and some of the best Dirk Pitt stories are earlier in the series" They picked Sahara because it's probably the Cussler/Pitt novel with the least underwater action. They might have had to spend a lot on budget with a lot of underwater-salvage and scuba-diving underwater-camera wrok. Sahara (as you might gather from the title) is probably the only Cussler/Pitt work where NUMA doesn't really do much with underwater and marine stuff. A swim in the Niger is about it. As to the flick itself, I could see why they made some changes - the ending in the movie put more emphasis on Pitt and Giordino, while in the novel it's Pitt and a bunch of UN Special Forces soldiers. And I suppose they removed the Abraham Lincoln subplot because it might have had some similarities to National Treasure. But the red-tide schtick in the movie is such a tossaway they needn't have bothered. They also tossed in the obligatory "good guy vs. main henchman" fight (but forgot to give us the name of the henchman - dumb). And speaking of dumb, it's a bit depressing that Pitt and Giordino get by on dumb luck so much. They just happen to find Eva in the well t the village at just exactly the most opportune moment, by riding in on camelback. They also find the plane (another subplot dropped - why is there a plane in the middle of the Sahara) just out of sheer dumb luck. And they find the Tuaregs just by getting lucky. Zahn didn't really match the character (short stocky black-curly-haired Italian?) but then neither did M. Emmett Walch back in Raise the Titanic. Overall, it was relatively entertaining if you aren't a big fan of the books and you overlook the occasional "Let's just pick them up and move them from Point A to B."
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I loved this film because they had fun with it and didn't take itself too seriously.
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