30 for 30: 2005 — "Sahara"
"I was just wondering when we're gonna have to sit down and re-evaluate our decision-making paradigm."
What’s this all about? I turn 30 on Sept. 26, 30 days from the start of this series. To celebrate, I’m going to watch one movie a day for 30 days and spend 30 minutes writing about each one. This post is about 2005. Click here for the original newsletter in the series. Other entries: 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
This movie was supposed to be a hit. Supposed to launch an action franchise for Matthew McConaughey after a couple of romantic comedies in the early aughts. Supposed to be, as the DVD pull quote says, “Indiana Jones meets James Bond!”
But the tale of explorer Dirk Pitt (McConaughey), his assistant/sidekick Al Giordino (Steve Zahn) and WHO scientist Dr. Eva Rojas (Penelope Cruz) and their search for a missing Civil War ironclad in the middle of the Sahara Desert while stopping an epidemic failed to resonate with audiences, and “Sahara” became Hollywood’s biggest flop on record thanks to some creative accounting (I promise I’ll have more on that later, because there’s just so much to get through).
But “Sahara” does have fans, we mighty, we few. It’s the one movie that every time I’ve shown it to someone, they love it. I’m convinced that’s because, while it is an action-adventure throwback, it was ahead of its time.
Had “Sahara” been released today, it would be compared to the “Uncharted” video game series, itself a riff on Indiana Jones; and the “Fast and Furious” franchise, which stopped being about car heists a long time ago and started being about insane stunts and goofy plot points. Since the action-adventure genre is in such slim pickins these days, it might be hailed as a great genre throwback. The epidemic plot point might rub some people the wrong way, but that’s the B-plot here.
This movie knows exactly what it is, and knows how crazy its premise sounds. It just wants to entertain you, and it does that with charismatic lead performances from McConaughey and Zahn, a great southern rock soundtrack and action scenes that were actually shot on location and not in front of a green screen. This movie is just so much fun to watch.
The sad part is there should have been much, much more of Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino. As with with the “Master and Commander” series, “Sahara” is a book adaptation. Clive Cussler wrote dozens of Dirk Pitt adventure, including books where Pitt raises the Titanic, searches for Incan treasure and..well, there’s the plot summary for “Arctic Drift”:
In 2011, as the price of gas hits $10 a gallon, President Garner Ward must contend with a corrupt Canadian cabal that’s subverting efforts to solve America’s energy problems. Dirk Pitt barely escapes serious injury when a bomb destroys a D.C. lab along with records of research into an artificial photosynthesis process that could , almost immediately, eliminate the threat of global warming. That discovery may be connected with a legendary failed 19th-century sailing expedition to the Arctic as well as a series of deaths due to the phenomena that the Native Americans of British Columbia know as the Devil’s Breath.
That sounds gloriously dumb and thrilling and I would like to buy two tickets right now for opening night, please.
This movie also functions as an interesting linchpin in McConaughey’s career. Prior to “Sahara,” his resume includes two big action movies (“Reign of Fire” and “U-571”) and two romantic comedies (“The Wedding Planner” and “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”). The romcoms fare better at the box office, and after the financial disaster of “Sahara,” McConaughey releases sports drama “Two for the Money,” romcom “Failure to Launch,” and sports drama “We Are Marshall” within a year.
In 2006, he would try to combine action-adventure and romcom with “Fool’s Gold,” starring his “10 Days'“ co-star Kate Hudson as his estranged wife who ends up going on a treasure hunt with him while they’re in the middle of divorce proceedings. It doesn’t do well either, and McConaughey hasn’t played a leading man in an action movie or romcom ever since.
The McConaissance would come about six years after the release of “Sahara” (2011 was really a great year for him- going from “Lincoln Lawyer” to “Bernie” to “Killer Joe” was a great run) and now we all know Matthew McConaughey as an Oscar-winning actor who’s willing to take more risks than anyone gave him credit for when he was startting out.
In conclusion, my galaxy brain take, in addition to saying that “Sahara” is a great action movie that everyone should see, is that McConaughey does not get to “Dallas Buyers Club” or “True Detective” without “Sahara.”
Up next: Dear Baby Jesus, we’re talking about the classic 2006 comedy “Talladega Nights.”
Letter of Recommendation
Dr. John’s music makes a prominet appearance in this movie’s opening credits, so enjoy some “Right Place Wrong Time” as you go about your day.
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