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movie review - Sahara

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Back in the Pleistocene, there were adventure books written by a man named Clive Cussler and starring a larger-than-life character called Dirk Pitt (seriously). This movie, I think, was meant to be the first in a series. It features a very charismatic lead and he's supported by equally compelling companions. The plot somehow revolves around finding the remains of a US warship far up the Niger river in a war-torn region of Africa. Rather than finding the ship, as if that would have been simple enough, they find a gigantic environmental crisis looming and get drawn into that matter.

This film maintains a certain tone that I liked, interjecting comedy with the explosions and gunfire in a way that I thought struck a note. I do realize that I'm one of the few people that liked this film, but I think in the end it's the leads and their obvious chemistry that do it. E.g.

Dirk Pitt: What do you do if you're about to be exposed as the biggest polluter in modern history?

Al Giordino: I don't know, run for president?

Oddly, I found there was more chemistry between the two male leads than the male lead and the female lead but .. nothing wrong with that.

Recommended.