SAHARA (***½)
Ever since Indiana Jones found the Ark of the Covenant, dozens of pictures have been trying to recapture his swashbuckling aura. No desert escapade (save that of David Lean’s LAWRENCE OF ARABIA) has been as thrilling as Steven Spielberg’s INDIANA JONES movies (Part 1 and 3 to be exact). THE MUMMY was the last that came close, but not by much. If that film and its sequels captured the outlandish paranormal nature of Indiana’s quests, then SAHARA captures the danger and excitement. Here is the best desert adventure since INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE.
I am aware of the countless reviews out there that have been blasting this movie for its lack of creativity, its brainlessness, and its allusions to all themes Bondian and Indianesque. But really, how can the desert adventure epic surprise us any further? As Roger Ebert has put it, “The JONES movies by now have defined a familiar world of death-defying stunts, virtuoso chases, dry humor and the quest for impossible goals in unthinkable places.” Even Steven Spielberg couldn’t top his own creations (THE LAST CRUSADE is RAIDERS’s little brother), and we shouldn’t expect director Breck Eisner to come close.
What he has done however is take that same blazing energy, and infuse it in some of the most breathtaking foreign landscapes put on film. As what Peter Jackson with his RINGS trilogy did with George Lucas’s STAR WARS, SAHARA gallops right through his predecessor’s conventions and lore, unapologetic to what we know and expect. Not only does the film move with confidence, it smirks with pride in honoring the Indiana exhilaration.
The movie wastes no time in bringing us in on the action, as demonstrated in its opening scene during the American Civil war. We see confederate soldiers taking their gold into a Naval ironclad out into open waters, amidst the nighttime bombardment of cannons and invading Union forces. The escape fades out into the film’s opening credits, introducing us to our two bold but jaunty heroes, a nice way of relieving our tension and telling us of more fun and riveting moments to arrive.
We then meet Eva Rojas (Penelope Cruz), a WHO physician on the trail of a Malian virus that is ravaging central Africa. Secretive forces try to end her quest, with an assassin straight out of RAIDERS trying to assassinate her. To the rescue leaps Dirk Pitt (a name that can only bring wide goofy grins), with Greek physique, surfer locks, good-natured confidence, and a Texan accent that would make Sheryl Crow swoon. Played by the immensely underrated and underappreciated Matthew McConaughey, he saves Eva, takes him on his ship for treatment to meet his boss and crew, and has enough time to recover a submerged relic, trade barbs with his best buddy Al (Steve Zhan), and flirt with her. What a guy.
Dirk is on expedition of his own, searching for the gold-filled ironclad that sailed into the unknown a century and half ago. Never mind that he is looking for it in the world’s largest wasteland on a separate continent. He knows it's there, and he and the film have that cheerful poise to convince us. What a coincidence that his travels should coincide with Eva’s (Gosh! Could they be linked?). And what a journey it will turn out to be. If you’re looking for believability, you’re in the wrong movie.
Along for the ride are some sidekicks, none more memorable than Al Giordino (“Hi! How are ya?”), played with such endearing bewilderment by Steve Zahn that his performance lifts him into the upper echelon of movie associates. Nobody plays dopey better than Mr. Zahn, and he proves it with the film’s most unforgettable zingers, objections, and anxieties. He also provides the common sense and disquiet that we might feel in the same situation (“Isn’t more likely that we missed it off the coast of Virginia?”). May God bless his scene stealing.
Penelope Cruz’s character Eva though solid and physical, doesn’t have anything new to offer, but her relationship to Dirk is nowhere as frustrating as it is in most action flicks. She is obviously attracted to Dirk, as he to her, but they don’t deny their mutual magnetism. The movie doesn’t delay the inevitable by having them put up emotional facades to dance around, since its danger does that for them. It makes their pairing a lot more satisfying, and slightly more mature.
When it comes to Matthew McConaughey, The New York Times’ Stephen Holden says it best, “If this movie can't propel the 35-year-old Texan actor into Harrison Ford’s $20 million trekking boots, nothing can…” He makes the action hero stuff look remarkably easy, and his obvious athleticism and fearless charm make it so. His rough handsome grin is the contrast to Tom Cruise’s slick gorgeous smile, and together with Steve Zahn, they make the most memorable action-comedy duo since BAD BOYS’ Will Smith and Martin Lawrence (without the loudness and obscenity). Their chemistry sparkles.
The wonderful thing about the movies is how it is able to transport us to places we might never see in our lifetime, and that couldn't be truer here. The movie has African sights that pulsate with life (shot in Moroccan mystique). I loved the sea markets, the mosques, the abandoned fortresses, the Saharan dunes, the badland cliffs, the desert marshes, the mountain cities, and the people. I wanted to be engulfed by the unfamiliarity of it all. For those who love to travel to distant places, the movie is a treasure, containing convincing cultures that put the caricatures of THE MUMMY movies to shame.
But if you do not care for such sights, not to worry. The movie contains some of the more impressive action sequences ever held in a desert, like a speedboat chase that crackles with energy and wit, the best of its kind since FACE/OFF. I personally admired an industrial complex containing a tower just begging for someone to fall off it after a fistfight. And for once, its prisoners don’t have to run out of it to save themselves from a self-destruct mechanism. Its invaders have to save it from being destroyed. Though the movie’s detractors like to criticize the action, when the movie has got tanks, helicopter gunships, hand-to-hand combat, escapes, and a climax involving the ironclad itself, what more can you ask for? Its sequences don’t feel like set pieces that the story revolves about. They bounce from one to the other with fluidity and anticipation, like a pinball machine giving you a good game.
Breck Eisner has proven that he’s more than just the son of a Disney magnate. He knows the brazen joy of adventure and how to translate it onto film. People who criticize this picture for being unrealistic and unoriginal are missing the point. Movies of this sort have nowhere left to go, and are supposed to be escapist (was RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK even close to being realistic?) SAHARA resurrects the lost delight of Saturday matinee serials, and tweaks it for 21st century sensibilities. It even has a statement of how the world has neglected Africa, and gives a resolution we’d all like for that continent. What could be bad about that?
Posted by FLIPCRITIC at April 13, 2005 08:58 AM