Sahara

I had been waiting to see this movie since I saw the first movie trailer about 5 months ago. I went on opening night on April 8 2005 for the 9:45 showing at Sycamore's Cinema 6 on the far side of Iowa City.

The opening scene of the film is one of the best war scenes I have ever watched. I felt like I was actually there experiencing what the men were experiencing. Everything was hectic with explosions all around, like a real battle would be. Sometimes when you watch a film at the beginning, the first few minutes tell you a lot about how much you are going to like or dislike the movie. This one, I knew instantly it was going to be good.

The film then takes us to the present-day and the lives of 2 main people in the film. The first one is Dr. Eva Rojas played by Penélope Cruz who is in Africa as a physician with the WHO (World Health Organization). She meets up with the next main character in the film, Dirk Pitt played by Matthew McConaughey, due to her investigation into a plague. Their meeting sets the scope for the rest of the film and the adventure that will happen when Dirk Pitt and his 2 other buddies look for an ironclad boat that he believes made it to the coast of West Africa.

This film does take a bit of leaving the plausible behind. There are many parts of the plot that are so unbelievable that only the grace of god and the fates coupled together could have allowed the characters to survive. This follows the same logic as the typical adventure or action-type movie, though, and the good time you have during the ride makes up for the fantastic and incredulous events in the movie itself. The film sets are also beautiful and the shoots in Africa with the people show a very stark face on disease, events in the regions for conflict, and the humanity of those around you. The film does not look down on the residents of the areas at all, and it was very refreshing to see such a celebration of the beauty of West Africa and even the desert itself.

I am giving this film a great rating because so much of it was excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed myself watching it. It would be the best film so far this year if another film I have yet to review and just saw hadn't beaten it out of that spot.

Please feel free to comment on this review or on the movie itself at the forum thread devoted to it at this location.