Monday, February 22, 2010

GUILTY OF BEING PLEASURABLE? PART 2!


SAHARA: I have absolutely no idea why this film didn’t spark a gigantic franchise. I know there were supposedly lots of issues making the movie and it didn’t come close to making back what Paramount thought it should but I honestly don’t think that’s the movie’s fault. Point blank and honest SAHARA is an awesome, swashbuckling adventure film in the vein of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, THE MUMMY and ROMANCING THE STONE. The film is filled to the brim with high octane action, a fun, fast paced story, great quippy dialogue and loveable characters you truly root for.

As with THE DUKES OF HAZARD the chemistry in this flick is undeniable. Sure Penelope Cruz is kind of disposable but the friendship between Matthew McConaughy and Steve Zahn is one of the funnest, most engaging relationships I’ve seen in movies in the last 5 or 10 years. They have a great back and forth style and you truly buy that these guys are life long friends that have been through EVERYTHING together. The best example of this comes in my favorite scene of the movie in which they demonstrate what a “Panama” is.

The rest of the cast is uniformly good from Delroy Lindo to William H. Macy. Sure the villain may be a little under drawn and kind of Teflon but he still puts the main characters through their paces and the fun of the movie is watching how Dirk Pitt and Co. work their way out of them.

Breck Eisner and I think everyone in general got a really bad shake on this one. This film is expertly made and honestly has all the trappings and ear marks of a film that should have been a gigantic box office success that led to ensuring we would get to see the further adventures of the characters set up in this film. Sadly that never happened but at least this film exists so that whenever I want to watch a rip roaring action ride this diamond in the rough will be at the ready.

No comments: