Last week I went to see Sahara, I wanted to go see something a bit more challenging and not so cheesy. Quite frankly the trailer made it look like a bucket load of melted Wensleydale. Boy was I surprised, it was great entertainment, the main characters worked well together, and despite a few really lame moments of dialogue, for an entertainment movie with big explosions it was a lot of fun.
No surprise that the ending setup the franchise, and double that for the news this morning that Matthew McConaughey is speaking out to USA Today through Coming Soon that he’s keen to continue the movies. Well wouldn’t you be when it’s riding the top of UK and US charts?
“I’d been looking for that renaissance guy,” McConaughey said. “Everything I’d read that was a possible franchise character in the action-adventure genre was either too roadhouse, just fighting and running around, or they were too prim and proper, never getting their hands dirty.”
Dirk Pitt is “a senator’s son, but a scavenger of the deep,” he added. “He can talk marine biology with you at noon and then at one o’clock be dealing gold bullion with smugglers and pirates.”
If he wants to return as Dirk Pitt, McConaughey will have to hope that Sahara warms a frosty relationship with Cussler. The author went along with plans to make the movie but filed suit in January to block production of future Dirk Pitt movies after he was unhappy with script changes to his story.
Perhaps it was never meant to be so cheesy, just chesty?! What did everyone else think of it? Is it worth a sequel and perhaps a franchise?
Sahara has to be one of the worst f&$cking movies I have EVER seen!!!!!!!.. I don’t know what idiots in Hollywood are throwing their money behind this formula crap… it is truly offensive Hollywood garbafe to see. The initial premiss of an Iron Clad crossing the Atlantic is laughable,
industrial waste consern in a barren wasteland a joke, the lifting from Bond and Indiana Jones blatant, characterizations weak at best.. character chemistry bearable I guess, ignorant portrayal of Africans offensive. What ever happened to ACTING? Go see The Constant Gardener for an un American portryal of Africa. Thank god for the internet… soon downloading will put an end to production of this CRAP… hollywood will have to find a new formula……..
i am a Nigerian that live in the U.S, i was shocked to see the way Lagos was potrayed in the movie “Sahara”..the question that came to mind when i was seeing the holywood portrayal of Lagos,Nigeria was “Have these people ever been to Nigeria before?” Common guys! africa is bad but it is nothing near as bad and terrible as the Sahara movie showed it to be.i felt it was back in the stone age.for real, Nigeria is a blessed country with abundant beauty and natural resources.there are cities that resemble normal cities in the U.S except that sanitation is not as good, however you can be sure you will see many beautiful skyscrapers dotting the skyline of Lagos non of which i saw in the movie.
I’m also a huge fan of Clive Cussler’s books, I have read all of them and totally agree with the fact that the characters didn’t resemble the ones in the books but I really enjoyed the film it was like bringing my immagination to life while reading the book:-) I would certainly go watch the sequel especially if it was based on Dragon that was my favorite!
Just saw Sahara. As an avid reader of Cussler’s books (I have all his books, and have read them each several times) I had my own perception of Dirk, Al, Rudi and the Admiral. I think Macy really hit the
mark as Sandecker, and Zahn was acceptable as the
ever ready Al. I expected Al to be a little bigger, as one book described him as “about as tall as he was across”. The other supporting characters rode well. As for Dirk, I had a more rugged, craggy type, like maybe a young Charles Bronson type. Matthew was just a little too slick to match my vision from the books.
All in all, the movie was good, probably better for those who have not read Cussler before.
The script was pretty close, but made the group come accross as treasure hunters more than the research type in the book.
I think Pitt deserves another shot at the movies, after Raise the Titanic (a real bomb) and Sahara,
maybe third time’s the charm!
Hrm. I will admit that there were quiet a few serious changes to the characters in the process of adapating the book into movie. In that requard, I can understand why Cussler would want to put the breaks on any future movies.
But!!
I throughly enjoyed Sahara, flaws and all, and I’m rooting for a sequel. I just hope that the success that the movie has had in the box office changes Cussler’s mind.
I’ve read Clive Cussler, and while I enjoyed the movie (Matthew McConaughey looks hotter than ever), the characters did not fit in my mind what Dirk Pitt, Al Giordiano, Rudi Gunn and Admiral Sandecker were from the books.
Enjoyed the movie tho. Good fun!
I thought the movie was great, considering its genre. Although it was a tad cheesy at moments, I believe this was the intention. It was like an Indiana Jones movie with better stunts. The acting was pretty good as well. Steve Zahn is a welcome comical relief in a movie where the plot centers around a plague that is killing hundreds if innocent Africans. Bring on the sequel, bring on more Matthew McConaughey.
This headline should be titled:
“Matthew McConaughey threatens Sahara sequels”
I never would have believed that you could put Steve Zahn in an action movie, and I would enjoy it. Yet I walked out of the theater, dwelling on just how much I liked Zahn in that role- he was perfect! I thought the movie was great fun and didn’t really care about the utter implausibility of pretty much everything in it.
If they make another with McConaughey and Zahn both come back for another, I’d definitely see it.
I thought Sahara was an enjoyable film, went along with no expectations and not knowing what it’d be like and came away having thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought it worked a bit like a James Bond in the desert and the main characters worked well. Especially liked Steve Zahn, thought he was class and gave it something extra.
I’d certainly go see a sequel and i can that it has potential for a franchise, the hard thing would be keeping it interesting and avoiding it becoming just another milked to death franchise.
All in all though, bring on more Pitt, Dirk Pitt!! What a name!!!