Reviews

When I first saw adverts on the telly for Sahara I thought "action adventure bang bang boom flick, interesting but not enough so to pay $10". Last week I discovered that it was the film adaptation of one of my favourite Clive Cussler novels! I just *HAD* to see it on the big screen. The only place it was playing in Texas was at a dollar theatre in San Antonio, so off I go, 5 hours & 300 miles round trip. $1.50 a ticket. I read the reviewer who pointed out it was matinée-ish, with set pieces each building on the other & bigger than the last. Perhaps this is one of the small things I found uncomfortable about the film. Being a fan of the novels, I feel Mr. Cussler tends to use a steady undercurrent of tension, like an undertow at the beach, with an ending like a riptide. I can only imagine the herculean efforts Mr. Cussler had to make to keep things in hand & maintain a decent semblance of his story. Strengths: Dirk is well cast & played by Matthew McConaughey. The basic plot is intact. The action is pretty good (still relies on the big bang boom tho'). WH Macy makes for a good Adm. Sandecker. THE CAR IS IN IT! The climax is pure Cussler/Pitt. Surprisingly, the soundtrack of 70's American Rock works well. A bit startling at first, it took a bit of mulling over & the decision finally came to rest on the positive side. Weaknesses: Several minor details were changed for no beneficial reason; Dirk & Al are now former USN SeALs instead of Air Force pilots. Sandecker's beard is a full-face feature rather than a Van Dyke. Rudi Gunn is no longer a former SeAL, & is a chunky comic relief character. Borderline weaknesses (aka things that are different but turned out alright none the less) Al isn't a stocky swarthy Italian powerhouse. Well played by Steve Zahn, he's got just the right touch of sarcasm & mischief. I really thought he was closer to getting his character right than McConaughey, who was quite agreeable still the same. NUMA is a private endeavour much like it's real life counterpart, which actually sets up the tidy denouement. **SPOILER WARNING** I've said in other reviews that the attention span & bladder capacity of the average viewer are too limited to do faithful translations of novels to films. A few notable exceptions are Gettysburg, North & South, The Stand & Lonesome Dove. Budgetary constraints also preclude a cast of thousands & big battle sequences. Ergo, the abduction of President Lincoln is not included in the script. Hala Kamil never makes an appearance. Without the Secretary General of the UN, & without Sandecker as the head of a US governmental agency to call in favours & pull strings, there's no timely intervention by the UN quick reaction force, therefore no heroic stand at the Foreign Legion fort. In their place, the local Tuaregs make a timely appearance to save our heroes collective bacon. There is a terrific last stand by Dirk, Al & Eva at the CSS Texas tho', which leads to a great alternate ending which could just as easily have been in the novel! I take exception to the presentation of light machine gun armour piercing bullets being capable of penetrating the ironclad's armour, but this is fiction after all. Sadly, Prospector Clive Cussler & Periwinkle the burro, St. Julien Perlmutter & Hiram Yeager never make appearances. Conclusion: After a disagreeable experience 25 years ago with "Raise the Titanic!" Clive Cussler has permitted Hollywood to take another crack at his marvelous creation. This is an acceptable first outing & hopefully the lessons learned will be taken seriously & the mild troubles rectified. I don't know what other films might be in the works, but I read that there were 3 novels optioned (take that for what it's worth). Personally, I'd love to see "Vixen 03" & "Night Probe!" as films, but those are my personal favourites & Hollywood can't go wrong with any of the Dirk Pitt adventures. Which is not to say Hollywood can't MAKE it wrong. Very, very wrong. I still scratch my head trying to figure out how "Raise the Titanic!" turned out so modestly mildly mediocre. With such a great story, with such a capable cast, (albeit occasionally mis-cast) it should have been much better. Sahara banishes that demon, but doesn't blow it away. I recommend this as a rental for everybody, a purchase for fans, & I eagerly await the next installment. But I'll still see it at the dollar theatre.

Hang on y'all! This is one of the better offerings, reminding me of a collision between Harlock & A-ko! It starts off with a bang, it's funny & action packed, & it slows down in all the right places to have a good look at the characters. Development is consistent & on occasion surprising, with touching scenes & episodes. While formulaic, it's only enough so that you could equate it with a brownie recipe you really love to smell cooking; some stuff just *has* to be added to get it to bake! I thought long & hard about including info which would technically be a spoiler, & I've decided against it. I checked the box just in case. Let me simply say that character relationships develop in a satisfying way, with just the right tension & conclusion. In conclusion, this programme was great from start to finish. Going from first stage to second was gratifying & if it's mildly disappointing that there's no third stage (that I know of) there's no feeling of being let down. Rather, I came away thinking that as with all the best stories, there's a beginning & an end. This appears to have ended, but it's a first rate ride.