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Sahara
Release Date: 8th April 2005
Distributor: UIP
Certificate: 12A
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Penélope Cruz, William H. Macy, Steve Zahn
Director: Breck Eisner
Running Time:
127 mins
Legendary explorer Dirk Pitt (McConaughey) spends his days hunting for treasure in some of the most dangerous and inhospitable places on the planet. His current adventure has taken him and his wise-cracking partner Al (Zahn) to West Africa, where they are searching for a local legend called ‘The Ship of Death’ – a long lost civil war battleship which is rumoured to protect a secret hidden cargo. It is while on this search that Pitt thwarts the attempted assassination of a beautiful U.N. Scientist, Eva Rojas (Cruz). Rojas is investigating a suspicious disease which is driving it’s sufferers to cannibalism and eventually death, and when she is rescued by Pitt she enlists his help in finding the source of the epidemic. But could their searches be more related than they realise?
The disease appears to be caused by vast, unprecedented pollution which is threatening the sea life of the world. Racing to save the world from what could amount to an environmental catastrophe, Pitt and his team – equipped with an amazing state-of-the-art yacht – run a gauntlet between a billionaire industrialist and a bloodthirsty West African tyrant. Along the way the team discover a gold mine being manned by slave workers, and soon discover the secret link between the Civil War ship and Lincoln’s assassination – a discovery that may not only spell danger for the team, but also the world…
This is Eisner’s first foray in to big-budget movie making, but with McConaughhey and Cruz on board it can’t possibly fail to make an impact. The other gem of the movie is Pitt’s financial backer Sandecker, played by the inimitable William H Macy – a part which is far from his usual loveable-loser roles, and one which he evidently relishes.
