Themes: Treasure Hunts, Plagues and Epidemics, Obsessive Quests
Main Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn, Penélope Cruz, Lambert Wilson, Glynn E. Turman
Release Year: 2005
Country: US
Run Time: 130 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Matthew McConaughey stars as explorer and adventurer Dirk Pitt in this adaptation of the best-selling novel by Clive Cussler. Pitt thinks he may have found both a fortune and the answer to a long-standing mystery when he discovers a rare coin in the waters of a river in West Africa. During the Civil War, an ironclad battleship with a valuable cargo went missing, and Pitt's theory is that the coin places the ship somewhere in the Sahara Desert. Pitt and his goofy sidekick, Al Giordino (Steve Zahn), set out to find it, but along the way they make the acquaintance of Dr. Eva Rojas (Penélope Cruz), a scientist and physician who is trying to determine the source of a strange and deadly disease sweeping the nation. As Eva joins Dirk and Al, they begin to wonder if the mysteries they're trying to uncover might be somehow linked. Sahara was only the second of Cussler's Dirk Pitt adventures to be adapted for the screen; the first, 1980's Raise the Titanic, was publicly dismissed by the author. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Much of Sahara plays out in such a breezy, entertaining manner that you feel guilty for ragging on it, even if it misses its marks repeatedly through the film. Heavily mining the Indiana Jones School of Adventure Filmmaking, first-time director Breck Eisner (yes, the son of the Mouse House power player Michael Eisner) paints a pretty picture of exotic locales and thrilling sequences but never quite gets the magic to work with his cast. The banter between Matthew McConaughey and Steve Zahn doesn't click in a satisfying way, while Penélope Cruz fails to light the romantic spark of the flick no matter how hard she tries. McConaughey has the stuff to make a fine hero, but his Dirk Pitt needs more definition in both his charm and heroics. With four writers attached to the screenplay, it's obvious that the adaptation of Clive Cussler's novel went through more than its share of Hollywood potholes throughout the production. Still, with little digital trickery to sour its traditional aesthetics, Sahara does prove to be a competent cut of entertainment that's safe for the masses to buy into. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
Though it opened at number-one, grossing $18 million on its first weekend, Sahara is considered one of the biggest financial failures in Hollywood history.[1][2][3] From a financial perspective, Sahara was unusual because it performed reasonably well, generating $122 million in gross box-office sales.[2] However, the movie was beset by high costs, including $160 million in production costs and $81.1 million in distribution expenses.[2] The film lost approximately $105 million according to a financial executive assigned to the movie;[3] however Hollywood accounting methods assign losses at $78.3 million, taking into account projected revenue.[2] According to Hollywood accounting, the film drew in revenue of $202.9 million against expenses of $281.2 million.[2]
The Los Angeles Times presented an extensive special report on April 15, 2007 dissecting the budget of Sahara as an example of how Hollywood movies can cost so much to produce and fail; many of the often closely held documents had become public domain due to a lawsuit involving the film.[4]
Marine engineers, explorers and former officers and SEALs in the US Navy, LT Dirk Pitt (Matthew McConaughey) and LTJG Al Giordino (Steve Zahn) travel to Mali, to search for what the locals call "The Ship of Death", the lost Civil Warironclad warshipCSS Texas that has a mysterious cargo. Pitt manages to thwart the assassination of Doctor Eva Rojas (Penélope Cruz), a doctor with the United Nations World Health Organization, who is investigating the source of a disease that is wreaking havoc in the area. The cause is a vast amount of industrial waste that is threatening to cause an environmental disaster. It is up to Pitt and his associates at the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) to locate the source of the pollution and shut it down, and explore the connection between the deaths and the missing ironclad.
Promotion
To promote the film, actor Matthew McConaughey drove his own personal Airstream trailer (painted with a large Sahara movie poster on each side) across America, stopping at military bases and many events, such as the Daytona 500 (to Grand Marshal the race), premiering the movie to fans, signing autographs, and doing interviews at each stop. The trip's highlights were shown on an E! channel special to coincide with the film's release. McConaughey also kept a running blog of his trip on MTV's entertainment website. Both MTV and the film's distributor, Paramount Pictures, are owned by Viacom.
According to McConaughey, this film was intended to be the first in a franchise of films based on Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels (much like the James Bond film franchise), but the poor box office performance of the film has stalled any plans for a sequel or a franchise.
Legal problems
In February 2005, Cussler took legal action against Philip Anschutz, the producer, for failing to consult him on the script.[5]
Cussler sued the film's makers for breach of contract and producer Anschutz counter-sued Cussler for "alleged blackmail and sabotage attempts against the film prior to its 2005 release."[citation needed] Cussler claims that his initial brief of "absolute control"[citation needed] over the book's adaptation to the big screen was compromised and this contributed to it becoming a box office failure. In a statement to a Los Angeles court, Cussler says, "They deceived me right from the beginning. They kept lying to me... and I just got fed up with it."[citation needed] Anschutz countered that Cussler's behavior played a big role in the film's financial woes. His lawyer said "It is the height of arrogance for Cussler to take $10 million to make a movie and then torpedo the franchise."[citation needed]
Anschutz prevailed. On May 15, 2007, the jury awarded him $5 million, leaving it to the judge to separately determine whether or not Anschutz should have to pay $8.5 million to Cussler for rights to a second book. In a decision on January 8, 2008, Judge John Shook denied Cussler's claim for the $8.5 million.
On March 10, 2009, Judge John P. Shook ordered Clive Cussler to pay $13.9 million in legal fees to the production company that turned his novel "Sahara" into a motion picture. In his ruling, Judge Shook agreed with lawyers for Crusader Entertainment that an original contract between the two parties called for an award of legal fees if either side breached. "The issue boils down to whether the fees requested are reasonable and necessary," Shook said. He concluded that they were. Cussler sued Crusader in 2004, claiming the company reneged on a contract that gave him approval rights over the film's screenplay. Crusader, which is owned by billionaire Philip Anschutz, countersued, accusing Cussler of duping it into adapting his book into a film based on an inflated number of novels sold. Jurors ruled in May 2007 in favor of the production company, and the author was ordered to pay Crusader $5 million.[6]
Reception
Sahara has been given mixed reviews. It holds a 38% 'rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and with a score of 41 out of a 100 on Metacritic.
Historical accuracy
The real CSS Texas was unfinished when Richmond fell. It was captured intact by Union forces, but never used.
