SAHARA (2005) *** Oh man, what fun! I know that Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power and Humphrey Bogart were making these kind of free-wheeling exotic locale adventure flicks by the time that cinema first gained its youthful footing, but somehow the genre now reminds everybody, including me, of Indiana Jones. Indy kind of trumped the franchise, even though this one, for example, is better than at least several of the Indiana Jones movies. Lots of action, and they pump it with some great and unexpectedly tasteful, mainly loud '70s music: brilliant Dr. John credits, followed in rapid succession by Grand Funk Railroad, Head East, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steppenwolf...they mix in some local sounds too, cool ones. So it's Matthew McConaughey as a scuba-diving Indy stuck in the Sahara Desert looking for an American Civil War ship, yeah? He's maybe not in the Harrison and Tyrone league, but he's more than credible as a good (but bad) dude you wouldn't want to mess with, and when he has a great line he delivers it at least as well as even any of those guys could. It's a film where they don't waste time trying to gain credibility by trying to pretend it's a plausible script, instead you get action to action, throw Matt in the middle of the desert and what's the first thing he sees? Why, it's Penélope Cruz needing to be saved again! Not that she's a Daphne-like character who needs saving all the time. No, as a World Health Organization lady doctor working Central Africa you know that she has to be courageous and good, and so stubborn-as-a-mule is just icing in the cake. Where you get the sense that Matthew is kind of red-lining his range and abilities (again, quite effectively), Pen é lope instead projects the relaxing, gentle sense of a serious actress capable of far more demanding things, just taking an afternoon to kick back and having a good time. As appealing and personable as the leads, and as amusing and fun as the constant plot-jumping ubiquity of coincidence…the film might have lagged a little in places, were it not for Steve Zahn. He's the best part, he's so damn funny, he definitely deserved the Best Sidekick Oscar. It's the kind of film where-just by playing with the volume at the right times and levels-they can turn the Faces' "Stay With Me" into an anthem of enduring love and allegiance. One last inside joke for the terminally hip.
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