Living in Austin has its advantages. One of the greatest is getting to attend premieres at The Paramount Theater. Ok, technically this wasn’t a premiere. This was Matthew McConaughey’s home town screening, which just happened to take place in advance of the “World Premiere”.
The screening was benefiting the Austin Film Society and their Texas Filmmaker’s Production Fund which places over $70,000 shells in the hands of filmmakers, while also helping them with post production and even shooting arrangements. In all – a good cause!
I was very conflicted about SAHARA before attending. I haven’t liked any of the trailers, but I love Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt character… but the trailers seemed to be something entirely different. There didn’t seem to be any of that real spirit of adventure going on there, it just felt like goofy lines… And was McConaughey Dirk Pitt? I couldn’t tell. On the surface, having Breck Eisner as director was a real “what the hell,” but had I looked closer, I would have learned he directed the best episode of Spielberg’s TAKEN, episode 2, which really was outstanding. But I didn’t know that going in.
However, it was an Austin Film Society event, I had to go – maybe it’ll be fun. I remember, the Film Society did a screening of Stephen Soderbergh’s OUT OF SIGHT – and everyone thought that was going to be ass in advance, saw it, and wow wow wow. So they have a history of landing cool.
I decided to bring my Granny, Doc Falken, RoRo and Father Geek along – This was being marketed as a family film adventure – let’s see if it works. So before the film, University of Texas Head Coach Mac Brown takes the stage to introduce Matthew, but first points out Darryl Royal sitting in the audience. WOW! To one that hemorrhages burnt orange like me, that’s cool as hell. Then he brings out Matthew… Then some official from the city of Austin comes out and presents McConaughey with a Bongo set! And Matthew begins playing the Bongos – fully clothed. It was hilarious.
When Matthew took the mike finally, he really created an air of… man, I want to like this thing. McConaughey is just intrinsically likable as hell. It isn’t that I don’t like him - I do – I just wasn’t sure what this Breck Eisner was gonna do to this movie.
The film begins with the story of the Civil War Ironclad battleship Texas that disappeared off the east coast during this Nation’s darkest days. Then we find ourselves in Dirk Pitt’s office / work area. It was this shot that caught me off-guard. It’s the opening credits – but one long exploratory shot of all the items in this room… Dirk’s history, his mates, they guys he’s worked with, adventures he has had. It is humorous and serious. Finally we make our way to a globe and suddenly we’re in Lagos… At this point we meet Penelope Cruz’s character. She’s working for the World Health Organization and trying to find out the source of a plague that is showing up. Essentially – it’s through her that we first meet Dirk Pitt. At first, it was just a man pulling himself into a boat… a distant shot. Then we join Cruz in trouble, being attacked, when suddenly as she’s blacking out – stolen glances of a hero emerges… Then cut to her waking aboard a ship, she meets Steve Zahn’s Al Giordino – Dirk’s right hand man… and from there – we’re off.
What follows is an adventure film right out of the pages of Clive Cussler. If you aren’t really familiar with what that entails, think of it like this. It’s kinda like Indiana Jones and James Bond, by way of Jack Burton and Buckaroo Banzai. He’s a bit of a fortune hunter, but one that knows the greater good. As told in this film, which is just fun as hell – Eisner completely captures that sense of history between Dirk and Al… and Admiral James Sandecker (William H Macy perfectly cast) and ol CIA Agent Carl (Delroy Lindo cool as hell). It isn’t overtly tongue in cheek, but when they get in dire trouble – it isn’t new to them – they’ve seen trouble before – sometimes even the same kind of trouble. They’re no strangers to adventure and they handle it instead of panicking.
Best thing about the film is the interaction between Matthew and Steve Zahn. There’s just such an honest history of genuine friendship and shared adventure between them. The timing of their looks, the way they regard one another… it isn’t like one is above the other – it’s more like best friends that each are accomplished adventurers and Dirk just happens to be more senior.
The film is beautiful, shot in Morocco and showing off the beautiful and vital culture there. The film is greatly entertaining in a clean good old fashioned way, while having a beat and coolness that at times feels totally James Bond or The Incredibles – this is mainly due to Clint Mansell’s wonderful score and the scope and grandeur that Breck captured in the film. The big evil thing at the end is so James Bond-y, but just cooler than any recent attempts at “the big bad thing.”
The highest complement is that they completely captured the spirit and feel of Cussler’s finest character. If you’re a fan, you’ll squeal with delight – if you have never read them, you’ll enjoy your time discovering a new character. And the best news we have is that we have a new director to be watching. Cool!
