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I'm a big Matthew McConaughey fan. I was also a
big Dirk Pitt fan, though I haven't thought about him much in
the last few years. About 15 years ago I read every Clive
Cussler book (mostly Dirk Pitt's adventures) that I could get my
hands on.
My first feeling about Sahara
was negative, it is not a Clive Cussler book.
Pick up Dashiell Hammett's Maltese Falcon book, you'll have a
wonderful read; Hammett's words give you an understanding of
everything he is writing about. Get your hands on a copy
of John Huston's Maltese Falcon, a most excellent film noir.
Now, book in hand, read along while you watch the movie.
(The Maltese Falcon DVD, the book and the important book: The
Maltese Falcon: John Huston, Director (Rutgers Films in Print)).
What Houston did with Hammett's book was not done with Clive Cussler's work. Sahara
takes a great action/adventure figure, Dirk Pitt, and puts him
in an extreme world, where extreme things happen. While
Dirk Pitt of the written word pushed the envelope of reality from time
to time, on the screen, there is a different reality. See
Sahara, but put your reality in your pocket, get into the
reality Breck Eisner has created for you. Be a sport, go
along for the ride.
Therefore, I have this advice for Clive Cussler Fans: get
the books out of your head. Meet the Silver Screen's Dirk
Pitt, he's a new action/adventure super hero.
Matthew McConaughey
has shown his acting skills to us over the past few years.
He was great as the young submarine officer who was not quite ready for command, according to his Captain, Bill Paxton, in U-571; everyone who loved the Wedding
Planner, loved his Eddie Edison; Troy, on the other hand
was a different character (Thirteen
Conversations About One Thing).
When you watch Matthew
McConaughey act, you're not watching Matthew McConaughey playing
Troy, or Matthew McConaughey playing Lt. Andrew Tyler.
Proof: When Matthew McConaughey brought us Denton Van Zan in
Reign
of Fire.
An aside, and then the
proof. Reign of Fire is one of the most under rated
films; it is the perfect example of critics
who are unable to appreciate a genre, are unable to make
good critique of a good film in that genre. This was an excellent movie.
It takes you to a different world, to watch how different
people deal with an extreme situation.
On the one hand
we have a colony of desperate people trying to live a
"normal" life while in spite of the horrendous and
hostile predators that control the world they live in.
Juxtaposed to a group of people who understand that a
normal life can only be had after the world has been taken
back from the predators. Denton Van Zan is the Andrew
Jackson character that invades the domain of the cattle
people described above. He is the leader of a group that
is taking war to the enemy.
This
is not Matthew McConaughey you are watching, this is Denton
Van Zan.
In Sahara, McConaughey
presents to us another character,
Dirk Pitt, who many of us know. Yes, this Dirk Pitt has
some growing to do. But I'll bet he'll have the chance in
Pitt II and Pit III, although I really hope they don't do the
number game.
I'm hoping that Mr. Cussler
and the Sahara powers that be, come to an amiable
agreement and become a team that will bring us a series of Dirk Pitt movies,
under the titles of
the books his adventure come from. If they and you do
it right, this could be another great franchise. A modern
day 007. A 007 that fills the desires of the movie going
public of the 2000s.
Get ready for an exciting
2-hour adrenalin rush. It's fun at the movies time. |
