Sahara (12a)
http://www.sundayherald.com/48761

A CLEAR stab at an Indiana Jones-style adventure for erudite action heroes with silly names, this posits Matthew McConaughey as Dirk Pitt, Navy Seal turned maritime history buff, who with trusty sidekick Al Giordino (Steve Zahn) combs the seabed for ancient treasure. In Africa in search of an American civil war battleship that wandered rather a long way off course, the pair encounter a World Health Organisation doctor, Eva Rojas (Penélope Cruz) trying to trace the source of a disease threatening the continent. Trekking together up the Niger and into the Sahara, the trio discover that the plague is really a poison, created by an African warlord and his capitalist stooge.

Based on the Clive Cussler novel, what ensues is an enjoyable affair that never quite takes off. The action and locations are impressive, and there is good character work as ever by Zahn (more able than the usual buffoonish sidekicks, and with lines like “I think we should evaluate our decision-making paradigm”) and William H Macy as an old sea dog. But when the film requires a Spielbergian sense of wonderment, Breck Eisner falls short; and his romantic leads, despite a real-life relationship, fail to find the spark on screen.