Sahara (DVD, 2005, Widescreen)
Once again Dirk Pitt (Matthew McConaughey) and his lifelong pal and best friend, Al Giordino (Steve Zahn), are on another treasure hunt in Clive Cussler's "SAHARA". This time they are looking for the fabled Civil War Confederate Ironclad "TEXAS". The story has it that it crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1865 and made it all the way to Africa and up the Niger River where it disappeared, and has never since been seen. On a tip from an antiquities dealer in Nigeria, Dirk acquires a $20 gold coin, one of only five minted, by the Confederacy in 1865, and found in Mali!
Dirk and Al convince their boss, retired Admiral James Sandecker (William H. Macy), and NUMA, to let them go to Mali and search. Upon arriving, they meet Doctor Eva Rojas (Penelope Cruz) and her associate, Dr. Frank Hopper (Glynn Turman), both with the World Health Organization. They are going to Mali to try and find the source of a deadly epidemic, spreading through the land. Dirk and Al give them a lift on their boat.
A French businessman, Yves Massarde, and a warlord/dictator, General Kazim, who controls half of Mali, are trying to stop them. After dropping the doctors off, Dirk and Al discover strange bacteria in the Niger River that can only be from hazardous waste contamination. This stuff is flowing towards the ocean, and killing many people along the way. All of a sudden, Dirk and Al come under fire from soldiers of this General Kazim. Narrowly escaping, but with the loss of Sandecker's Yacht, they are afoot in Africa. The WHO people also come under fire and all are killed except Dr. Rojas (Cruz). She teams up with Dirk and Al in an attempt to find the source of the contamination. They trace it to a secret solar powered plant in the middle of the Mali Desert. In truth, the contamination is coming from this plant and seeping through the well system into the river.
As the movie progresses, the plant owner, Massarde, fearing discovery as the source of the contamination, attempts to blow up the plant with Dirk, Al, and Eva, locked inside. In the mean time, they have been trying to stir up the inhabitants against the Dictator General Kazim. He is moving against Dirk and his party, and anyone else in his way. By accident they discover the rusted wreck of the Ironclad Texas, and while under attack by Kazim's forces, take refuge inside. With the help of a 150 year old cannon and a very lucky shot, they manage to kill Kazim, and with the opposition forces, stop his army. As a bonus, they discover thousands of Confederate gold coins on-board the Texas.
In the closing scene, Yves Massarde is having lunch in a restaurant with another man. He is brought water to his table laced with the same contaminant that killed hundreds of others.Read full review
