History Film / Sahara2005

Though it earned $119 million at the box office, this film was a notable financial disaster, costing the studio over $100 million in losses. The movie was also famous for prompting a multi-million dollar lawsuit by Cussler, the author of the original novel, against the producers of the film, a lawsuit that Cussler subsequently lost. (The lawsuit led to [[http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-movie15apr15,0,4543905,full.story all the movie's expenses being revealed]]; it's a nice read if you want to discover how Hollywood can spend so much.)

* AdaptedOut: The novel has an entire subplot surrounding the crashed plane that Dirk and Al find, including a second prologue scene detailing the plane's origin and backstory of how it ended up crashed in the middle of the desert and what subsequently happened to its original pilot. The film completely removes this subplot and the plane has no plot importance beyond Dirk and Al using it to save themselves after being stranded in the desert.

Though it earned over $200 million at the box office, this film was a notable financial disaster, costing the studio over $100 million in losses. The movie was also famous for prompting a multi-million dollar lawsuit by Cussler, the author of the original novel, against the producers of the film, a lawsuit that Cussler subsequently lost. (The lawsuit led to [[http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-movie15apr15,0,4543905,full.story all the movie's expenses being revealed]]; it's a nice read if you want to discover how Hollywood can spend so much.)

Though reasonably successful at the box office, this film was a notable financial disaster, costing the studio over $100 million in losses. The movie was also famous for prompting a multi-million dollar lawsuit by Cussler, the author of the original novel, against the producers of the film, a lawsuit that Cussler subsequently lost. (The lawsuit led to [[http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-movie15apr15,0,4543905,full.story all the movie's expenses being revealed]]; it's a nice read if you want to discover how Hollywood can spend so much.)

Not to be confused with [[Film/{{Sahara 1983}} the 1983 film of the same name]], even though Lambert Wilson coincidentally starred in both.

** For what it's worth, that armor plating is hardly in ideal shape after being buried under the sand for close to a century and it was not designed to hold up against modern day weapons, even if the villain wasn't using armor piercing rounds.

* TemptingFate: Pointing out that armour plate will protect you [[spoiler:moments before being riddled by armor-piercing bullets.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Subverted with [[spoiler: Massarde. While he manages to pull off a VillainExitStageLeft in the final battle, he later dies when [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink drinking poisoned water, courtesy of Carl]].]]

Creator/MatthewMcConaughey stars as AdventureArchaeologist Dirk Pitt. While engaged in a deep-sea salvage off the coast of Nigeria with his partner Al Giordino (Steve Zahn), Dirk discovers evidence that a lost Civil War ironclad may have managed to cross the Atlantic and wind up in Western Africa. Simultaneously, he saves the life of a WHO doctor (Creator/PenelopeCruz), who is investigating the source of a strange disease. Together they travel up the Niger River, searching for the missing ship and the toxins causing the disease, while evading the forces of General Kazim, who rules over the region and may have something to do with the plague.

Though reasonably successful at the box office, this film was a notable financial disaster, costing the studio over $100 million in losses. The movie was also famous for prompting a multi-million dollar lawsuit by Cussler, the author of the original novel, against the producers of the film, a lawsuit that Cussler subsequently lost. (The lawsuit led to [[http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-movie15apr15,0,4543905,full.story all the movie's expenses being revealed]]; it's a nice read if you want to discover how can Hollywood spend so much.)

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Sandecker uses ExactWords to avoid giving [[spoiler:the Confederate gold to the US, as it is ''Confederate'' gold, not US gold. But legally, the CSA is considered a part of the US, not a separate country, and anything the CSA owned would automatically become the property of the US after being readmitted to the Union - it is now gold that belongs to the US]]. Of course, it's quite possible that Sandecker knows this and is just straight-up lying as he actually gave the gold to support the Tuareg village.

** In the final scene Dirk tells Eva that he has somthing to say that he meant to tell her after the movie's climax. Naturally the audience (and Eva) think he's leading up to something romantic, but Dirk merely says that, yes, Eva does throw like a girl. (This refers to some CasualDangerDialogue from earlier in the film when Dirk needed Eva to throw some explosives.)

* {{Catchphrase}}: Al seems to say "hi how are ya?" alot. Also doubles as a OneHitKill PreAsskickingOneLiner one time.

* GreenAesop: Though the carrot that brings Dirk to Africa is lost Confederate gold, the stick that keeps him there despite being shot at constantly is [[spoiler:Massarde's secret toxic waste disposal site; a solar-powered furnace meant to safely destroy extremely hazardous chemicals of indefinite origin, a service which is making him very rich. Problem is, it's not able to destroy all of the waste, requiring the remainder to be haphazardly stored in an underground storage facility. A storage facility that's leaking this material into the water table - resulting in what Rojas is diagnosing as a plague killing countless Malians. That's not the end of it, either; Sandecker's simulations show that if the contamination reaches the Atlantic, it will effectively ''cause an Atlantic Chenobyl'']].

* MrFanservice: Dirk. He has a WalkingShirtlessScene.

* StupidSurrender: Kazim's army, which includes tanks and armored personnel carriers, oddly surrenders to the Tuareg army, which has only cavalry troops. Granted they had a slight edge in numbers, but the armored vehicles of Kazim's army were more then enough to make up the difference. There is a reason cavalry isn't used in modern warfare very much these days.

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: [spoiler: Massarde is implied to die after being served poisoned water in a restaurant, served by Carl disguised as a waiter.]

* StupidSurrender: Kazim's army, which includes tanks and armored personnel carriers, oddly surrenders to the Tuareg army, which has only cavalry troops. Granted they had a slight edge in numbers, but the armored vehicles of Kazim's army were more then enough to make up the difference. There is a reason cavalry isn't used in modern warfare very much these days,

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Sandecker uses ExactWords to avoid giving [[spoiler:the Confederate gold to the US, as it is ''Confederate'' gold, not US gold. But legally, the CSA is considered a part of the US, not a separate country, and anything the CSA owned would automatically become the property of the US after being readmitted to the Union - it is now gold that belongs to the US]]. Of course, it's quite possible that Sandecker knows this and is just straight-up lying.

* GreenAesop: Though the carrot that brings Dirk to Africa is lost Confederate gold, the stick that keeps him there despite being shot at constantly is [[spoiler:Massarde's secret toxic waste disposal site; a solar-powered furnace meant to safely destroy extremely hazardous chemicals of indefinite origin, a service which is making him very rich. Problem is, it doesn't work. ''At all.'' So it's more of a storage facility that's leaking this material into the water table - and resulting in what Rojas is diagnosing as a plague killing countless Malians. That's not the end of it, either; Sandecker's simulations show that if the contamination reaches the Atlantic, it will effectively ''sterilize the oceans'']].

* AdventurerArchaeologist: The National Underwater and Marine Agency appears to be a sort of HeroesForHire outfit for examples of this trope. Dirk is the straightest example in the cast, while Al is more of an Adventurer Archaeologist's BeleaguredAssistant, although he does have plenty of badass moments of his own.

->'''Dirk Pitt:''' I don't know - it seems to be working so far.

''Sahara'' is a 2005 action-adventure film starring Creator/MatthewMcConaughey as AdventureArchaeologist Dirk Pitt. While engaged in a deep-sea salvage off the coast of Nigeria with his partner Al Giordino (Steve Zahn), Dirk discovers evidence that a lost Civil War ironclad may have managed to cross the Atlantic and wind up in Western Africa. Simultaneously, he saves the life of a WHO doctor (Creator/PenelopeCruz), who is investigating the source of a strange disease. Together they travel up the Niger River, searching for the missing ship and the toxins causing the disease, while evading the forces of General Kazim, who rules over the region and may have something to do with the plague.

Though reasonably successful at the box office, this film was a notable financial disaster, costing the studio over $100 million in losses. The movie was also famous for prompting a multi-million dollar lawsuit by the writer of the original novel, Creator/CliveCussler, against the producers of the film, a lawsuit that Cussler subsequently lost. (The lawsuit led to [[http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-movie15apr15,0,4543905,full.story all the movie's expenses being revealed]]; it's a nice read if you want to discover how can Hollywood spend so much.)

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sahara.jpg]]

Though reasonably successful at the box office, this film was a notable financial disaster, costing the studio over $100 million in losses. The movie was also famous for prompting a multi-million dollar lawsuit by the writer of the original novel, Creator/CliveCussler, against the producers of the film, a lawsuit that Cussler subsequently lost. (the lawsuit lead to [[http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-movie15apr15,0,4543905,full.story all the movie's expenses to be revealed]] - it's a nice read if you want to discover how can Hollywood spend so much)

--> '''Dirk:''' We need to find that bomb.
--> '''Al:''' No. I'll find the bomb. You get the girl.
--> '''Dirk:''' ... Deal!

%%* GreenAesop

--> '''Dirk:''' I'm sorry, I don't speak English.
--> '''Malian soldier:''' ''[laughs]'' You are speaking English now!
--> '''Dirk:''' No, I only know how to say, "I don't speak English" in English.

--> '''Dirk:''' I'll bet you a hundred there's a tool kit in there.
--> '''Al:''' I don't wanna rain on your crazy parade, buddy, but I don't think we can fix this thing.
--> ''[cue SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome]''

* SaharanShipwreck: A literal one is the object of Pitt’s search.
* ShootTheMoney: Averted when a plane crash that took up 45 seconds of film time and cost $2 million to film was cut to make room for the ProductPlacement scenes.

* ProductPlacement: Quite a few, which was part of the reason for the film's TroubledProduction: by contract, those scenes had to be in the theatrical release, regardless of their relevance to the plot, forcing scenes that were more relevant and more expensive to film in some cases to be cut.

%%* AdventurerArchaeologist: Dirk Pitt
* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Sandecker uses ExactWords to avoid giving [[spoiler:the Confederate gold to the US, as it is ''Confederate'' gold, not US gold. But legally, the CSA is considered a part of the US, not a separate country, and anything the CSA owned would automatically become the property of the US after being readmitted to the Union - it is now gold that belongs to the US]].

%%* ConvenientlyTimedAttackFromBehind

* ExtendedDisarming: When captured by Tuareg freedom fighters, Al spends several seconds ridding himself of all of his guns, prompting looks from the other two.

** Panama is another incident we only have a little bit of information on... aside from the fact that they apparently blew up a boat, that they later found out that they weren't actually ''in'' Panama but actually in Nicaragua, and that it didn't actually work. The fact that Sandecker knew ''exactly'' what they were going to do when he overheard the word Panama suggests that they nevertheless do it quite often.

->'''Al Giordino''': Well, we're in the desert, looking for the source of a river pollutant, using as our map a cave drawing of a CivilWar gunship, which is also in the desert. So I was just wondering when we're gonna have to sit down and re-evaluate our decision-making paradigm?
->'''Dirk Pitt''': I don't know - it seems to be working so far.

''Sahara'' is a 2005 action-adventure {{film}} starring Creator/MatthewMcConaughey as AdventureArchaeologist Dirk Pitt. While engaged in a deep-sea salvage off the coast of Nigeria with his partner Al Giordino (Steve Zahn), Dirk discovers evidence that a lost Civil War ironclad may have managed to cross the Atlantic and wind up in Western Africa. Simultaneously, he saves the life of a WHO doctor (Creator/PenelopeCruz), who is investigating the source of a strange disease. Together they travel up the Niger River, searching for the missing ship and the toxins causing the disease, while evading the forces of General Kazim, who rules over the region and may have something to do with the plague.

* {{Badass}}: Dirk, again. Former Navy SEAL after all.
* BaitAndSwitch: In the final scene Dirk tells Eva that he has somthing to say that he meant to tell her after the movie's climax. Naturally the audience (and Eva) think he's leading up to something romantic, but Dirk merely says that, yes, Eva does throw like a girl. (This refers to some CasualDangerDialogue from earlier in the film when Dirk needed Eva to throw some explosives.)

* DamselInDistress: Eva clearly is a scientist, no ActionGirl. Dirk likes that.
--> '''Dirk''': "We need to find that bomb."
--> '''Al''': "No. I'll find the bomb. You get the girl."
--> '''Dirk''': "... Deal!"
** Eva is still gutsy enough to shoot the soldier with a gun on Dirk, and later leaps on Zakara, preventing him from killing Dirk.

* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Yves Massarde]] to Kazim.
** Also Zakara.

* {{Fanservice}}: Dirk's WalkingShirtlessScene.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During Dirk's payphone call to Sandecker after pulling off a truly magnificent IndyPloy and feat of MacGyvering, [[spoiler: an understandably irritated local resident shouts abuse at Al and gesticulates wildly at the improvised sandsailer built from the wreck of an aircraft, which is now sticking out of the side of his house.]]

* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: NUMA is specifically noted as being a private organization in the movie, despite being a government one in the books. However, the ending implies that the government wants to buy their services and make them official, so its likely this movie was intended to be an origin story.
** Interestingly, Clive Cussler, the man who created the fictional agency, also [[{{Defictionalization}} made NUMA non-fictional]]. He now has over sixty shipwreck recoveries under his belt.

--> '''Dirk''': "I'll bet you a hundred there's a tool kit in there."
--> '''Al''': "I don't wanna rain on your crazy parade, buddy, but I don't think we can fix this thing."
--> ''*cue SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome*''

--> '''Dirk''': "These walls are two feet thick with a double steel coating so there's no way those bullets can get to us. We sit tight and wait him out.
--> ''cue hail of bullets''
--> '''Al''': "Dirk. Ya' wanna talk me through that again?"

--> '''Al''': "Hey! Where're we going?"
--> '''Dirk''': "I dunno, but we're making ''great'' time!"

[[NamesTheSame Not to be confused with]] the [[Film/Sahara1943 the 1943 Humphrey Bogart film]], the 1984 Brooke Shields film, or the 1995 Creator/JamesBelushi remake of the Bogart film.

* AdventurerArchaeologist: Dirk Pitt
* [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Agency of Fiction]]: NUMA is specifically noted as being a private organization in the movie, despite being a government one in the books. However, the ending implies that the government wants to buy their services and make them official, so its likely this movie was intended to be an origin story.
** Interestingly, Clive Cussler, the man who created the fictional agency, also [[{{Defictionalization}} made NUMA non-fictional]]. He now has over sixty shipwreck recoveries under his belt.

* ConvenientlyTimedAttackFromBehind

* GreenAesop
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Dirk and Al.
* HotScientist: Eva Rojas.

* OutrunTheFireball

[[NamesTheSame Not to be confused with]] the [[Film/Sahara1943 the 1943 Humphrey Bogart film]], the 1985 Brooke Shields film, or the 1995 Creator/JamesBelushi remake of the Bogart film.