Geography worth relishing

"Sahara" is director Breck Eisner's first major film. I know what you're thinking, "who would give a novice director a film with a budget of $125 million?" Walt Disney executive and daddy Michael Eisner, that's who. But to be fair, Breck Eisner really did prove himself with this well-directed action movie. As actor Steve Zahn said, "I'm in a real movie!"\nThe film is based on internationally renowned author Clive Cussler's novel by the same name. Reading Cussler's bio, one can hardly distinguish between the plot of the movie and his personal life. As the founder of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), Cussler helps to preserve sunken naval history, just as the character of Dirk Pitt (Matthew McConaughey) does. \nDirk Pitt, along with buddy Al Giordino (Steve Zahn), work to return items of historical importance to the rightful owners. Yet no matter what the pair brings to the surface, Pitt always thinks about an ironclad ship that disappeared from the Confederacy during the Civil War. And on that ship it's said that there is the only coinage ever made from the South. In their travels the two meet up with, and rescue more than once, a doctor working with the World Health Organization named Eva Rojas (Penelope Cruz).\nThe DVD itself has the typical extras that we've come to expect, although because this movie was filmed in atypical locations it makes it worth watching. In the interviews you learn what the cast and crew had to deal with while filming in Morocco -- a plague of locusts, sand storms, excessive heat and hard rains. It also highlights the processes of story boarding, costuming and choreographing action scenes.\nThe sheer magnitude is also its own character in the extra content. As the director said, "the scale of everything is just beyond comprehension." Three tanks, five helicopters 5,000 extras, a seven-acre parking lot of trucks, 1,000 people working on the movie at certain times, 7 cities, 3 countries and over 100 sets and locations had the possibility to be a big mess. One behind-the-scenes man said "it basically has the potential of being the most enormous clusterfuck of all time!" But it wasn't.\nWhile it was pretty far-fetched at times it's not like it was supposed to be an Oscar-worthy film, so I feel like the actors, producers (including McConaughey) and director achieved their goals. It's an enjoyable movie to experience. Matt summed it up nicely in saying, "Part of the fun in doing a film like this is that it makes you get to feel like a kid again." Watching it gives you the same feeling.