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SAHARA This may be based on Clive Cussler's bestseller, but it feels like a knock-off of Raiders of the Lost Ark, a send-up of the James Bond oeuvre or an instant sequel to National Treasure. Matthew McConaughney plays explorer Dirk Pitt as if he were a party-hardy frat boy who ventured out into the real world after all campus kegs were tapped dry; hammy Steve Zahn, as his sidekick, gets the funniest lines but can't deliver them without squinting like Popeye on the electric chair; and Penelope Cruz tags along as a dedicated doctor, although she seems so disinterested in what's happening around her that it's hard to believe her character would even have the medical know-how to prescribe aspirin. For a movie that Paramount hopes will kick off a new screen franchise, there's an air of desperation about Sahara, which tries too hard to please and in the process strips itself of any natural charm.
SIN CITY Three Frank Miller graphic novels get stylishly fitted for the big screen by director Robert Rodriguez, with Bruce Willis, Clive Owen and Mickey Rourke cast as the tough guys who must contend with sultry femme fatales and raging psychopaths. As a gimmick, Sin City is a beaut, as Rodriguez faithfully copied Miller's panels and in the process created a visually stunning yarn in which speckles of color add further resonance to the otherwise black-and-white imagery. Yet the movie isn't mere eye candy: In addition to nailing the scrawl-to-screen process, Rodriguez has also created a neo-film noir that - extreme violence aside - largely captures the mood of those time-honored flicks from the 40s and 50s. The glee with which Rodriguez films the sadism may be off-putting, but the joy with which he pays tribute to both the comic form and film noir is positively infectious.
OPENS FRIDAY:
THE BALLAD OF JACK AND ROSE: Daniel Day-Lewis, Camilla Belle.
CRASH: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle.
HOUSE OF WAX: Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray.
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN: Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson.
WALK ON WATER: Lior Ashkenazi, Carolina Peters.