‘Sahara’ lukewarm in comparison to fiery classics

In theaters

SAHARA, directed by Breck Eisner, written by Thomas Dean Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John C. Richards and James V. Hart, 130 minutes, rated PG-13.

In the blistering heat of “Sahara,” anything is possible -romance, strife, plague, the end of civilization, even the idea that a Civil War-era Confederate ship might be buried deep beneath African sands.

As directed by Michael Eisner’s son Breck, in his feature film debut, what quickly becomes clear in “Sahara” is that Eisner may have left his screenwriters out in the sun too long. The film is sometimes so over the top, it appears as if their imaginations, warped by the heat, were taxed into hallucinations.

But who cares, right? With the action-adventure genre, pretty much anything is possible and bombast can be a plus. One only needs to look at the Indiana Jones movies to see how well these films can be done when done well.

For “Sahara,” the problem is that we have the Indiana Jones movies to compare it to – not to mention a few others, such as “King Solomon’s Mines” – and I’m afraid there’s no comparison. As good-natured and occasionally fun as “Sahara” is, this movie version of Clive Cussler’s popular novel is little more than a likable poseur.

In the film, Matthew McConaughey is Cussler’s famous renegade hero, Dirk Pitt, who is in Africa with his comic-relief buddy, Al (Steve Zahn), searching for the aforementioned ship when their search crisscrosses with another.

Also in Africa is the earnest Eva Rojas (Penelope Cruz), a humorless World Health Organization doctor who fears that Africa is on the brink of another plague, one that could reach New York within six months and then, after some unfortunate side effects, wipe out all life as we know it.

The looming threat of mass death is usually good for these sorts of movies – it gives them a purpose – and in “Sahara,” it does whip up some interest.

The water system in Africa is becoming spoiled, with the plague gradually leaching down the Niger River to the Atlantic Ocean, where it will ignite the moment it hits the salt water and the oxygen within that water. When that happens, let’s just say that we’ll cease to happen.

But who cares, right? What matters here is what always matters in these films: Is it fun? Are the characters worth rooting for? Are the action scenes peppered with inventive stunts you haven’t seen before and are delighted to see now?

The answers are mixed. In spite of its long running time and shaky plot points, sometimes “Sahara” is fun, particularly at the end, when Eisner embraces the absurdity of what he has created and cuts loose.

McConaughey and Zahn have chemistry, but forget Cruz. She looks a bit dumbstruck by it all, as if she showed up for the wrong movie – one to be taken seriously. As for the action, too much of it audiences have seen before, with several scenes pulled straight out of the Indiana Jones movies. Some might argue that those scenes are Eisner tipping his hat to Spielberg, but if that’s the case, others will argue that he never should have tossed that hat into the ring.

Grade: C+

On video and DVD

ELEKTRA, directed by Rob Bowman, written by Zak Penn, Stuart Zicherman and Raven Metzner, 96 minutes, rated PG-13.

The last time we saw Jennifer Garner tarted up as Elektra, the brunette bombshell in the sadomasochistic superhero suit, it was 2003, she was slicing and dicing her way through “Daredevil,” Ben Affleck was just her co-star and not her boyfriend, and her character had a last name: Natchios. Elektra Natchios.

Since that sounded to many like a high-voltage Mexican appetizer, this new movie from Rob Bowman shrewdly drops Elektra’s last name. It also drops Ben Affleck from the story, a masterstroke and a blessing that’s the best news I can share in a film that regrettably and ironically forgot to supply the electricity.

The film behaves as if “Daredevil” didn’t exist, which is understandable considering that that movie was such a dim bag of assorted chicken parts. Still, in ignoring the movie, you also must ignore the ending. Elektra died. For Bowman and his writers, that’s about as much of a problem as it is for the daytime soaps, which have been resurrecting the dead for years.

And so, in “Elektra,” they just bring her back to life, in this case thanks to the help of Terence Stamp’s Stick, an all-knowing, blind martial arts master whose skin is such a fluorescent orange, there are moments when he looks like an Oompa Loompa.

Since the plot of “Elektra” doesn’t matter to the filmmakers, let’s not make a fuss of it here. It’s safe to say that in the film, Elektra must fight the evil boiling in herself (she begins the movie as an assassin), and then, as she softens, the evil that threatens to kill the family (Goran Visnjic, Kirsten Prout) is the same that she herself was hired to kill.

Though the movie improves as it unfolds, what “Elektra” can’t escape is the ongoing feeling that Bowman shot the rehearsal; the actors deliver their dialogue with all the passion of a line reading.

This is especially true of Garner, a normally charismatic actress whom Bowman has reduced to a furrowed brow and a long face. She’s allowed none of the snap Elektra enjoyed in “Daredevil,” none of the playfulness. Instead, she’s the glummest of superheroes, which kills the fun and pulls the plug on the movie.

Grade: C-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, and are archived at Rotten

Tomatoes.com. He may be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.