**The Good**:

+ Features a good amount of exciting action scenes that keep you watching until the end.
+ The somewhat realistic take on treasure hunting makes this film stand out from its brothers and sisters.
+ **Matthew McConaughey** proves he does make a good action star.
+ The dialogue features some genuinely memorable and hilarious lines.

**The Bad**:

- The story as a whole is the biggest criminal here. The two intertwining story-lines never really interact well together and the main story of the lost civil war ship is quickly side-lined. The first half of the movie doesn't really move the plot forward at all until some convenient and lazy writing decisions suddenly make both plots leap a mile or two forward.
- The movie lacks the flow of adventure that makes films such as the _Indiana Jones_-franchise so enjoyable.
- The cast isn't very believable - McCounaghey and Zahn never make for believable treasure hunters, even if they are good action stars. Penelope Cruz just hangs around, is offensively one-dimensional, and has very little purpose in the story.
- The bad guys aren't particularly interesting. They show up in the middle of the story, do some bad stuff with unclear motives, and are defeated by our heroes.
- **Steve Zahn** has his moments, but he is mostly annoying.

**Verdict**:

_Sahara_ could have been the next big adventure movie - but instead it's an unoriginal, boring and not very exciting attempt at a Indy rip-off.