Sahara. Matthew McConaghey, William Macy, Rainn Wilson. With Pennelope Cruz as the love interest. Very, very loosely based on a Clive Cussler novel.
Cussler was a fool to disown that movie. Could have been a great franchise. McConaghey captured the spirit of Dirk Pitt, especially compared to the wooden Richard Jordan performance in RAISE THE TITANIC. I even bought Steve Zahn as Al Giordino after he press-checked that AK-47 he picked up during the oasis fight.
Cussler felt they weren’t taking the story seriously enough. I thought the tongue-in-cheek aspects were perfect. Cussler should read his own books.