Everyone has thought about it at one time or another — the dream job. Whether it’s running a Fortune 500 firm, rocketing into a foreign solar system or being the biggest name on the red carpet — they’ve all been dreamt about.

Dirk Pitt is living his dream job. He travels the world with a company’s funding blowing at his back in search of the world’s lost undersea treasures. Pitt, played by Matthew McConaughey, seems content with his two-man ex-Navy team — his other half being the slightly funnier Steve Zahn — as the two have grown from childhood friends into tag-team treasure hunters.

McConaughey hasn’t had enough, though. Forget the boats, white beaches and beautiful women — he is still not happy. Of all the things he’s discovered, his heart truly lies with an elusive myth — an urban legend of a steel-clad, Civil War gun ship that miraculously made its way across the Atlantic to Africa.

It’s about time Hollywood reverted back to its old gem — the action-adventure film. Finally, there is a movie filled with explosions, exotic destinations and sarcastic humor to warm our hearts in the way “Indiana Jones” once did.

The only dry part of this film is it being mostly shot in the Sahara — the rest is gold, literally.

McConaughey and Zahn make a great balance playing off each other’s opposites. Zahn is the honorable “Short Stuff” sidekick — finding humor in the most dire of circumstances and being effective at his job while still staying slightly below his headlining partner.

And, as is expected, there is a beautiful woman, Penelope Cruz, to throw into the mix to distract McConaughey from the three-foot gun shells flying over his head.

Other classic ingredients are riddled throughout the film. With a full armory of high-tech gadgets at their disposal, they endure African militants blasting apart their motorboat, forcing them to “maneuver” all sorts of transportation as they head into the belly of a crooked international corporation.

And with the essential “good will” lesson at the end, it all caps off with an encore of explosions and the valiant underdog triumphing over evil.

Truly an adventure to watch, “Sahara” leaves behind the dark imagery of “Sin City” by venturing across foreign waters to give audiences a good time, leaving a reminder that summer’s “fun in the sun” is finally near.