Directed By Aaron and Adam Nee

Starring – Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe

The Plot – A reclusive romance novelist (Bullock) on a book tour with her cover model (Tatum) gets swept up in a kidnapping attempt that lands them both in a cutthroat jungle adventure, at the hands of a billionaire madman (Radcliffe).

Rated PG-13 for violence and some bloody images, suggestive material, partial nudity and adult language

the lost city trailer – YouTube

POSITIVES

Very few films have the ability to call themselves perfect date movies, but “The Lost City” attains an air of categorical and creative freedom that exudes an infectious energy transcending genres and helping to solidify something endearing for every side of the audience demographic. For the ladies, there’s the obvious eye candy, led prominently by a compelling, against-type performance from Channing Tatum, whose physical attributes here are joined by a fearful characterization, which in turn lends Tatum no shortage of the pitch perfect comedic timing and light-hearted demeanor that has paved the way for an actor once tragically labeled as one-dimension. For the males, there’s a surprising abundance of action sequences in various set pieces that are not only thoroughly directed by the brothers Nee with an ample amount of palpable intensity and urgency, particularly in the air of the film’s riveting camera work, but also attain with them the kind of unexpected stakes that the film cohesively uses to pitch together a degree of dark underlining humor that takes the material miles. The gags themselves are slightly inconsistent in effectiveness, but what does work about them are the sight gags that are delivered seamlessly with picture perfect editing and an overwhelming element of surprise that proves the film is not above humiliating its characters for an airborne sense of danger that follows them faithfully throughout the jungle. Beyond Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe also hands in a fun turn as the movie’s primary antagonist. Radcliffe is clearly having the time of his life playing against type, and the arrogance of the character combined with Daniel’s bluntly unapologetic delivery cements the kind of opposition we love to hate, but also one we hate to live without for the moments his character frequently disappears from the screen, in order to make room for the blossoming romance before us. Finally, the soundtrack also conjured up an element of surprise, as the various selections of artists and corresponding genres not only helped to flesh out humor in the scenes they audibly decorate, but also lyrically present a contextual irony that justified their existence, while persisting in an entirely new creative light that will inevitably force audiences to see it in a new light from this point forward. Such an example pertains to “Red Right Hand” from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, which originally served as the theme for the “Scream” franchise, but here gives way to a surprise cameo assassin during the first act flipping his way through the jungle, for the sake of saving instead of killing, based on the aforementioned film it originated from.

NEGATIVES

Where the humor stunts itself on the law of diminished returns is in the dialogue, where the lines not only consistently fell flat through a repetition of similar ideas, just repackaged in an entirely different scene, but also never knew when to quit from improvisation that have damned better comedies. This is certainly where the editing could be a little tighter in the scene-to-scene transitions, as prolonged scenes to hammer home a punchline repeatedly undercut the value of the material in ways that feel void of confidence in their deliveries, while intentionally padding out the run time to meet the 107-minute requirement that it doesn’t entirely earn. On this aspect, padding is certainly evident, both in a subplot involving Bullock’s on-screen agent to save her, but also in the treasure plot device, which never feels fully realized for this particular film. Part of the problem is certainly where the story goes, reaching an anticlimactic resolution that underwhelms, but also in the lack of development towards it, particularly during the second act, which make it feel like the screenwriter has all but forgotten about its aspect and influence to the script, and only remembers when it was absolutely necessary to include it. On the agent subplot, the pacing of the film grinds to a screeching halt any time this character is on-screen, and believe me when I say it is a lot. Building a secondary arc is very important, but it’s really only required two or three times throughout. Any more than that makes the lack of development all the more redundant, while taking the wind from the momentum built between two characters in the foreground of the main plot whom we wholeheartedly root for throughout. Aside from this, the film also carries with it a shameless air of derivativeness, right down to the very plot that materialized from a 1984 movie called “Romancing the Stone”. Because this film is so similar to that predecessor, it not only removes much of the unpredictability from its script, to which there is little to begin with, but also presents itself as a remake of sorts that decided against taking the same title, in order to pass itself off as an original product. It isn’t, and even goes as far to admit this during a convention for the fictional novels that Bullock’s character writes, called “Romancing the Page”. Homaging something is fine if your material lends itself to the same consistencies of that previous effort, but “The Lost City” isn’t as well made, clever, or as quotable as “Romancing the Stone”, creating an inescapable wall in my enjoyment of this film that knows there is a better film about this very plot somewhere out there, on the shelves of my massive VHS collection.

OVERALL

“The Lost City” isn’t original nor unpredictable enough to succeed without fully resting on the shoulders of its many impactful performances. Though flawed, the film is harmless escapism at its most exhilarating, creating a feel-good time that men and women will simultaneously enjoy, while getting lost in the magic of Bullock and Tatum, whose is the real treasure that drives this excavation.

My Grade: 7/10 or B-