The Lost City is released in UK cinemas on April 13 2022.
Synopsis
Brilliant, but reclusive author Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) has spent her career writing about exotic places in her popular romance-adventure novels featuring handsome cover model Alan (Channing Tatum), who has dedicated his life to embodying the hero character, “Dash.” While on tour promoting her new book with Alan, Loretta is kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) who hopes that she can lead him to the ancient lost city’s treasure from her latest story. Wanting to prove that he can be a hero in real life and not just on the pages of her books, Alan sets off to rescue her. Thrust into an epic jungle adventure, the unlikely pair will need to work together to survive the elements and find the ancient treasure before it’s lost forever.
Review
It’s a rare occasion to go to the cinema and see a ripped A-list actor in the jungle that isn’t Dwayne Johnson. And that’s probably one of the most exciting aspects of The Lost City. Despite being billed as an action adventure comedy romance film the film doesn’t deliver on much of that. There are a couple of humorous, if not forgettable, jokes and one-liners along the way but otherwise The Lost City is tedious to sit through and doesn’t offer much in the way of entertainment.
Reclusive romance novelist Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) gets kidnapped by Daniel Radcliffe’s eccentric rich British villain Abigail Fairfax and the only person coming to save her is the dim-witted cover model for her books Alan, played by Channing Tatum, as well as a little help from Brad Pitt along the way too.
The cast themselves do a fairly good job carrying the film and if it weren’t for them it would be an absolute train wreck. Bullock and Tatum’s chemistry together stands out and the two of them make for light and easy watching when they’re on screen but the pair don’t quite ever fully gel with any of the romance. Daniel Radcliffe is an absolute delight to watch with him absolutely nailing the wacky, over-the-top criminal billionaire. It’s the exact same sort of role that he had in Now You See Me 2 back in 2016 but Radcliffe is brilliant as the crazy British villain and it’s a role that I’d love to see more of from him in the future.
The Lost City has a few funny moments, including a joyous, yet all too brief scene involving Brad Pitt as well as an excellent use of Europe’s ‘The Final Countdown’ however a lot of the jokes fall flat and judging from the audience’s reaction in the cinema it felt like most of the other viewers agreed that many of the jokes didn’t land. There’s only so long of Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum wandering about in a jungle that you can handle before you start to lose interest and go insane.
The film is never boring but it just lacks anything exciting. When the humour isn’t working and the romance isn’t really doing very much for me can you even turn to the adventure element of the film? Not really. The CGI detracts from anything exciting going on and anywhere exotic that the production might have actually shot on location in and it’s just not especially nice to look at.
The Lost City is a film that heavily relies on its cast to carry the entire weight of the film. And it’s largely the supporting characters that do this with Brad Pitt, Patti Harrison and Oscar Nunez, along with Daniel Radcliffe’s wonderful villain that are the most exciting parts of the film.
Verdict
There was definitely potential for The Lost City to be a really exciting and original action comedy romance film but it all gets bogged down in nothingness with most of the final product feeling tired and unfunny. Whilst watching it there are a few decent moments that will garner a chuckle from you but come the end credits you won’t be able to remember what it was that had you laughing and The Lost City just ends up as rather forgettable schlock.
⭐⭐
