“The Lost City” Review
(From Right) A romance writer (Sandra Bullock) and her books’ cover model (Channing Tatum) wind up on a mysterious island searching for a lost treasure in “The Lost City.”
I was not expecting to enjoy “Lost City.” From the looks of the trailer, it seemed like every generic kind of studio picture which is why I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the film in theaters. “The Lost City” is a fun, goofy adventure following in the footsteps of films like “Romancing The Stone.”
Sandra Bullock stars in the film as Loretta Sage, an archeologist who has turned to writing romance adventure novels after the passing of her husband. However, she doesn’t really get any enjoyment out of it and just wants to be left alone, especially by her books’ cover model Alan Caprison (Channing Tatum). When Loretta is kidnapped and taken to a remote island by a crazed billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) to find a mysterious treasure, Alan must go on a rescue mission despite not being the badass hero he models as.
What really makes this film work are Bullock and Tatum’s performances. Their chemistry is believable with both actors having a lot of fun in these roles. Despite Loretta being more emotionally distant and Alan being an overly pampered model who wants to be a hero, they never come across as annoying, only likable.
Daniel Radcliffe is also having the time of his life playing Abigail Fairfax who is just an entertaining villain. He is willing to go to some extreme limits to get what he wants and the writing for his character makes him out to be a wealthy brat who never feels like he got the attention he wanted.
As for the actual adventure, it’s a lot of fun, keeping a light-hearted tone while having a decent body count. It’s not an especially morbid film but there are some goons who get axed off and it got some big laughs out of me. The locations are quite majestic and the entire film does capture the spirit of archeological adventures.
“The Lost City’s” screenplay, written by the film’s directors Aaron and Adam Nee as well as Oren Uziel and Dana Fox, is full of good humor that had me rolling. It’s clear that the Nee brothers wanted to make this film as entertaining as possible and they certainly succeeded.
However, if you go to the theaters to see the film, it may seem like the film is the kind of uninteresting commercial fluff you dread based on its first ten minutes. It’s not until Loretta is kidnapped that the film really takes off. So, if you’re looking for a funny film, you’ll get it but you have to give it a few minutes.
Overall, “The Lost City” is a fun film that manages to have us care about these characters thanks to Bullock and Tatum’s chemistry. It’s the kind of comedy that isn’t trying to contain a lot of clever commentary. It’s just an entertaining film and that’s good enough for me.
