I would hate to be a screenwriter for a major studio. I am not a imaginative person when it comes to story ideas (which is well-documented on our show), but on the other hand there are writers who do it for a well-paid living even when their work may not be up to par. This has been a concern of mine for a few years now, and going into “The Lost City,” those too familiar feelings were there again.
Directed by Aaron and Adam Nee, this is the film that features Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Brad Pitt, Daniel Radcliffe, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph. A romance writer named Loretta Sage (Bullock) seems to be losing her creative spark both in her career and her life. When her latest book releases, her publisher (Joy Randolph) sets up a tour to be done in conjunction with the cover model of her male lead in Alan (Tatum). After an argument between them, Loretta is kidnapped by the billionaire named Abigail Fairfax (Radcliffe), who recognizes certain elements of her book to be based in real research done on a lost city an tomb that contains an priceless crown. As Fairfax believes Loretta can decipher the clues and help find the treasure. Alan follows Loretta to the jungles to try to rescue her.
This film looks great with a solid combination of practical sets and CGI coupled with great chemistry between Tatum & Bullock. Unfortunately, about twenty minutes could have been cut out and tries too hard to be different by being an adventure film with comedy. For me, the latter of the two fell flat on its face in my opinion, especially in the middle of the film as Loretta and Alan make their way through the jungle. There were a few times I laughed in the beginning, but by the end the joke attempts just got annoying.
My biggest gripe that “The Lost City” just tends to rip off other films very blatantly. This felt like it was just a re-hash of the ‘80s classic “Romancing the Stone” along with others that may be recognized without spoiling any plot points, so if I have to recommend anything just watching the Kathleen Turner/Michael Douglas film again instead of seeing this one for the first time.