An author of novels combining romance and adventure finds herself entangled in a story of kidnapping. Far from the comfort of her chic New York apartment, here she is lost in the middle of the jungle. Flanked by an attractive gentleman, our heroine will try to find the location of a mythical artifact. No, it’s not about the movie here Romancing the Stone (In pursuit of the green diamond), a favorite of the 1980s, but very new The Lost City (The lost city). Driven by chemistry and timing comedy by Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, the film can be watched.
It should also be specified that The Lost City offers a (partial) reversal of the roles held in 1984 by Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas. In that the novelist played by Sandra Bullock has a past as an archaeologist, and that the character of Channing Tatum is a model whose status as an adventurer comes down to the covers of the novels of the first for which he posed.
Her name is Loretta, and his name is Alan. She can’t please him, loses all his means in his presence. She manages—if you like—in the jungle, he doesn’t at all. He has come to “save her”, but at one point he realizes, terrified, that he is the “damsel in distress” of the story. That Alan is the one of the two who finds himself constantly naked is part of the same approach.
Reversal of the archetypes aside, the film by Aaron and Adam Nee takes up the main motifs, even passages (the prologue set in the protagonist’s current novel, in particular), of the film by Robert Zemeckis, with a “crown of fire which is said to be set with red jewels” replacing the green diamond of yesteryear. Inevitably, some of its components now appear dated, but the fact remains that the original screenplay by Diane Thomas was not lacking in spice in its time. To remain in the images of treasure hunting, that written to four by Oren Uziel, Dana Fox and the Nee brothers, the plunder without shame (except for an implicit homage during a dance in a village).
Pitt, Radcliffe and Co.
In any case, there are stars per square foot! However, with the added amused and amusing participation of Brad Pitt as a mercenary representing a real incarnation of the romantic hero created by Loretta, as well as that, just as lit, of Daniel Radcliffe as an antagonist to childish Machiavellianism, the film should have been much, much funnier.
Certainly, good jokes pepper the dialogue (“I am a feminist: I believe that a woman can do everything a man can do”, to argue Alan after having accused Loretta of making him mansplaining), but not enough to distract from the many lengths that plague the film.
Indeed, for an adventure comedy, genre by definition packed with action, The Lost City struggling to find and then maintain a brisk pace. Between the big sequences of chases and explosions, several not necessarily captivating scenes stretch for nothing (the first night in the jungle by the fire, for example). A bit as if the directors, under the spell of Bullock and Tatum, who, we repeat, are perfectly funny, had wanted to keep them on screen as long as possible.
Alas, it is the opposite of the desired effect that occurs, since by dint of soliciting it, the magic of the two stars is diminishing. We also regret that the parallel peregrinations of Beth (tasty Da’Vine Joy Randolph), Loretta’s literary agent and beautiful character moreover, are so poorly integrated.
In short, for a film whose plot includes, among other perils, the impending threat of a volcanic eruption, The Lost City turns out to be surprisingly quiet. Friendly, charming, but long and quickly forgotten.