Direction: Adam Nee, Aaron Nee
Country: USA
As a mindless romance-adventure flick with no twists, The Lost City seems blithely unaware of its utter predictability. The film, directed by The Nee brothers from a script they co-wrote with Oren Uziel and Dana Fox, is a blatant crowd-pleaser thronged with mediocrity and clumsiness both in the action and romance branches.
Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum star as Loretta Sage, a reclusive award-winning novelist, and Alan Caprison, the popular cover model for her latest novel, respectively. Whereas the former is not bad, the latter is barely tolerable, but the winning performance goes to Brad Pitt. He plays Jack Trainer, the human tracker and expert rescuer hired to save Loretta from the hands of the wealthy criminal Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe). Sadly, his kinetic appearance is short-lived as he succumbs to the pressures of the jungle at an early stage.
The sought-after spirit of Indiana Jones never inhabits the landscapes of the exotic Atlantic island on which most of the story takes place. The jokes don’t work, the scenes are recklessly mounted with extravagant coincidence, and there’s a constant struggle to empathize with the protagonist duo. It’s all very unimaginative, and the entertaining qualities they claimed easily fall to pieces. Patience is a requisite if you want to sit through this soulless yet visually acceptable adventure.
