The Lost City Review

We are currently living in dark times. There is war, a cost-of-living crisis, and a pandemic. We need some light relief and romantic adventure The Lost City attempts to offer that.

Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) is a romance novelist who lives alone after her husband’s death. Loretta’s publicist, Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) demands the author goes on a book tour to promote her latest novel. When an event goes disastrously wrong Loretta gets kidnapped by the eccentric billionaire Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe) because he believes Loretta is the key to finding a lost city on a small island in the middle of the Atlantic. Alan Caprison (Channing Tatum) goes off on a rescue mission to save Loretta, despite the fact he’s a dim-witted cover model.

The Lost City aimed to be a date night movie, something for couples to enjoy. It was a rom-com and an action-adventure film to cater to all audiences. With these ambitions in mind The Lost City succeeds. It was simple fun.

The Lost City did have excellent leads. Bullock and Tatum had great chemistry together. They were playing ordinary characters who got caught up in an extraordinary situation. They were out of their depth since they were trying to travel in the jungle with no training or supplies and were being chased by armed goons. They haphazardly made their way through by car, water, and foot. It was an old-fashioned farce.

Bullock and Tatum have plenty of experience in the comedy genre. Bullock’s character was shown to be intelligent but a klutz, a bit like Rachel Weisz’s character in the first Mummy movie. Loretta was a trained archaeologist but there was no interest in academic books, so the only way she can work in her field of interest was by writing romance novels and injecting real research into her stories.

Tatum’s known for making the Jump Street films which showed he has comedy chops. Tatum looks like an action star: he’s handsome and got the muscles. But in this film, he was hopeless in a fight, as evident during the sequence when he tried to rescue Loretta. Tatum’s Alan was a well-meaning himbo. He cared for Loretta, he wanted to get her out of her house, even if the feelings weren’t reciprocated. Alan was the heart, whilst Loretta was the brains of the pair.

The Lost City has been compared to Romancing the Stone. This was a fair comparison because both were old-fashioned adventure films with an odd couple going on a quest. Fans of archaeological centred films, like the Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider franchises, should get a kick out of The Lost City. One moment reminded me of the Uncharted movie, although this was coincidental.

The Lost City boasted a solid supporting cast. The standout was Brad Pitt. He was only in the film briefly, but he was hilarious as an ex-special forces operative who was also a new-age hippy. He was hilarious and badass.

The Lost City was popcorn fare done right. It wasn’t a revolutionary film but audiences can simply enjoy the action, comedy, and romance and it had two likeable leads to invest in.