The Lost City

It seems there’s still quite an appetite for the roving adventurer film with the recent lacklustre Uncharted and news that another Indiana Jones film is in the pipeline. Which is fine as these are generally good fun and if the casting is right (note Uncharted) then you could be looking at a very enjoyable couple of hours of escapist cinema.

And that is where The Lost City just about gets is right. Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) is a successful academic and writer of adventure books, though they are starting to press on her. She mourns her husband and tiring of the press junkets which tend to get taken over by the cover star of the books Alan (Channing Tatum) who actually seems to believe he is the embodiment of the character and maybe getting a bit too carried away with it.

So too does Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe) who is a very wealthy individual who is looking for a lost city and treasure, mentioned in her books which he is convinced is real. He has a fragment of an ancient language so he kidnaps Loretta to translate, only she’s not convinced that its authentic. The delusional Alan now sets out to rescue Loretta aided by Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt). Also dragged into the whole mess is Loretta’s editor Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).

This is all rum stuff with Tatum and Bullock forming the required relationship for this type of adventure to work and Radcliffe excellent as the panto villain. The topper though is the introduction of Pitt who is looks more relaxed in a role than I have seen him for some time. Granted it’s not much more than a cameo but is the perfect for Tatum as the latter desperately tries to come somewhere close to his cover character.

Directed by Aaron and Adam Nee the action is all good, rollocking fun, not over the top and when we get to the lost city the revelations are really rather sweet. The film strives for a romantic beat rather than the colder (and well used) archetypes of chase, action and booby traps. Which is something of a relief and the better for it.