The Lost City is an action-adventure comedy directed by the Nee brothers, who co-wrote the screenplay with Oren Uziel and Dana Fox, from a story conceived by Seth Gordon. The Lost City focuses on a novelist and her cover model, who must escape a billionaire and find the lost ancient city depicted in one of her novels. I knew this would be a feel-good story so I was very much looking forward to seeing it. The Lost City did not let me down.
Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) is a grumpy middle-aged author who writes romance-adventure novels centered around a fictional hero named Dash McMahon who is portrayed by cover model Alan Caprison/Dash McMahon (Channing Tatum). Loretta’s publisher, Beth Hatten (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), insists that she must embark on a book tour with Alan as an effort to relieve Loretta of her reclusiveness.
After a disastrous start, mostly due to the popularity of Alan’s Dash persona, Loretta is met by eccentric billionaire Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe). Fairfax realizes that Loretta has based her books on actual historic research she did with her deceased archaeologist husband. Fairfax has discovered a lost city on a remote Atlantic island and is convinced that this is the location of ‘The Crown of Fire,’ a priceless treasure. When Loretta declines to help decipher an ancient map to the treasure, Fairfax, who fears the site will be destroyed by an active volcano, kidnaps Loretta and takes her to the island.
Alan, who is secretly fascinated with Loretta, witnesses her kidnapping. He recruits Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt), an ex-Navy SEAL turned CIA operative, to meet him at the island and coordinate a rescue attempt. Jack, with no assistance from Alan, breaches Fairfax’s compound and frees Loretta, but experiences complications causing Loretta and Alan to escape into the jungle.
From this point, the adventure really begins. There are many obstacles in the way of their escape, including Loretta’s dislike for Alan, Abigail’s pursuit of the two runaways, their clothing, and their unpreparedness for the jungle. I found the story humorist, entertaining. and adventurist. Daniel Radcliffe’s performance was brilliant as I didn’t recognize him through his accent or facial looks. I was impressed by all their performances although the story was good but not believable. I think if you enjoy a feel-good movie, you’ll enjoy this one. The Lost City has grossed $54.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $3.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $58.3 million. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 75% based on 175 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website’s critical consensus reads, “The Lost City doesn’t sparkle quite as brightly as some classic treasure-hunting capers, but its stars’ screwball chemistry makes this movie well worth romancing.” The Lost City is now in theaters — Check It Out!
CAROL's WORLDS 