DVD/Blu Ray

The Lost City  (12) |Close-Up Film Review

Dir. Aaron Nee/Adam Nee, United States, 2020, 112 mins

Cast:  Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, Brad Pitt

Review by Carol Allen

The deliberately derivative plot of The Lost City is a sort of cross between the Rider Haggardism of Indiana Jones and the romantic fantasies of Barbara Cartland and Mills and Boon.  

Sandra Bullock plays a successful novelist who combines romance and adventure in her best selling books.  Part of their popularity lies in their “cover boy”, model Alan (Channing Tatum), whose image on the jacket done up as the hero character “Dash” Is a big part of their success.  The real Alan though is a nice but rather ordinary bloke, not dashing at all.

Loretta is a bit of a recluse and not keen on publicity.  But she is persuaded by her publicist friend Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) to take part in a book convention with Dash, whom she’s also not that keen on.  But when eccentric billionaire Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), who believes that he has found a clue to the real Lost City and its riches, as portrayed in Loretta’s last book, kidnaps her and takes her off to his jungle hideaway in order to force her to help him find the city, Alan decides he must emulate Dash and rescue the heroine.  

And so begins a standard chase through the jungle movie, when Dash and Loretta escape and Abigail pursues them.  

One of the highlights of the movie is Brad Pitt, making a guest appearance as Jack Trainer, the professional adventurer, whom Alan hires to help him rescue the heroine.  He’s a real action man and great fun.  Just as well he disappears from the story early on, as the eventual and inevitable romance between the leads wouldn’t otherwise have a cat in hell’s chance of developing.  

Bullock looks gorgeous throughout – with all the dangers she has to encounter, her make up stays impeccable – but the character is lumbered in sexy heroine tradition with the gaudy, glittering and tight fitting cerise jump suit and skyscraper heels she was for some reason wearing at the book convention.  Not recommended for best jungle wear this season.   Tatum is just rather sweet – well meaning and a bit thick compared to the heroine.

Radcliffe was never really cut out to play a villain.  He’s quite amusing in his early scenes looking urbane in a smart light weight suit.   But later on, when he has to be really villainous, he just overacts rather disastrously.

This is an amusing popcorn movie, which is pretty predictable but passes an hour or so quite pleasantly.  It could have done with a bit more of Brad Pitt though. He’s the best thing in it.

AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD & KEEP JUNE 29.
ON 4K ULTRA HD™, BLU-RAY™ & DVD JULY 25 

Bonus content is detailed below:

•    Deleted Scenes—More fun you didn’t see in theatres!                
•    Bloopers—Laugh along with the cast at their hilarious on-set bloopers
•    Dynamic Duo—Behind-the-scenes fun with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum to see how their comedy chemistry perfectly aligns for this odd-couple comedy adventure
•    Location Profile—Take a trip to the exotic Dominican Republic movie location and find out how the crew dealt with heavy rain and mosquitos!
•    Jungle Rescue—See how the movie’s incredible action set pieces and crazy stunts were filmed
•    The Jumpsuit—Discover what went into designing Loretta’s eye-catching purple sequin jumpsuit
•    Charcuterie—A hilarious breakdown of Loretta’s big kidnapping scene and what it’s like to come under attack from a giant charcuterie board!
•    The Villains of The Lost City—Meet the bad guys: Abigail Fairfax and his henchmen
•    Building The Lost City—A look at building the film’s incredible island world
THE LOST CITY DVD includes the feature film in standard definition and the following bonus content:

•    Dynamic Duo           
•    Jungle Rescue
•    The Villains of The Lost City
•    Building The Lost City
•    Deleted Scenes
•    Bloopers