We all love a good action movie. We love a great comedy. Heck, who doesn’t love a good romance movie? Put all of those ingredients in a blender and you might have a hit on your hands. It’s genre that’s had it fair share of misses, but from an overall scope of things, rom-coms are very amusing and even be very enjoyable even if they negative quams to them. What’s really special about The Lost City is that it’s great to see Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum back doing work on the big screen again. Obviously, Channing Tatum just starred and co-directed last months film Dog, but he hadn’t been making the roundabouts in sometime and the same could be said for Sandra Bullock. Both actors haven’t been making a big splash for last 2-3 years, and these are performers that have a great body of work already with great performances and great movies. Sure, Channing Tatum hasn’t scored an Oscar nomination but he’s clearly been attached in Oscar bait projects such as Foxcatcher or his small role in Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight. But what really makes Channing Tatum the big star was his shift in comedies like 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street. With Sandra Bullock, this is a two time Oscar nominated actress with talent in her blood. So the notion of paring her up with Channing Tatum seems like a sure win, depending on the right execution.
The Lost City is full of rhythm, energy and a charming dose of humor that’s commanded by the electrifying chemistry between Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum. The movie has solid pace, terrific moments of laughter and embellishment of aspects from films like Romancing the Stone and National Treasure. Aside from Daniel Radcliffe’s playful but generic “villain” and the very brief screen time of Brad Pitt’s stellar character, this is pure fun.
Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) is an unhappy and middle-aged author who is primarily known for writing romance and adventure novels that center around the fictional hero named Dash, who is portrayed by the mindless cover model Alan Caprison (Channing Tatum). While Loretta and Alan are on tour promotion her latest novel, Loretta is kidnapped by Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), a strange billionaire who believes that the lost city in Loretta’s new book isn’t fake but real and believe that she knows where it is. Alan then sets on a mission to rescue her, despite having no survival skills of any kind.
Without a doubt, the best part of The Lost City is the chemistry between Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum. The relationship they share plays to both of their strengths, but there’s something charming and palpable about their relationship. Channing Tatum was a guy in Hollywood that was picking terrible projects and wasn’t churning into a solid actor in the 2000s or so. It wasn’t until he starred along Jonah Hill in the 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street movies to where we started to sense that Tatum works in the roots of comedy. He’s also proven to be very competent in films like Foxcatcher, Side Effects, Logan Lucky and Magic Mike. With The Lost City, Channing Tatum proves, once again, that comedy is his best suit. Sandra Bullock is an actress who can do any kind of movie, given her great versatility. She’s funny, adorable and she can still carry a movie, even with the terrific Mr. Tatum.
Being directed by Aaron and Adam Nee and with a script from Seth Gordon, there was a lot to suggest that this was an unquantifiable decision considering that the Nee brother’s don’t have a huge track record and the track record of Seth Gordon is rather questionable, except for the film Horrible Bosses. Going forward, any project written by Seth Gordon should be directed by Aaron and Adam Nee. These two guys understand why these types of movies can be deliriously amusing by not diluting the audience and striving what works and making what works stand out even more.
No perfect movie exists without having any flaws and The Lost City certainly has some minor setbacks. First thing is with Daniel Radcliffe’s character. Radcliffe is pretty great in the role, it’s more that his character or his “villain” felt a bit too formulaic and a bit generic. It’s the kind of character you’ve seen countless amount of times. The second thing is really the usage of Brad Pitt. Granted, Brad Pitt isn’t in the movie much but his character is so surprisingly delightful and magnetic that it leaves you wanting more with his character and the movie almost treated him as an after thought. In a perfect world, The Lost City would have had more of Brad Pitt but sadly it doesn’t.
The Lost City is the type of movie that gets the job done right. With the exceptional dynamic between Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, the terrific comedy and pure rush of fu and adventure, this movie is perfect in that regard.
My grade for The Lost City: B+
Zane's take at the Cinema's 