The Lost City of Z: A Fascinating True Story, With A Few Excellent Performances, Can't Overcome Flaws
Percy Fawcett in the 20th Century was a real life explorer that started off mapping parts of the Amazon for the Royal Geographic Society. Soon though, Fawcett became a type of adrenaline junkie, trying to find undiscovered parts of the world to feed his intellectual curiosity. Charlie Hunnam and Robert Pattinson and the picturesque cinematography are outstanding, but they can't quite carry a film that could've been so much better.
Hunnam plays Fawcett with such passion and beauty, it's by far his best performance. Mostly known for the TV series "Sons of Anarchy", Hunnam has never portrayed a character with such grace as he does here. But the almost unrecognizable Robert Pattinson who plays Henry Costin (Fawcett's friend and co-pilot on his adventures) is back again with another great performance, which rivals his previous work in "The Rover". But other than Hunnam and Pattinson, the acting falls mostly flat and uninteresting, which I blame mostly on the conventional script.
The Amazon had to be a terrifying and almost nightmare of a location to map out, as it was almost a free for all between various Amazonian tribes. And this is where "The Lost City of Z" takes a big swing and a miss. I never felt this apparent danger that the filmmakers wanted the audience to experience and live through. James Gray who directed "The Immigrant" directs with an almost conventional idea of how the Amazon was in the 20th century. Everything feels so safe and boring for such an exciting and scary true story.
The safe script, doesn't hold back Darius Khondji from having some beautiful cinematography. The lush jungles,to the roaring waterfalls are all captured with precision and close attention to detail that do create a sense of realism, lacking from the main script.
"The Lost City of Z" is well made film with some questionable choices, that halt it from being terrific. If your into watching two actors at the top of their game and stunning cinematography its well worth the price of admission. But it's hard to recommend, as the film at 135 minutes feels overwhelmingly sluggish at times, and includes a script that is almost as lost as Percy Fawcett trying to find the Lost City.
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