By Lauren Holcomb | Reporter
The new action comedy “The Lost City” hit theaters Friday. With news of it having a greater box-office revenue debut than the new hit “The Batman,” I had to see what the hype was all about. The film starred a stacked cast in search of a hidden city, but honestly, I wish they never found it.
Being a classic adventure movie with big-name actors and actresses, I expected a level of predictability going in. I didn’t know it was possible for it to be as easy to follow as it ended up being. Anyone who has watched the trailer could probably recite the storyline to a T — if not better and more nuanced than the actual movie.
Sure, Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum are great with what they are given, but they have had better moments. Bullock played Loretta, a best-selling romance novelist who is bored with her life, and Tatum played Alan, the classic model with lights on and nobody home. Both character types have been run to the ground in movies of the same genre and in others, providing a lack of originality and no room for me to connect with either.
Other characters, such as Fairfax played by Daniel Radcliffe and Beth played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, also seemed to have been plucked out of a stock character catalog. Humorous and well-played, sure, but in all nothing to write home about.
Again, the plot was predictable. The humor was there, but the jokes were a little crude and basic. There were a lot of people in the theater when I went to watch, and I only heard communal laughter a couple times — a tough break for a movie labeled as a comedy. My friend and I laughed the most out of the audience, because it was so cringeworthy.
Set in a jungle, the scenery was very cool to look at. On the flip side, it looked so cool because it was animated, and I could tell it was animated. Any scene outside of the jungle was shot and portrayed well, but unfortunately, the majority of the movie was in the jungle. I can’t knock the animations themselves, as they were very vibrant and well done. It’s just the fact that I didn’t feel submerged in the setting because I knew it was not real.
If you like very simple humor and extreme predictability, this may be your new favorite. However, if you want to feel the real heart-pounding thrill of an exciting action movie, skip this new hit.
