(Spoilers)
Sounds like a
sequel to a Brad Pitt movie but looked more like an Indiana Jones, if Indy was
real. The Lost City of Z involves the search of a lost city but with less fun,
more public ridicule, long walks and boat rides across vast jungles, and most
of all, glory is uncertain.
The realism of
exploration is what I liked about the movie however lacking in detail. Most of
the time the realism meant just walking.
Protagonist Percival Fawcett (Charlie
Hunnam) started off with a mapping mission, to determine the borders of Bolivia
and Brazil. Along with Henry Costin (Robert Pattinson), they did routine surveyor worked complete with equipment that includes the
typical tripod with scope and poles, in the wilderness. The nitty gritty, documentation by hand, everything by hand; I wish this element of the
movie had more detail.
Getting bit by
the exploration bug was an accident. Percy encountered bits of pottery in the
jungle and vowed to come back to look for the civilization that owned it.
To get funding he convinced people of his theories pushing back the occasional
ridicule. He encountered problems with supply, homesickness, language, and the
routine issue of being eaten by cannibals. And Indy only had snakes and Nazis.
The acting is
where this movie goes bad especially with Charlie Hunnam who just sucks the
life out of every scene.
There’s something of the dialogue, it’s rhythm that I
didn’t like. I always blamed it on Charlie but I googled the itch I had in mind
and there is was, a book of the same name. When characters speak in this movie they sounded good enough to read, but as Mark Hamill once said: “who talks like this?”
Charlie could
have used some help with a script that sounded more real, conversational. He
has a great supporting cast and his performance pulls them down.
In the span of
the movie’s 2 hours Percy Fawcett underwent numerous stresses and Charlie
failed to sell anything emotionally. The young major hungry for advancement but
was always snubbed; an explorer facing near death in unknown jungle; an
explorer reuniting with the family after a long time in the jungle; obsession –
I didn’t feel a thing.
You can say
liking Ian McDiarmid is a bad sign. As expected my first impression was why is the Sith Lord doing a period piece? But in the
end, compared to Charlie, I was still more sold in Ian’s Sir George Goldie than
Percy.
I’ve
depended on the rest of the supporting cast to not loose myself emotionally. The marriage I get from his wife, Nina
(Sienna Miller), she loves him always looking out for the husband’s career and
happiness. Even under a full grown beard, Robert Pattinson as Henry Costin still
convinced me of the rigors of jungle travel.
The biggest personal stress of
exploration I felt through Jack Fawcett (Tom Holland), Percy’s son, for whatever those few scenes are worth.
Jack has always been the key in making The Lost City of Z more emotionally
fulfilling. There was an attempt to bookend the story; Percy started and ended
the exploration with a shot of his son. The start was weak. Charlie couldn’t connect with a child
actor as his father and likewise the child could not project himself adequately
as a son.
Among the many themes
the story delved into was British society. Percy has a chip on
his shoulder, always being shunned by the higher-ups for the sins of his father
– which the movie never elaborated. He always hoped to be up there one day. And then he hoped the discovery would open the minds. Both went nowhere. The one that did, the family, was underdeveloped.
Obsession would
have reinforced the point of family stress but I never felt that much less passion for the lost city. His first mission was a mapping
one so he can only talk about theories. With support of the Royal Geographical Society he came back, once, and failed to find it; he still had only theories.
Percy always looked the same coming back. Nina was always
supportive. He barely talks to his children being in the jungle all the time,
he barely argues too so how would I know there is stress?
Yet even absent
a proper setup, I think it sweet in the end that son accepted his father by joining
him in an expedition. Tom carried those last few scenes as far as he could,
stupid mustache and all.
I felt the validation;
something in Percy’s life had gone right. Jack understood his father’s difficulties
in society and the how a lost city is important. Joining his father in search
of the lost city that has always taken his father away from his life carried a
lot of meaning, especially since father and son was lost in the expedition. A perfect bookend if
only it had a strong beginning to match.
And then Charlie
said his lines, the goodbye talk between father and son...
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