THE LOST CITY
Cert ★★★★
12A
In cinemas now
If fighting Nazis and gory massacres in the “land of the Rus” feel just a little too topical, swerve Operation Mincemeat and The Northman for this old-fashioned Hollywood caper.
The Lost City serves up romance, adventure and comedy. It’s the kind of unashamed fluff that, pre-Marvel, was a bank holiday staple.
Five years after the death of her husband, grumpy academic-turned-romance-novelist Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) is promoting her latest page-turner The Lost City Of D with Alan (Channing Tatum), the dim model who appears on the cover.
But, following a disastrous Q&A session, Loretta is kidnapped by crazed English billionaire Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe). He thinks he’s unearthed Loretta’s real lost city on a remote island and wants her to translate a parchment detailing the location of a priceless treasure.
After she’s tied up and whisked away in a helicopter, Channing’s besotted himbo takes it on himself to launch a rescue mission.
After a great tongue-in-cheek action scene and a wonderful Brad Pitt cameo, the film settles into screwball mode as spiky Loretta and eager Alan are lost in a jungle with Fairfax’s goons in hot pursuit.
The lines could be sharper and the villain a lot scarier (Daniel Radcliffe remains as menacing as a Teletubby) but this is all about the bickering leads. Bullock is a hugely talented physical comic and Tatum is great at poking fun at himself. And, while we always know where the grumble in the jungle is heading, they have the chemistry to sell the romance.
It’s instantly forgettable and wildly predictable but could be the slice of big-screen escapism we didn’t know we needed.