Sandra Bullock spends most of The Lost City in a sequined jumpsuit, running through jungle. That is the pitch, and it mostly works. Aaron and Adam Nee direct a 2022 action-adventure comedy that knows exactly what it is: a star vehicle for Bullock and Channing Tatum, built on the gap between romance-novel fantasy and the sweaty reality of being kidnapped.
Trailer, via Paramount Pictures.
Loretta Sage and the Crown of Fire
Loretta Sage writes best-selling adventure novels about Dr. Angela Lovemore and her love interest, Dash McMahon. She is a former archaeology researcher, reclusive since her husband died five years ago. Her publisher, Beth Hatten, drags her on a book tour with Alan Caprison, the cover model for Dash. The fans want Alan. Loretta wants to go home.
Then billionaire Abigail Fairfax kidnaps her. He has found a lost city on a remote volcanic Atlantic island and believes the Crown of Fire, treasure of King Kalaman and Queen Taha, is buried there. Loretta’s books were partly based on her own research, so he needs her to read an ancient clue. She refuses. He sedates her and flies her to the island.
Alan Caprison Calls Jack Trainer
Alan watches the kidnapping and calls Jack Trainer, a former Navy SEAL turned CIA operative. They track Loretta by her smart watch. Jack breaches the compound and frees her, but Fairfax’s mercenaries shoot him in the head as the trio flees. Loretta and Alan escape into the jungle alone.
The middle stretch is the movie’s best argument for itself. A day of running from henchmen, a night in a hammock, a village where Loretta hears a folk song and deduces the crown is in a cenote. Then Fairfax captures them again. The tombsite, reached by boat, is not the monument of power they expected.
What the Cast Is Doing
| Performer | Role | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Sandra Bullock | Loretta Sage / Dr. Angela Lovemore | Reluctant hero, two registers |
| Channing Tatum | Alan Caprison / Dash McMahon | Cover model who wants to be real |
| Daniel Radcliffe | Abigail Fairfax | Egotistical billionaire villain |
| Brad Pitt | Jack Trainer | Operative, exits early |
| Da’Vine Joy Randolph | Beth Hatten | Publisher, comic anchor |
Radcliffe is having fun. Pitt’s exit is a joke the film lands cleanly.
The Problem With Fairfax
The villain is the weak joint. Fairfax is egotistical and eccentric, and that is the whole of him. He wants treasure because he is rich and wants more. Compare that to Loretta, who is grieving and tired and still the smartest person in any room. The film gives her an interior life and gives him a smirk.
A Jumpsuit and a Smart Watch
The plot runs on two devices: a smart watch that gives away Loretta’s location, and a sequined jumpsuit. Both are good gags. Neither is a story.
The Lost City at 6.0
The Lost City grossed over $190 million worldwide against a $68 million budget and premiered at South by Southwest on March 12, 2022, before Paramount released it in the United States on March 25. It is a 112-minute film that earns its runtime on charm and coasts on it everywhere else. Bullock and Tatum have real chemistry, and the script, by the Nees with Oren Uziel and Dana Fox from a story by Seth Gordon, knows the difference between a cover model and a hero. What it does not know is how to make a billionaire interesting. The romance is the point. The treasure is the excuse.
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