In a world so oversaturated with franchises, it’s rare that an original movie comes out. It’s even rarer when it makes a worldwide total of $181.4 million in less than 3 months.
Admittedly, when my family suggested we watch it for a movie night, I was annoyed. I had assumed it was going to be a throw-away action movie with a celebrity cast, weak script, and boring jokes. I’ve been so burnt out on the five year streak of mega movies that play like cut and paste Marvel scripts that I almost used my veto for us to watch Sonic the Hedgehog 2 instead. (What can I say, I’m a sucker for fun kids movies.) However, my sister insisted that The Lost City looked interesting and that she really wanted to watch it. She convinced us all so, pizza slices and Pepsi cans in hand, we sat in the living room and turned on Paramount+.
The opening scene starts typical enough – with two lovers stuck in a den of snakes, at the mercy of a typical villain, who has trapped them there. The moment I started to regret not choosing Sonic, Sandra Bullock’s character Loretta Sage says “delete” in a voice over and items / characters on screen disappear and we learn that this isn’t the movie, but instead the book she’s working. That was actually amazing. We then see her basically doing everything but finishing her last chapter as her publisher’s repeated calls play, telling her that she needs to finish, that her book tour is coming up, and that she needs to get out of the house and move on from her husband’s death. I was so surprised. This movie brought more wit and characterization in the opening scene than some films do in their entire run time. Not only that, but it did it so expertly, balancing the comedy of a person avoiding work with the inherent sadness of her being so alone and suffering through such a writer’s block. I was immediately hooked.
Next, the movie carries us to Loretta’s book tour. Loretta is clearly uncomfortable as she’s made to wear a sparkly pink jumpsuit and remove her glasses. It’s done for comedic effect, but there’s a real truth to having to lose yourself to market yourself in the industry. We’re introduced to Channing Tatum’s character, Alan Caprison, a cover model who is clearly more famous and loved by Loretta’s fan base than she is. They take questions from the audience. Alan tries hard to redirect questions to Loretta, reminding the crowd she’s the writer. While trying to ease tension, he offers to dance with her and an interesting character development happens.
In storytelling, we often swear by “show don’t tell” and this moment is a hallmark of that principle. Alan invites her to dance for fun, thinking she wants equal attention, and wanting to share his limelight. Loretta doesn’t want to look even more foolish and mistakes this as him rubbing in the fact that he’s so well liked. But being encouraged by him and her publisher, they dance. Her earring catches his wig and rips it off as he falls to a table below. It’s hilarious, and the tour ends with Loretta running away and Alan confronting her. He calls her a “human mummy,” saying she’s alive, but not really living. He regrets this immediately, as it only makes her more angry and embarrassed. She asks a hotel employee to call a cab. He does. However, as she gets in the first car that pulls up, it turns out to be a kidnapping scheme.
Daniel Radcliffe’s character, Abigail Fairfax, a wealthy billionaire with a brother complex, kidnaps Loretta. She thinks this is all a prank, done by her marketing team, and doesn’t keep her guard up. Abigail insists that this is real and that he needs her to translate a dead language that she had shown in her book. Loretta had learned this language, back in her archeology days, with her late husband. Abigail offers her anything she could dream of in exchange for her translating and helping him discover the mythical Fire Crown she had written about. He begs her to come with him as the island it’s on has a volcano, and it will be lost forever if he doesn’t find it. Loretta realizes he’s serious and declines, saying her book tour is not something she can quit. He then has her knocked out and taken onto his helicopter – which sounds incredibly dark on paper, but is actually really funny because of the physical comedy in the scene. I wasn’t aware Radcliffe was in this movie before watching, and I adore him, so that was such an exciting realization.
With Loretta missing Alan, her publisher and her social media manager call the police who do nothing to help, citing the ‘must be reported after 24 hours’ myth that TV and film treat like a real law. Alan decides to call his fitness trainer, a man named Jack Trainer. Trainer is a typical action hero, talented in everything from detective work to combat fighting. He instructs them to use Loretta’s phone to track her through her smart watch. They discover she’s flying across the ocean and Trainer agrees to rescue her. Loretta’s friends agree to meet him there. Upon meeting, Alan insists he join Trainer in rescuing Loretta. Everything about Trainer is great. The bit about him having a cheap little car instead of a big truck made me actually laugh.
After Alan confronts her about her translations and what she’s planning on doing, she explains more about the lost city and helps him with his rash. They share a hammock by their campfire and it’s actually really sweet. After hiking and using the silly pink jumpsuit to save their lives by distracting some of the henchmen hunting them, the two find a nice town. Alan goes and explains what happened to the police, and Loretta gets dressed and relaxes at the hotel. At nightfall, Alan and Loretta share a dance in the town square and have fun in the company of friendly town people. Loretta learns new information about the lost city through the song a local sings. This area of the movie really did wonders not only for pacing, but respecting the love the pair was building within reason and, again, showed expert character understanding and writing.
Loretta is stopped on her way back to the hotel. The local police told Abigail about her arrival. Abigail and his men rush her into a tank-like vehicle and drive off. Alan sees this at the last second and trades his watch for a motorcycle to catch up with the vehicle. A fight takes place on the roof of the vehicle and Alan breaks in. Loretta sets the vehicle on fire temporarily, trying to make a distraction. This fails. Abigail now happily takes Alan as an extra hostage. There’s a lot of incredible lines from this scene, but, hands down, the reversal of villain hitting on hero was amazing as a distraction. Abigail, with absolute confusion and disgust in his voice, says to Loretta, “Are you trying to be sexy? Stop it, you’re making this weird.” Coming from a villain who literally kidnapped her, this is just spectacular writing. He wants her for her translation abilities and nothing else. He’s an A+ villain and, honestly, a new member on my favorite villain list.
Arriving at a cave on the island, a sort of mouth to the lost city, Abigail and some henchmen force Loretta and Alan through a tight path that leads to an incredibly tight crawl space in the cave’s wall. No one wants to go through it, but Abigail threatens to kill Alan if Loretta doesn’t, which really drives home that he’s the damsel and she’s the hero. Loretta crawls through and confirms it’s safe. Upon reaching the tomb holding the Fire Crown, Abigail wonders why a monument would be hidden. Loretta realizes it wasn’t a public monument but rather was a peaceful place for the grieving Queen. A henchman, who constantly throughout the movie was explained to be a local desperate for income for his family and not okay with Abigail’s actions, tries to tell him not to mess with the tomb. Abigail doesn’t care and makes everyone open the stone tomb.
The group learns the Fire Crown isn’t made of jewels, but, rather, seashells and was a gift of love from the king to the queen. Abigail flips out and forces the henchman to help him trap Loretta and Alan into the tomb, sealing them in to die as the volcano begins to shake the island. The henchman slips in a crow bar and hopes the pair will find it to escape. He leaves with the boat, abandoning Abigail on the shore. He is rescued by Loretta’s friends on their boat as it passes. He lies and says he’s never seen Loretta before. Alan and Loretta escape. Loretta leaves her wedding ring and essentially moves on from her deceased husband. The boat spots them, they explain Abigail tried to kill them, and everything ends well with a kiss shared by Alan and Loretta. I loved the crown not being an expensive treasure but rather seashells and symbolic of love. I loved how the movie felt so girl driven and I was shocked to see the directors were two guys, because they really captured the female gaze with how the movie felt and worked. I loved Loretta’s novels being romantic and not put down for it. All in all, The Lost City was a fantastic movie.
LeAnne McPherson
Staff Writer