Lost City (2022)

 OK, time for some more movie reviews...

 Lost City (2022) is a movie that was recommended to me by a friend who made me promise to write a review of it. I watched a the movie several weeks ago, and I enjoyed it, but I've been putting off writing a review of it because something felt off. This morning, I finally figured out what I wanted to say.  

To start, Lost City is an adventure-romance which has been compared (favorably by many reviewers) to the classic masterpiece of adventure-romance - Romancing the Stone (If you disagree with the preceding characterization of Romancing the Stone we have nothing more to discuss. :) ). Now, I can definitely see where Romancing the Stone inspired and informed parts of Lost City... but I think that comparison is what got me hung up.

 Lost City is not Romancing the Stone. That's not to say it isn't good. I enjoyed it.

 For me, Lost City is a character piece and what characters indeed. We have Sandra Bullock as the historian/archeologist/treasure-hunter-turned-romance-writer-after-the-tragic-(pre-opening)-loss-of-her-beloved-husband... yeah, that's a mouthful but stay with me. We have Channing Tatum as the male-cover-model-for-the-hero-of-Bullock's-romance-novels. Finally we have Daniel Radcliff as the rich-insecure-man-baby-villian-named-Abigail. We also have a lost city (hence the title), a treasure hunt and, most importantly, host of really strong side characters... and that's what makes this movie good.

 See, on it's face, this is an movie with adventure and comedy and romance... and watched at that level, it's a decent movie.. albeit one that hits a couple of sour notes for me.

  However, stripped away, this is a movie about identity. Who are you and how to do you define yourself... the widow who sees no value in life now that she's lost her love... the model who wants to be a hero... the insecure man-baby who wants to be valued but doesn't understand what that means... all struggling with their identity. That makes this movie interesting.

 Not great... I don't think Lost City achieves greatness, but it is interesting. It's also a fun adventure-romance.Well worth an afternoon.