I thought I was across most nutty British explorers but I hadn't heard of Percy Fawcett, who disappeared in 1925 trying to find a lost civilisation. This is an odd sort of movie - a throw back to old classic epics like Lawrence of Arabia or Khartoum.
Perhaps too much so. For a lot of this, the action feels a bit... lifeless I think is the word. Everyone is polite and driven. It's all very polite. Fawcett isn't a very interesting character and neither is his wife Nina (who is saddled with "why are you never home"?)
The film is divided roughly into three expeditions, with a war interlude. Things pick up on the second trip with the whiny cowardly James Murray on hand to provide some conflict. The Battle of the Somme interlude is vivid and well done and the final act very effective... mind you it would be hard to stuff up an ending where Fawcett and his son disappear.
Pretty good - it just took a while to get going. I feel it needed to be shorter or something maybe. Or maybe embrace the madness/insanity of it all or something.
No comments:
Post a Comment