Movie review - "The Lost City of Z" (2017) ***

I get the feeling all during pre production of this people kept going "Lawrence of Arabia, Lawrence of Arabia that's what'll be like" and in many ways this is a throwback to that film - it's long, about British Empire derring-do, is an adventure tale. It's beautifully shot and gorgeous to look at.

It's a bit dull though. I wanted to like it more than I did - I enjoy history tales and adventure movies. The cast are fine- Charlie Hunnam struggles with his period English accent acting, as does Sienna Miller, but he's a believable explorer, and Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson and Angus Macfadyen were all very good.

It lacked excitement and flair. Hunnam/Fawcett explores politely and respectfully. He has a respectful relationship with his wife (Miller); she occasionally wishes he were home more but doesn't make too big a thing out of it. His son (Holland) sulks a bit but that's soon resolved. Mutinous Macfadyen is a very polite pain. The trench warfare in World War One and the Indian attacks seemed polite - spitting out darts from the riverbank while the explorers are on a raft. Even Fawcett's final death is polite - they are drugged by Indians and carried off over the people... we don't see what happened to them, even if they died.

It was full of scenes that you wondered why were in it - such the opening sequence of hunting, and the ball. Was that to establish the family had a poor reputation? Why not cut in later and dramatise it some other way?

It does have a cohesive vision though, I'll give it that. And while the heart never got thumping watching it, there were memorable moments - I still think of Macfadyen's polite protest and the death scene. Maybe they should've focused on the final expedition instead of three - I don't know. I can see why critics liked it and audiences weren't enthusiastic though.