I wanted to like this movie, and based on the reviews, the critics love it. Unfortunately, it felt like 2+ hours of Downton Abbey in a jungle.
Z tells the story of a British Army Major who is sent on a mission to South America to survey and map some of the heretofore unknown jungle. In the process of his first trip, he hears rumor and discovers possible evidence of a lost city and civilization that could predate Britain. However, when he offers his observations to the scientific community at home, he is laughed at. This drives him to make repeated trips to the jungle to find the lost civilization and prove his honor.
The cast puts in pretty decent performances. Unfortunately, the plot really doesn't go anywhere. There's no particular arc for the main characters. The hero becomes driven to find this lost city, and remains driven, never really completing a character arc, and the movie left me feeling like several plot lines (including the main plot) were somewhat unresolved. I suppose you could take it all as a treatise on the spirit of man, or something like that, but to me it just seemed to drag on. It was the first film in a long time where I found myself checking my watch part way through.
Z has a fair amount of violence as the cast makes their way through the jungle and the battlefield during WWI. It's definitely not a kid's movie, and it's not really an action movie, although there are some elements of action in it. It was beautifully shot, with lots of gorgeous scenery, but that didn't make up for the story issues.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend Lost City of Z, unless you really like somewhat artistic films that speak solely to the human condition without really driving a story in any real way.
Slowguy
(insert pithy phrase here...)
Z tells the story of a British Army Major who is sent on a mission to South America to survey and map some of the heretofore unknown jungle. In the process of his first trip, he hears rumor and discovers possible evidence of a lost city and civilization that could predate Britain. However, when he offers his observations to the scientific community at home, he is laughed at. This drives him to make repeated trips to the jungle to find the lost civilization and prove his honor.
The cast puts in pretty decent performances. Unfortunately, the plot really doesn't go anywhere. There's no particular arc for the main characters. The hero becomes driven to find this lost city, and remains driven, never really completing a character arc, and the movie left me feeling like several plot lines (including the main plot) were somewhat unresolved. I suppose you could take it all as a treatise on the spirit of man, or something like that, but to me it just seemed to drag on. It was the first film in a long time where I found myself checking my watch part way through.
Z has a fair amount of violence as the cast makes their way through the jungle and the battlefield during WWI. It's definitely not a kid's movie, and it's not really an action movie, although there are some elements of action in it. It was beautifully shot, with lots of gorgeous scenery, but that didn't make up for the story issues.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend Lost City of Z, unless you really like somewhat artistic films that speak solely to the human condition without really driving a story in any real way.
Slowguy
(insert pithy phrase here...)