THE LOST CITY OF Z

For a while I had this confused with 'World War Z', but sadly no zombies turn up in this rather dull film, about the exploits of a Major Fawcett, who achieved some fame in the early years of the 20th century by exploring the Amazonian rainforest. 

The most interesting thing about him is that he became convinced that the forest contained a lost city.  

Then in 1925, at the age of 58, he and his companions on his latest expedition (including his eldest son) simply disappeared. 

The other thing of note about him is that he served his country with distinction during WW1 despite being well into his 40s.

Whilst Fawcett was clearly a courageous and interesting person, his life is not that dramatic, so if he is played by an actor lacking charisma (Charlie Hunnam) in a film directed by someone who seems uninterested in building any dramatic tension or excitement (James Gray), the inevitable result is that I was sitting throughout desperately waiting for something (anything!) to engage my interest.

Benedict Cumberbatch was going to play Fawcett before scheduling conflicts intervened. Although his presence would have benefitted the film it would have been a waste of his talents.

Anyhow Robert Pattinson does what he can as Fawcett's companion, Costin, as does Sienna Miller as his wife Nina, although I doubt she was quite as modern as the film suggests.  At one point she even tries to persuade him to allow her to accompany him on his next trip, which of course does not happen.

Besides being bored I was also irritated by a couple of things.

One was the lazy way one of my favourite pieces of classical music, Ravel's 'Daybreak',  is smeared across the soundtrack.

The second was some of the sloppiest subtitles I've come across.  At one point a character remarks that 'we'll soon be fighting Fritz' but the subtitle replaces 'Fritz' with 'France'.

RATING: x Find Something Better To Do