Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I don't usually take the time to write reviews but feel compelled with this film to do so. The costume design, filmography, and acting are all fantastic. I wanted so badly to find this film satisfying, but it truly falls short in the end. If you want to experience the disappointment of the characters themselves, without any true sense of fulfilled purpose, the writing accomplishes this marvelously. If you want to feel, at the end of a movie, like to was worth all the investment of your hopes and emotions that's were so expertly developed throughout this otherwise well-made film, skip it. I'm not sure how to better make a film about not fulfilling your passions, but this felt like slow death in the last act, with a lot of unclear messaging. Percy's half-developed lines in the end about "nothing will happen to us that is not our destiny" are not convincing nor consistent with the lifelong struggle of a man against all odds to pursue that which truly seems out of reach (and who we think will succeed against expectations). The story is set up to be a "triumph against the odds" tale, as currently written, and of course ends in failure and no satisfaction for the audience after rooting for our hero. It's like a movie in which Superman slowly dies of high cholesterol all the while talking about getting better. And then he actually dies...no sequel. The closest thing to a believable message by the end of the movie (as confusingly stated and unclear as it sounds) is: "Push hard against the odds and make every necessary sacrifice for that which you believe in, and in the end, no one will know if you ever succeeded...even you. Odds are, you probably won't succeed. But somehow it's worth it...maybe...but we don't really know." Except I'm pretty sure that's not what the writers were actually going for, so...flop. Spoiler alert: he doesn't find the lost city and maybe (?) dies at the hands of natives who actually exemplify the very stereotype of ignorance Percy fought so hard to dismantle throughout the movie...Either that or he decided to never again communicate with or return to the family he is portrayed to have so deeply loved and to instead stay in the jungle forever eluding search parties (not likely)...Except I'm pretty sure that's ALSO not what the writers were going for. Really disappointing writing and poor waste of otherwise phenomenal filmmaking. Sorry I spent the time.

After reading the book this film was based on, I was so excited to hear it was being made into a feature film with Brad Pitt as the star no less. I see now why Brad had the good sense to bow out of this project. I have to say the acting and cinematography was fine, the script is what sinks this in the mud. The book went into detail about Fawcett learning his explorers trade at the RGS and made it so fascinating! The film touched on the most mundane minutia of Fawcett's time with the RGS. It made me wonder why they even bothered with it at all? Most of all I was ready for a great Jungle story with all its horrors and heroics. It was as if someone read this wonderful adventure book, picked out the boring bits ( there weren't many ) and made a film with the same name. Like filming War and Peace with the "War" left out. The book made sense of everything the film didn't. The why's and the reasoning behind everything Fawcett and Nina did. The book also told the story of the author's research, a back story almost as interesting as Fawcett's. Facts that were intentionally deleted to make the film more appealing. Such as Fawcett being bald in his twenties. The lush head of hair Mr Hunnam sported, bothered me as much as if you had an actor with Dreadlocks play Winston Churchill. The WW1 trench scenes, the "over the top" charge, in reality never happened. Fawcett was an artillery Lieutenant Colonel pushing 50 and never got close enough to the front lines for any of those clichéd heroics. That's even if the brass would have let him try them in the first place. Lastly Fawcett's Son's friend Raleigh Rimmel who went along on the last expedition was totally left out? As I sat there wondering why such a Great story was so disfigured, the scene in the native village is shown, Walmart Tiki torches with wicks, lining the way to the river! Really? Maybe today but Not in 1925. I guess what is so maddening is this could have been another Bridge over the River Kwai or Lawrence of Arabia. Instead it's a boring, talky, overly long non-epic destined to be forgotten.

I can't explain why this completely film completely devoid of entertainment value or meaning gets any kind of positive overall scoring. I can only see it as political bias as some may have resonated with the anti-white, anti-colonial messaging. This movie did not inspire and had no meaningful journey for the protagonist and those that surrounded him. His story was not told in the context of the times but, rather, was judged from the current vantage point without any attempt to show why people believed the way they did. Compare to Master and Commander for a fairer treatment of the context with a subtext of questioning, a much more thought-provoking handling of the issues, and a thoroughly riveting story.

This is based on the true story of British explorer Colonel Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam ) searching for a lost city of Zed in the Amazonian rain forest. The film did not use some of his more extraordinary claims of fantastic beasts and where to find them. It stuck to the bare bone facts. I was waiting for some great scene to make the film, and it wasn't there. His exploration appears to have been a walk in the park with arrows. Perhaps the fascinating bit of the film was that after centuries, the native populations held traditions and stories of Zed whose existence has been confirmed, but the forest has reclaimed the details. Where is Harrison Ford when you need him?