slow death

Rating: 3/10 (26 July 2018)

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.