Long-winded, unfocused, unconvincing

Rating: 3/10 (4 August 2017)

And that was before I looked up the true story and found the plot was based on exaggerations and outright lies.
They had me skeptical about historical accuracy with the piranhas which have been shown repeatedly to pose no danger to people, but the real problem were all the melodramatic obscenely tedious scenes. The movie was simply too long and poorly edited.
First, for a story about uncharted jungle exploration, the audience never feels any tension from their journeys. One moment, they look like they're sauntering through a compliant and friendly trail, the very next they're dying of mysterious maladies on a raft, somehow at once emaciated and paunchy. Similarly, the hostile Indians they meet are exceptionally accurate with their first dramatic arrow, then storm-trooper incompetent with every other shot. Every issue is resolved almost instantly which gives everything a feeling of in- consequence. Still, the jungle scenes were the only bearable parts of the movie, but even there the movie would have really benefited from just showing one of the excursions, instead of haphazardly traipsing through all three.
None of the characters are well developed, and I can't think of any that were even somewhat relate-able. So many scenes should have been cut out. The wife's anguish might have been enough to show the high cost to their family life, but the eldest son's sporadic outbursts were pointless overkill. But again the conflict is resolved so quickly and easily that the melodramatic moments later on hold no gravitas whatsoever. Every single problem Fawcett comes across resolves itself summarily and disappointingly.
The entire world war 1 scene could have been cut. It's such a bizarre divergence from the plot that even if there is a semi-prominent character's death in it, all you really remember is the random fortune teller brought to the front lines for some stupid reason.
The ending is pretty obvious, but the movie tries to make it out to be some unsolved mystery. Apparently, the actual fate of the real life Fawcett was determined more by his incompetence than the dubious luck the movie would have you believe.
Don't bother wasting your time with this movie. Watch Aguirre: Wrath of God, or Fitzcarraldo, or even Apocalypse Now if you want to see how this sort of movie is competently and brilliantly done.