Very good reminded me of the Mummy more than Pirates[SPOILER - highlight to read]: the use of an extended orchestral version of nothing else matters is used to transition the film to a more serious mode beautifully. The suffragettes at the end back in London will trigger the usual crowd
I haven't quite reached the end of this yet, but as Robtard would say, it's pretty much ass. Not necessarily dirty ass, but more like glossy, desperate Disney ass.
As someone who has been on the Amazon river (in much the same way that the movie depicts, as a matter of fact: I went on a Medical mission trip with my dad on a boat in the Amazon of Peru) this is an embarrassingly goofy portrayal. The whole movie is just as I suspected, a sad attempt to make another Pirates of the Caribbean style franchise. And this time it is sort of a knock-off Indiana Jones movie. It actually made me think of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull a good bit.
The story is lame, the CGI is over-used and it's mostly cringe.
interesting PL I've also visited the Amazon. I just put realism aside for these sort of films. Ffs I lived in Cairo and have a really good working history of ancient Egypt but I lived the Mummy. For me, I just look at them as stories.
Yeah, I mean, I don't mind a little fantasy, I know it's a Disney flick. I don't mean that so much as a criticism as an observation.
The main criticism is that I just found the entire thing to be kind of a pathetic and cringy attempt to make another theme park ride blockbuster franchise. Literally the same [SPOILER - highlight to read]: "lift the curse" premise. I did like that The Rock turned into a literal rock at the end, though. highlight for me.. haha.
I liked Steve Zahn in Sahara.
He told a funny story in an interview about hitting the gym to get in shape before filming, and feeling really good about putting on muscle/losing body fat.
And then Matthew McConaughey walked in on the first day of filming and Steve was like “well shit, now I feel fat again”.
So oddly enough a few nights after I watched this I saw...
Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004) (Aka Anaconda 2)
And the comparison of these two films is kind of interesting. Because the plot is actually pretty damn similar. The're both looking for some special flower in the jungle, basically. To use for medical purposes/making money. It was crazy what a breath of fresh air this trashy sequel to another trashy film was because the locations and animals felt more real (aside from the obviously CGI anaconda moments, obviously). But the conflict with the characters and the environments were so much more interesting and compelling.