No doubt that Percy Fawcett has shuffled off this mortal coil in at least the year 1925. The British explorer and his son vanished in the deep Amazon jungle in that year on a quest to find Fawcett's fabled Lost City Of Z(ed)which is how they would say it across the pond.

His quest proved to be his undoing. He was convinced that evidence of this city showing a high civilization deep in the tributary country that make up the Amazon. Quests for lost cities did in Spanish conquistadors like Hernando DeSoto. Coronado looked for his 7 cities of gold in the American southwest and Ponce DeLeon died in Florida looking for the Fountain Of Youth.

Seeing the story of the real Fawcett makes me think he was the inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle's George Challenger and those stories regarding the Lost World he sought in the same area.

Fawcett had a home and hearth as well. Sienna Miller plays his wife and Robert Pattinson of the Twilight series plays his son in his last years. Fawcett is played by Charles Hunnam and all distinguish themselves in their performances. Fawcett's domestic life was hardly serene as his wife wished he'd be home more instead of weeks and months at a time when he would leave her with yet another mouth to feed.

Like Francois Villon, Jean Lafitte, and Amelia Earhart whose last days are unknown and open to speculation, Fawcett's have also been ripe with argument. The scenes here with Hunnam and Pattinson resolved to meet whatever fate awaits them with the Amazon tribes they encountered are beautifully played and sure to illicit an emotional response.

The cinematography is stunning, it looks a lot like the Scorsese film The Mission. The cast is perfect and the film is quite the tribute to one intrepid explorer.

THE LOST CITY OF Z is an unusually uninteresting Hollywood biopic that tells an interesting true story in a middling way. It's the tale of explorer Percy Fawcett who famously went missing in South America in the early 20th century, and the circumstances that took him there. I was hoping for some jungle madness intensity a la Herzog's AGUIRRE, WRATH OF GOD, and there is a little of that, but certainly not enough. This lengthy slow burner is too intent on charting Fawcett's other activities, including his family life and experiences in WW1, rather than focusing on his fateful exploration. Three jungle trips are featured but aside from Robert Pattinson proving himself in an unrecognisable turn, there's little of interest; it's just too drawn-out and circumstantial. Charlie Hunnam is okay as the lead but hardly makes for a charismatic figure and the film overall has little feeling or depth to it. You're left not really caring about what happens, despite the handsome photography et al.

It's 1905 Ireland. Major Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) with no medals is snubbed for his unfortunate choice of ancestors. He eagerly accepts the Royal Geographical Society's mission to map a river in the amazon to calm the near-warring Bolivia and Brazil. He leaves behind his wife Nina (Sienna Miller) and young children. He is joined by Henry Costin (Robert Pattinson). The group guided by a former slave native finds evidences of civilization in the jungle. Percy returns to ridicule for his claim of a lost city of Z. James Murray (Angus Macfadyen) is one of his few supporters who joins him on the next expedition. Murray turns out to be an incompetent coward who sabotages the quest and demeans him upon return to London. He is dismissed by everyone including his angry son Jack. After being temporarily blinded by a heroic action in WWI, he returns to England vindicated and his son Jack (Tom Holland) convinces him to lead one final quest for his lost amazonian city.

There are some beautiful scenes. The quest is a personal epic. The acting is fine. At its best, the river journey is Apocalypse Now. The story does meander since there are actually three journeys. The back and forth keeps the flow disjointed. My favorite parts are all in the Amazon. The native in the first quest is compelling. The second is Murray's cowardice. The third is the native warriors. I almost wish for a fictionalization with one simple journey.