Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt take us back to the swashbuckling, exotic, romanticized adventures of yore
Movie: Jungle Cruise
Jungle Cruise Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Edgar Ramírez, Jack Whitehall, Jesse Plemons, Paul Giamatti (guest appearance)
Jungle Cruise Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Where to Watch: In Theatres (excluding Maharashtra and Kerala)
Review by: Russel D’Silva
Adventure movies, especially the romanticized, swashbuckling kind, are increasingly becoming a rare breed in Bollywood, and it’s not a good thing. With the advent of slick, sleek superhero movies, very few adventure films like the ones that take us to exotic locations or mystic lands in the search of treasure or fabled secrets, and featuring daring heroes and vivacious heroines, are being made. Finding a movie like the Indiana Jones trilogy (no, inccluding the fourth installment isn’t worth tarnishing the legacy of the first three), Romancing the Stone, The Mummy, The Adventure of Robin Hood (1938), Captain Blood, The Mask of Zorro these days is akin to searching for a needle in a haystack. Honestly, the last good adventure movies made were Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and national Treasure, back in 2003 and 2004. So, when a nostalgic ride like Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt’s Jungle Cruise surfaces in 2021, it’s the duty of any self-respecting movie buff to savour it, even if it just about missed the cut of the aforementioned classics.
So, are you excited about what to watch this weekend or what to watch this week and wondering whether Jungle Cruise is worth your time? Scroll down for my full Jungle Cruise review…
What’s it about
Dr. Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt), along with her brother (Jack Whitehall), enlist the services of sailor Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson) and his ramshackle boat to take them to a perilous, uncharted zone of the Amazon River in search of an ancient tree with the power to heal any ailment. Wolff though has his own secrets, and an ancient curse along with Prince Joachim of Germany (Jesse Plemons) hot on their trail only make their task that much harder.
Watch the Jungle Cruise trailer below:
What’s hot
You’re guaranteed a blast watching Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt’s Jungle Cruise. It takes you back to the swashbuckling, exotic, romanticized adventures of yore – maybe not as amazing as Indiana Jones, Romancing the Stone, Captain Blood, The Adventure of Robin Hood or even Pirates of the Caribbean, The Mummy or National Treasure, but almost as good, and I’ll take that any day in a scenario where such movies are hardly made nowadays amongst the onslaught of superhero stuff largely passing off as family entertainment. Plus, it has been beautifully shot by Flavio Labiano, topped by some ace CGI and rip-roaring action scenes, with The Rock and Blunt making for a crackling lead pair, well supported by Edgar Ramirez, Jack Whitehall and Jesse Plemons.
What’s not
At just over two hours, Jungle Cruise needed a bit of trimming from Joel Negron and Jaume Collet-Serra’s direction also lags a but in the middle portion. Plus, a grand adventure always needs a rousing background score, which the movie lacks. Plus, the climax, while enjoyable, lacks that knockout punch.
BL Verdict
A few hiccups aside, Jungle Cruise is the kind of family fun that’ll make you want to have an adventure of your own in an exotic land. I’m going with 3.5 out of 5 stars.
3.5 out of 5
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