Jungle Cruise (2021)

 

Somewhere in South America lies the Lágrimas de Cristal Tree, whose flowers cure illness, heal injuries, and lift curses.  In the height of the Great War, finding the tree would be a massive strategic advantage.  On that basis, Dr Lily Houghton and her brother seek access to the archives of the Royal Society, which contain an artefact they believe will help the locate it.

This request is denied because (a) the Society considers the tree a myth, and (b) sexism.

Lily is not easily dissuaded, however.  She steals the artefact, narrowly snatching it from the grasp of Prince Joachim Franz Humbert of Prussia, who also seeks the tree.

Lily and her brother head to Brazil.  There, the Houghtons meet Frank Wolff, a down-at-heel ship's captain.  Despite his own pressing monetary problems, Wolff initially refuses their offer of employment, but changes his mind when he sees the arrowhead.

Surviving the journey to the tree will be no easy task, however.  Spanish conquistadors gave the local tribes little reason to trust outsiders, and the far better funded and equipped Prince Joachim is hot on their heels.  But the most dangerous threat of all is one that the Houghtons could never have anticipated ...

Jungle Cruise was originally planned for release in 2020, but became one of the many movies impacted by the COVID pandemic.  It eventually saw simultaneous release to theatres and streaming in July 2021, earning mixed reviews and gross worldwide revenue of just under $300 million.  Given the film's production budget was $200 million, this was presumably something of a disappointment.  

Despite the mixed critical and commercial fortunes of the film, a sequel is reportedly in development.  Of course, that sequel isn't the topic at hand: the original film is our subject matter today.  Specifically: do I recommend that you watch it?

Fundamentally, I think the answer to that question depends very much on how you feel about (former?) professional wrestler turned movie action hero, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.  Jungle Cruise is a very Dwayne Johnson kind of film, and Frank Wolff is a very Dwayne Johnson kind of character.  If you're on board with Johnson's schtick, you'll probably have a decent time.

You certainly won't be let down by the rest of the cast: Emily Blunt is as dependable as always in the role of Lily, while Jack Whitehall and Jesse Plemons are fun, if not exactly asked to show much range or nuance, in their supporting roles as Lily's brother, and the wicked Prince Joachim, respectively.

And if you're mostly here for the stunts and visuals, then you'll be well-served.  There are numerous fun action sequences, and the set and costume design is strong.  I especially liked the undead conquistadors who emerge as the film's most tenacious adversaries.  They are suitably gross and menacing, and each has their own strong individual theme to make them readily distinguishable.

On the other hand, the script is something of a weakness.  I've already mentioned that the supporting roles lack much nuance: Jack Whitehall's basically just being asked to reprise John Hannah's role from The Mummy, except his character is explicitly gay, instead of just foppish, while all the villains are pretty much one-dimensional in their depiction.

"Like The Mummy, except" is actually something of a theme for the film as a whole, really.  Johnson and Blunt's characters map pretty closely to those of Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz in the earlier movie, and while there are certainly lots of different specific plot beats and revelations, the overall feel of the two projects is quite similar.  

Whether the "Mummy vibes" are a weakness, an advantage, or a non-issue is likely a matter of personal taste.  I'm in the last camp, myself.  But one aspect of the sceipt that I definitely put in the 'weakness' column is that the film is a bit longer than its plot requires.  I think this is mostly due to the inclusion of many, many extravagant action scenes, which - while individually well-crafted and impressive - do rather accumulate to the point where I felt they weighed the film down a bit.

Ultimately, I found Jungle Cruise to be an entertaining excursion, but not very deep or memorable.