Jungle (Greg McLean, 2017) wr. Yossi Ghinsberg (book), Justin Monjo; Daniel Radcliffe (as Yossi Ghinsberg), Thomas Kretschmann, Alex Russell, Yasmin Kassim, Lily Sullivan, Joel Jackson, Luis Jose Lopez; action; set in Bolivia, filmed Colombia, Mt Tamborine
This is Australia's answer to The Revenant (Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2015) with Harry Potter versus Leonardo DiCaprio :) But before we get to the painful survival endurance in this one, there's a whole lot of tedious stuff involving a couple of characters who turn out to be irrelevant. It may be out of loyalty to the true story it's based on, but it doesn't make for a satisfying film. ... Leo wins, by the way.
In McLean’s hands, Ghinsberg’s story feels less like nonfiction than Ozploitation-goes-tropical. His direction treads a timeworn, genrefied path, hemming and hawing through fake-out scares and jabbing crescendos. An expectation is set that the lush scenery will become scaffolding for carnage, and the film’s ultimate impact will come down to what happens when the shit hits the fan. Everything before then is procrastination, and by George there’s a lot of it – McLean taking almost an entire hour to get to the nub of the story. Luke Buckmaster.
Garry Gillard | New: 8 July, 2018 | Now: 12 June, 2020