63% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 270 reviews)
Runtime: 127 minutes
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: The Rock, Emily Blunt, Jack Whitehall, Edgar Ramirez, Jesse Plemons
From: Disney
Matt Damon will be very unhappy to know that this contains an LBGTQ+ character...
It was not the plan before yesterday to even see this movie, let alone do so last night. However, the summer tradition happened and the air conditioning conked out-who knows when that'll be fixed. As I wanted to find a cool place to visit for a few hours, a cineplex in the Orlando area seemed like the way to go. As I've been on the actual Jungle Cruise ride at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland (the latter has been changed to become “more politically correct”; no comment on a new ride that I haven't been on) a few times-including a few months ago-it was worth a shot even with my feelings on how creatively bankrupt Disney is and all their other faults. At least the hot and sweaty setting matched what I have experienced at times throughout these past few summers.
As the ride itself is quite cornball-you're on a boat in a tropical location back in the day when such places were colonized by a European power and a tour guide utters the goofiest puns throughout-it should be no surprise that the movie would be the same. Aside from Dwayne making several of the same jokes, the movie is incredibly unsubtle (what accents Jesse Plemons and Paul Giamatti use in the film) and there are several moments I groaned at. It was clear they “borrowed” some things from Pirates of the Caribbean-including the supernatural aspect-as they want another franchise as popular as that was at one time.
Much of this was set in 1916 Brazil; Emily Blunt was the Strong Independent Woman type with a feckless brother. That wasn't subtle either but that can be said about various Hollywood movies (not to mention TV shows) in recent years; right or wrong some have had a backlash against it due to bluntness & bad characterization. Personally, here it wasn't that much of a turnoff; in fact, Johnson and Blunt really carried Jungle Cruise.
This is hokum but at least it did feel like an action-adventure picture of old in terms of tone and style. It's not Indiana Jones-thank goodness it was not mediocre or worse like the Pirates sequels either. No surprise this is the sort of picture that is appealing to a general audience. The film is pretty dumb but that is also a problem with Hollywood movies in recent years. There is an LGBTQ+ character who had a prominent role in this picture; it's only mentioned in one scene although at least it does explain character motivation. After yesterday we know that Matt Damon wouldn't have liked this character but besides that, the way that person was portrayed for much of the runtime can be questioned. Still, baby steps...
One last thing: this has more than one real life person as a character, although what was presented here was a bizarre alternate universe version of them. One was Spanish conquistador Lope de Aguirre, of Aguiree, the Wrath of God fame. Yes, this movie can be compared to something made by WERNER HERZOG.
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