“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” – Murphy’s Law.
This quote could be the tagline for Max Winkler’s (Flower, Ceremony) third featured film, the intense and gritty Jungleland. Set across the backdrop of the heartland of present-day America, Bostonian brothers Stanley (Charlie Hunnam – The Lost City of Z, Papillon) and Lion (Jack O’Connell – Unbroken, Money Monster) travel from their Massachusetts home to San Francisco, where they will participate in Jungleland. Jungleland is a $100,000 bare-knuckles prize fight tournament in which a local gangster named Pepper (Jonathan Majors – Creed III, White Boy Rick) can secure a spot for Lion. Lion is a skilled lightweight boxer who is banned from traditional boxing matches after Stan, who also serves as his manager, is caught trying to bribe a referee. It is before the start of the film that this incident takes place, but it establishes Stan as a shady dealer who will do anything to make a quick buck. The main problem is that he makes terrible deals, becoming heavily in debt. The brothers work at a sewing factory, but this isn’t enough to get Stan out of the hole he dug himself. And while Lion is one of the best fighters, the back alley clubs that hold these unsanctioned fights can only pay its winners up to two hundred dollars per fight. It’s simply not enough to pay back what he owes and keep food on the table for the duo.
J.C. Chandor (
The year was 2003, and a quiet little movie named The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won the Academy Awards biggest prize, winning Best Picture. Some will argue that this was the culmination of a pretty darn good trilogy, and that will ensure that the Peter Jackson franchise was worthy of its share of accolades, although maybe Best Picture of the Year wasn’t one of them. I can’t give my opinion on that one because I have yet to see the film as of this writing (February 2019). I liked the first two enough and didn’t have a reason for not seeing the third other than length. I should probably watch The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers again beforehand.
Had I truly known the plot of the 1973 original, I don’t think there is any way I would have gone my entire adult life without seeing Franklin J. Schaffner’s cult classic Papillon. With that information stated, I am glad I never saw the original before watching Michael Noer’s (Nordvest (Northwest) remake of the same title. I went into the film fresh, with no expectations. Nor did I know anything about the story other than it was a prison movie. But after watching just 30 seconds of the trailer and understanding that prison backdrops are often the set of some of my favorite movies, I knew I would see the film and that I would see it in the theatres.
The Lost City of Z was a movie with all the makings of a film I should love. I love a good adventure movie, and the idea of floating down a wooden raft in the Amazon River sounds like something I’d enjoy. I’m a big fan of John Grisham novels. Still, most law thrillers (except ones like A Time to Kill or The Firm, adapted into films) often tend to blend except for The Testament, a novel that was equal parts a big city courtroom as an Amazon Jungle adventure. I find something about the Amazon intriguing, almost like I can’t get enough of it, especially when it’s displayed onscreen as a true adventure story. This is precisely what James Gray’s (Two Lovers, The Yards) is.