For 400 years, men have been searching the Amazon to find the Tears of the Moon, the flower petals of a legendary tree which can cures any illness or curse. It's 1916 London. Siblings Lily (Emily Blunt) and MacGregor Houghton (Jack Whitehall) steal an arrowhead artifact from the Royal Society. It's the key to finding the tree. They are pursued by the ruthless Prince Joachim (Jesse Plemons). They hire a boat skippered by Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson). Joachim reawakens cursed Spanish conquistadors led by Aguirre (Edgar Ramírez).
As an action adventure, this is fairly good. It's trying to be The African Queen with a healthy dose of Pirates of the Caribbean. It's not as good as either. The chemistry between Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt is pretty good but it's strictly platonic. They have no romantic heat. It's the fun banter of kidding best friends. Anyone watching them interact in real life would notice their natural chemistry. It's a basic chemistry test mistake. Quite honestly, I would be more than happy to have these two turn into adventure best buddies. Maybe they could find the romantic chemistry eventually in the later movies but they don't have it in this one. I like Paul Giamatti and am disappointed that he doesn't follow them up the river. Jesse Plemons is going full cartoon in his villain acting but maybe somebody else could do it better. Still, it's a fun ride while it lasted.
As an action adventure, this is fairly good. It's trying to be The African Queen with a healthy dose of Pirates of the Caribbean. It's not as good as either. The chemistry between Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt is pretty good but it's strictly platonic. They have no romantic heat. It's the fun banter of kidding best friends. Anyone watching them interact in real life would notice their natural chemistry. It's a basic chemistry test mistake. Quite honestly, I would be more than happy to have these two turn into adventure best buddies. Maybe they could find the romantic chemistry eventually in the later movies but they don't have it in this one. I like Paul Giamatti and am disappointed that he doesn't follow them up the river. Jesse Plemons is going full cartoon in his villain acting but maybe somebody else could do it better. Still, it's a fun ride while it lasted.