The Lost City is an action-packed romantic comedy with something in it for everyone. And now that it’s come to Netflix a lot more people can see it. In fact, in the week since it debuted, the 2022 film has been in the streamer’s list of Top 10 movies.

The Lost City centers on Sandra Bullock’s Loretta Sage, a writer of sexy treasure-hunting novels that focus on her protagonist, Dr. Angela Lovemore, and her paramour, Dash McMann, a gorgeous — and multiple-degree-holding — man who joins her on all her adventures. In real life, though, Dash is played by Channing Tatum’s cover model Alan, a less accomplished, but very hot, specimen, who happens to adore Loretta, even though she can’t seem to stand him.

But when Loretta is kidnapped by Daniel Radcliffe’s despicable Abigail Fairfax — who happens to have serious jealousy issues over his younger brother getting the reins to the Fairfaxes’ powerful company over him — Alan goes after her with everything he has… or at least he tries to.

The Plot of The Lost City
Release Date March 25, 2022 Director Aaron Nee , Adam Nee Runtime 1h 52m

The Lost City’s plot starts when Loretta is kidnapped. While Alan tries to go after her, he is thwarted by the fact that he has no car to follow her. He goes to Loretta’s publisher Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) to figure out what to do, and he ends up calling his trainer, who happens to be named Jack Trainer. Trainer is played by Brad Pitt, and he is an expert in rescuing kidnapping victims and also being handsome. (“My father was a weatherman,” he explains.)

While Alan is busy summoning Trainer, Loretta is trying to translate the bit of parchment with symbols on it that Abigail Fairfax has. He has found the lost city on a tiny island in the Atlantic, but he hasn’t found the tomb where the crown of fire, a priceless headdress, is buried. He wants Loretta to translate the symbols, and because she considers herself an archeologist before she considers herself a romance writer, she should be up to the task. But she doesn’t want to do this for Abigail. So when Trainer comes to rescue her with Alan in tow, she goes with them.

While Trainer doesn’t last very long, quickly succumbing to a gunshot wound to the head after rescuing Loretta, Loretta and Alan continue to flee from Abigail’s people. They overcome many obstacles, including their car falling off a cliff, leeches, eczema breakouts, and dodging the motorcycles of Abigail’s people. But by the time they enter the third act of the film, Loretta’s been kidnapped again by Abigail, and Alan has to track them down once more.

Related 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Cast of The Lost City The Lost City features Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Daniel Radcliffe, among a few other actors. Check out some fun facts about the cast.

What’s Inside the Infamous Tomb?

The Lost City’s third act begins when Abigail abducts Loretta in his tank and Alan sees her being dragged away. He looks for a car to chase them down and soon gets a motorcycle in exchange for his watch. Alan catches up with the tank, climbs on board, and proceeds to fight the men who are on top of the tank while Loretta attempts to gain control of the situation inside the tank.

Ultimately, neither of them are successful, and Abigail threatens Alan to make Loretta take him to the tomb. Loretta, having just heard from a singer that the “well of tears,” the translation she made from the symbols Abigail gave her, is a real place not a metaphor as she originally thought, tells them where to go.

When they get there, they climb through a cave and find an opening to a tunnel. Loretta and the others follow it through and finds the place where the treasure should be. Abigail is surprised. He thought it would be a glorious monument to the dead man’s power. But Loretta, who lost her husband five years ago and has practically become a shut-in since, understands that that isn’t the purpose of this tomb. It’s a site where the man’s widow could come and grieve by herself.

Still, Abigail hopes to find the headdress he was originally looking for. He opens the tomb and finds… a headdress made of seashells. It’s of no value. There is no treasure the way Abigail thinks of it. But Loretta understands: the treasure to the woman who created the tomb was her lost lover.

Related Why The Lost City is the Perfect Nostalgia Movie A look at the action-comedy film that brings both the laughs and the feelings.

The Climax and the Coda

Abigail is furious at this turn of events and, as a volcano starts to shake the tomb, he and his henchman, Rafi (Hector Anibal), lock Loretta and Alan in the tomb and leave. It turns out Rafi isn’t okay with what Abigail did either, however, and he leaves Abigail behind in the cave. He also left behind a crowbar so Loretta and Alan can get out of the tomb.

After they do, Loretta, recognizing she has cut herself off from life, leaves her wedding ring behind in the tomb. Then, with Alan, she swims through the currents of the water to the middle of the ocean outside the cave. There, Beth, on a police boat, picks them up. They have Abigail arrested and then go on a trip to an island paradise.

In a coda, Loretta and Alan are taking a yoga class and who’s there but Jack Trainer! It turns out he survived the gunshot blast to the head. He claims that because we only use 10% of our brains (which is not true, but for the purposes of this movie we’ll overlook it), he just switched to another 10%. He has some anger and resentment issues to get over but otherwise he is a-OK.

The movie cuts to black, but it’s hard not to wonder how the back of Trainer’s head looks after that reveal. It’s also hard not to wonder how long Loretta will enjoy Alan’s company as he’s a lot less intelligent than she is — and as she’s said, she’s attracted to intelligence. Nonetheless, as they made a point to explain in the movie, Alan is well-endowed, so she could have him stick around for a while.