A dense dangerous jungle and an explorer driven by an obsession.

Those are the essential ingredients of the new movie The Lost City of Z.

The latest film from director/writer James Gray is in many ways its own cinematic safari. It's a journey back into a time where filmmakers told bold swashbuckling epics, bursting with all the adventure you could fit on that panoramic canvas.

This is a film without robots or corporate branded crossovers. Instead it offers a majestic style of storytelling that brings to mind elements of Apocalypse Now and Lawrence of Arabia.

It is about the siren call of exploration, inspired by the true story of Lieutenant Colonel Percival Fawcett.

The film begins in the early 20th century as we meet Fawcett, a soldier of some distinction.

He's strong family man, good with a horse and a hunting rifle who is approached by the Royal Geographical Society to help map territory in Bolivia, where there are valuable rubber deposits. Fawcett isn't terribly excited about drawing maps but when the society director describes the terrible risks Fawcett accepts.

That the soldier is tempted by the dangers gives you a sense of Fawcett's character, the kind of person who believes a man's reach should exceed his grasp. Is it hubris? Folly?

On a winding river from Bolivia into Amazonian jungle Fawcett finds out.

That is where he first hears the tales of a fabled city of gold.
A whispered rumour shared by the locals that becomes his life's work.

The Lost City of Z stars Charlie Hunnam as Fawcett. You may have seen him in the Sons of Anarchy series and in a few weeks he'll be the starring man in the new King Arthur film.

He's a striking, classically capable-looking leading man who gives us the thinking man's hero. He's joined by Robert Pattinson, as Costin, his aide-de-camp. Pattinson turns in a quiet, understated performance, perhaps more mature than you might expect from the former Twilight star.

Also along for the ride is Sienna Miller as the stoic wife left to raise the children while the husband goes off on the epic adventures. But this is a progressive partnership. Sienna Miller delivers a woman who is very much Fawcett's equal.

A few years ago director James Gray made a beautiful, graceful film with Jeremy Renner and Marion Cotillard called The Immigrant.

The Lost City of Z shares the same refined touch but with a broader, more ambitious scope.

Not just the vistas on screen but the time span of the story.

It's about the multiple attempts, setbacks, lives lived and lost in between.

We're so used to simple A-to-B storytelling, that the breadth of Gray's approach requires an adjustment from the audience. But this is all about adjusting as we watch Fawcett evolve from someone content to push back the edges of the map to ultimately trying to protect the wilderness and its residents from those who would plunder its riches.

Now that all may seem very high minded, but woven throughout this true-life tale are the practical realities of a jungle campaign. Snakes. Starvation. Rivers boiling with bloodthirsty creatures. Not to mention the so-called "Amazonians" watching from the shore.

It all adds up to make The Lost City of Z a journey worth taking.