History Film / JungleCruise

** During Frank's conversation with [=MacGregor=], he has somewhat doubtful expression when [=MacGregor=] claims there haven't been any conquistadors in the area for 300 years. [[spoiler: Because [=MacGregor=] is claiming the cursed conquistadors weren't real, ''to one of the conquistadors in question''.]]

** Frank seems to be incredibly fond of his riverboat and refuses to part with her or replace her, despite her being...past her prime [[TheAllegedCar (to put it mildy)]]. [[spoiler: Turns out, he built the boat by hand 400 years ago and she has been his home the whole time, which explains his reluctance to part with her.]]

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Frank and Lily, [[spoiler: for each other]].

** [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] on Lily's part. [[spoiler: Although the consequences of her giving the last Tears of the Moon to Frank to break his curse isn't as dramatic, it meant all of the effort and money she has spent on finding the flower would have gone to waste, not to mention the possible flak she would have received for failing to get a specimen of the flower.]]

* JerkassHasAPoint: Joachim doesn't have any noble purpose regarding the flower, but he is right in pointing out that Lily owes nothing to the association that wouldn't accept him because of her gender (noticeably, he is the ''only'' man beside [=MacGregor=] to never disregard her because of it, in his first appearance seeming genuinely impressed by her pointing out that the association mislabeled an artifact). [[spoiler: Lily does end up choosing to reject the association in the end because of their mistreatment.]]

* LargeAndInCharge: Frank is the skipper of the boat and it's mentioned several times how big he is. He's played by 6'5"/196cm, 260lb/118kg Dwayne Johnson. This actually becomes a plot point, as it means [[spoiler: Frank is too large to fit through the underwater ruins blocking the entrance to the tree's location, and has to help Lily [[FaceYourFears overcome her inability to swim]] to reach the lever that opens the way]].
* LetsGetDangerous: [=MacGregor=] is presented as an UpperClassTwit who is shown to hate the jungle, behaves quite effeminately [[spoiler: (he's quite possibly gay)]] and brings an absurd amount of luggage on a trip up the Amazon River. [[spoiler: He's also a Queensberry Rules boxer, and proves himself to be a very competent fighter when he completely ''levels'' the German submariners during the finale. He's even the one who takes out Prince Joachim, albeit partially by accident.]]
* LogicalWeakness: Albeit an impractical one; the Conquistadores' curse restricts them to the immediate vicinity of the Amazon river. If you ''really'' want them away from somewhere, you can re-route the river, changing where the curse allows them to go. Of course, this does require significant effort (it's not easy to change the course of the world's largest river), but it's how Joachim awakens the Conquistadores to help him out- he uses explosives to direct the river partially into the cave where they were trapped. [[spoiler: It's also how the heroes defeat the Conquistadores in the end, using Frank's steamboat as an impromptu dam to suddenly define the area they were in as 'too far from the river'.]]

* MisplacedRetribution: [[spoiler: The native chief cursed all five conquistadors for the slaughter of his tribe, including Francisco, who didn't participate in the massacre and actually helped his daughter escape with the arrowhead his 'allies' were trying to retrieve, thus forever including him in Aguirre's eternal punishment despite not having done anything to deserve it himself. It's {{Justified|Trope}} though, as it's implied the chief's curse was vaguely-worded enough to count all the conquistadors as a group together, and the majority of them were guilty of shedding innocent blood, so the chief's DyingCurse wasn't able to exclude Francisco, not to mention the fact that the chief wasn't able to see Francisco turning on his comrades to protect his daughter. In addition, it also technically saved Francisco's life, as he was mortally wounded by Aguirre and almost died before the curse affected him.]]

* NeverSayDie: [[spoiler: Frank uses a lot of euphemisms to talk about his intent to commit suicide after breaking the curse.]]

* NotSoAboveItAll: [[spoiler: At the end of the movie Lily joins in with making puns while driving Frank off into London.]]

* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Frank only reacts to Lily's demand for a river trip when she starts talking about her wealth, in part because he needs to make 5000 Real in one week in order to pay off his debt to Nilo in order to keep his boat, and his livelihood. [[spoiler: This then becomes subverted when he catches a glimpse of the Arrowhead hanging around her neck, as it offers an opportunity for him to finally break his [[WhoWantsToLiveForever curse]]]].

* PiranhaProblem: At one point, Frank throws a small rodent into the river to attract piranhas and eat them. Later in the film, a school of piranhas attacks Frank to eat him.[[spoiler: Since he's [[InvincibleHero immortal]] they aren't successful, but the experience is clearly unpleasant for him]].
* PocketProtector: {{Subverted}}, but the spirit of the trope is there. Towards the climax of the movie, Lily grabs a gun and fakes turning on Frank in order to take Joachim's offer of 'a single petal' from the tree, shooting him so he falls into the water and can then ambush the remaining Germans back on his cruise boat holding [=MacGregor=] hostage. [[spoiler: Frank actually doesn't have any such protective items to block the bullets, but since he's [[ImmortalHero Immortal]], it enables him to convincingly 'fake' getting shot more realistically]]. The only thing that nearly gives away the ruse is Frank getting equally taken off-guard by Lily's UnspokenPlanGuarantee and needing a second bullet to get the hint.

* ProfaneLastWords: [[spoiler: Joachim says "Oh scheiße" before being crushed to death.]]
* ThePunishment: The Conquistadors certainly don't ''like'' their current state, but it allows them some [[LovecraftianSuperpower decent, if creepy superpowers]], [[spoiler: while Frank is entirely human, aside from the immortality]]. The trope is downplayed because the punishers didn't intend for them to get powers, and their curse does come with the hobble of being unable to go too far from the Amazon river. [[spoiler: The chief who cursed them originally wanted them to stop them from pursuing his daughter, and Frank intended to just trap them forever. The reason they are partially made of jungle is because of the effects of erosion on their petrified bodies, and they only escape because Joachim re-directed the river with explosives.]]
* UsefulNotes/PrussiansInPickelhauben: Apart from [[spoiler: Lope de Aguirre]], the villains are Imperial Germans, complete with a U-boat. Bonus points for Joachim specifically being the Prince of Prussia.

* RelationshipUpgrade: [[spoiler: [[BelligerentSexualTension Frank and Lily]]]].
* Really700YearsOld: [[spoiler: Frank the skipper is really the 400 year old Francisco, formerly Aguirre's cartographer and right-hand man until the massacre of the natives created a rift between them.]]

-->'''Frank''': Every time!

* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Frank is a gun-toting, rough-and-tumble boat captain [[spoiler: and former Spanish ''conquistador'']]. [=MacGregor=] Haughton is a foppish pretty boy, [[spoiler: albeit a surprisingly competent Queensberry Rules boxer]].

* SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer: [=McGregor's=] role is greatly de-emphasized in the trailers (the amount of times he's clearly in frame across all of them could be counted on two hands, and his speaking lines on one hand), while Nilo never shows up or is mentioned at all; justified, as Jack Whitehall and Paul Giamatti aren't nearly as internationally famous as Blunt and Johnson are.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Dr. Albert Falls is only mentioned in passing, but he found and retrieved the Arrowhead that was required to find the Tears of the Moon. There's also Aguirre's cartographer, who made the maps that Lily and Joachim both use. [[spoiler: Subverted with the latter; he's actually a main character.]]

* UndyingLoyalty: Despite him loathing his sister's adventurous nature and the scrapes it drags him into, [=MacGregor=] states he would still follow Lily into a volcano if he had to, [[spoiler: because she's the only member of his family who didn't disown him when it was revealed he was gay (or so he implies.)]]
* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Lily's plan to trick Joachim at the end is a good example, although it almost fails because Frank is just as in the dark as the audience, [[spoiler: and doesn't know he's supposed to fall into the water after she shoots him, so he can swim over to help free [=MacGregor=]. Luckily, he gets the hint after the second shot.]]

** Frank has a pet jaguar, showing his deep understanding of the Amazon and the creatures living there.[[spoiler: He's also had an ocelot and a cougar over the years.]]

** The Conquistadors are effectively immortal and possess incredible powers but have to stay in sight of the Amazon at all times. Several times, their attempts to get the arrowhead are thwarted simply because their target ran a bit too far away, and they get dragged away from the chase. [[spoiler: Intentionally invoked by the chief who cursed them in the first place, as he wanted to make sure they couldn't catch his daughter as she escaped with the arrowhead.]]

-->'''Frank''': Actually...it's [[spoiler:Francisco. And I'm basically 400 years old.]]
* WhamShot: When Lily finds Frank [[spoiler: washed up on shore after being stabbed, she thinks he miraculously survived...and then sees the sword still sticking out his back with Frank seemingly feeling no pain, let alone bleeding]].

* YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood: As shown by [[spoiler:Frank]]/Francisco, the conquistadors' curse doesn't actually make them monsters or anything other than Immortal humans who cannot die, age or leave sight of the river for the rest of eternity. Aguirre's pointless anger at Francisco for allowing the chieftain's daughter to flee with the arrowhead instead drives him to spend about 50 years hunting him down and killing him again and again in a pointless demonstration of his wrath towards his former brother-in-arms, rather than doing something productive with the time he had been granted. Whereas Francisco [[spoiler: was able to build a small town, and make a livelihood out of the advantages the curse granted him]], Aguirre's refusal to do anything other than blame others for his situation instead lead to him being [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoned]] by Franciso and devolving into a literal and figurative monster by the present day.

Previews: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydnzilTiBcY Teaser]], [[https://youtu.be/f_HvoipFcA8 Trailer 1]], [[https://youtu.be/hJZ82pwwJqA Trailer 2]].

* AmusingInjuries: Poor Frank gets punched a whole lot. [[spoiler: And after he's revealed to be immortal, he gets even worse, since he can survive things like being stabbed, shot, and attacked by piranha.]]

* AndThatLittleGirlWasMe: At one point, Lily and Frank discuss [[spoiler: Aguirre's cartographer, with Frank saying that he spent his life searching for the Tears of the Moon to no avail. He fails to mention that ''he'' was said cartographer, and had been searching for the Tears of the Moon for centuries.]]

--->'''[=MacGregor=]''': Breaking and entering, larceny and, worst of all, having to take public transport.

-->'''Frank''': Who brings a submarine to the Amazon?

* BeenThereShapedHistory: A mild case as it turns out [[spoiler: Frank is the one who founded the town he lives in centuries before]].

* BilingualBonus: [[spoiler: The name of Frank's original rescued animal was the Spanish phrase La Proxima[[note]](Meaning "The Next")[[/note]]. It was also the name of the next one, and the next one, and the next one.]]

* BrickJoke: Early on in the film, Lily taunts Joachim by switching the arrowhead in it's container with a Toucan toy that was in the same packaging crate. Joachim keeps hold of it, and in the finale [[spoiler: Frank does the same thing to Aguirre, pretending the Toucan toy wrapped up in a cloth is the Petal they're fighting over to distract him long enough for his boat to ram and block the river entrance to the chamber they're in, activating their curse's restrictions against all 5 of them]].

* DeathByLookingUp: [[spoiler:[=MacGregor=] knocks Joachim against a wall that causes a pillar to fall on top of him, though he has enough time to let out an “Oh ''scheiße''” before he’s crushed.]]
* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler: Frank, after experiencing WhoWantsToLiveForever. He gets over it after Lily lifts his curse and instead goes to London with her to live out his natural lifespan.]]
* DeliberateInjuryGambit: Lily pulls off one by proxy in the finale, [[spoiler: shooting Frank to make it look like she was betraying him for a chance at the Tears of the Moon. He wasn't really affected because of his curse, but it gave him the opportunity to fake it and go to rescue [=MacGregor=].]]

** Lope de Aguirre was this, relentlessly venturing further into the Amazon jungle no matter how many losses he suffered, from his ship, to his crew falling one by one, to eventually himself succumbing to either exhaustion or disease before the natives found him and nursed him back to health. [[spoiler: Francisco reveals this was because his daughter was deathly ill, and he hoped to cure her with the petals, but it's tragically {{Deconstructed}} as this very trait of his is ultimately what damns him to a FateWorseThanDeath twice over. The native chief cursed him and bound him to the river because he refused to turn back after finally finding proof of the Tears of the Moon and was willing to slaughter both the natives and even his own brother-in-arms Francisco if it meant getting the arrowhead, and his refusal to accept the consequences of his actions lead to him instead blaming Francisco when he became included in the conquistador's curse, hunting him down and repeatedly killing him over the years until Franciso was ''forced'' to subject him to TakenForGranite, because he would never stop coming after him otherwise]].

--->'''Frank''': You should give up!\\
'''Lily''': ''You'' should give up the ''guitar''!
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler: Happens to Frank twice. First, during a fight with Aguirre, he’s stabbed through the heart and falls into the river. Then it turns out that he’s immortal. And later at the end of the final battle, he [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices himself]] by ramming his boat to block the river in order to defeat Aguirre once and for all, turning himself, Aguirre, and his men into stone. Then Lily gives him the petal, which revives him.]]

* DwindlingParty: Aguirre's expedition got hit with this, first losing their ship on the mouth of the river, then the entire crew dying one by one to the dangers of the jungle, with only 5 conquistadors, including Aguirre himself, being left on the verge of death by the time the native tribe found them and nursed them back to health with the Tears of the Moon. [[spoiler: Then that number dwindles down to 4 once Francisco turns on his compatriots when they start killing the natives to get the arrowhead]].

* EvilMakesYouMonstrous: Unlike the similar curse in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'', the Conquistadores' curse doesn't specifically do anything to their appearance, [[spoiler: as demonstrated by Frank/Francisco, their TokenGoodTeammate who looks totally normal]]. Their current BodyHorror is the indirect result of continuing to be evil after being cursed. [[spoiler: Francisco had to trap them in a cave away from the Amazon to stop them pursuing him. Since they were suddenly away from the river, the jungle tried to pull them back, but it couldn't get them through the surrounding stone, and instead merged them with the surroundings. Even after they're re-animated by Joachim bringing the river to them, their original bodies have suffered so badly from erosion that they were replaced with things like bees, mud, and snakes. Had they not gone after Francisco, they'd look much the same as they always had.]]
* ExactWords: When Joachim said that only one of them can get the petal, he asks Frank if was willing to give up his petal for Lily. Frank specifically said Lilly will have to kill him for it. So she does. [[spoiler: Or more specifically, she helps him fake his death so he could go help [=MacGregor=].]]

** Frank looks surprised when Lily shows the map...which makes sense as [[spoiler: he drew it and is amazed a copy got to England]].

*** In said staged fight, when Frank wrestles with the jaguar on the ground, he sees a scorpion skittering towards the cat and immediately throws her to the other side (and when he sees a spider on that side, he tosses her up and onto a table), showing that he's clearly manipulating the fight to keep Proxima away from anything that might ''actually'' hurt her. [[spoiler: He is also more concerned about Proxima's safety than his own, since he is effectively immortal.]]
*** During the fight Proxima bites Frank's arm, later prompting him to remark that she did it "way too hard". Such a bite would have, at the very least, left Frank with a noticeably bleeding wound, yet he appears perfectly fine. One may wave it off as being part of the ruse, or a fumble of the FX crew, but it's actually [[spoiler: a subtle hint at him being unable to bleed due to his curse]].
** Frank looks noticeably shaken when he sees the arrowhead Lily's wearing around her neck and becomes insistent upon being the one to take her on the cruise to find the Tree, even after she's discovered his lies about being Nilo, whereas before he was determined to take her on a safe, but enjoyable trip to get her money to pay for his boat back. At first, this seems to be foreshadowing that Frank had himself been searching for the Tree before giving up and deciding to become a Riverboat skipper after failing to find it for years, [[spoiler: but instead it's because he's literally just seen the key to breaking his curse dangled right in front of him and knows Lily is actually serious about finding the tree]].
** Frank complains Proxima is "the worst cat I've ever had." This seems a joke at first until you learn [[spoiler: Proxima is only the latest in the ''long'' line of cats Frank has owned over the centuries, [[BilingualBonus all sharing the same name]]]].
** During a conversation with [=MacGregor=] Frank reveals that he speaks Latin [[spoiler: which was the dominant lingua franca of European scholars prior to the 18th century. As a cartographer Frank would likely have been versed in this language as part of his education.]]

** When Frank and Lily meet the mutated Aguirre, Lily is surprised that the legend of the Conquistadors is true, while Frank just says "this is impossible." [[spoiler: Frank already knew the curse was real, because he was one of the conquistadors and is the reason they were trapped, thus he isn't surprised that Aguirre is alive, just that he escaped the cave.]]

** Observant viewers will realize that the terms of the conquistador's curse, that they are 'never to leave sight of the river again' [[spoiler: fits neatly in with Frank's job as a riverboat captain who has intricate knowledge of the estuaries and layout of the jungle landscape.]]
** When talking about the local legend that some types of fish in the river as shapeshifter spirits who will curse them with bad nightmares for life if they look them in the eye, Frank warns Lily and [=MacGregor=] that 'If you believe in legends, you should believe in curses too.' Whilst it seems to be foreshadowing the fact that the conquistador's curse is RealAfterAll, [[spoiler: it's actually foreshadowing that Frank himself has first-hand experience with the curse, being a member of the conquistador's party 400 years ago.]]

** Counts more as FiveSecondForeshadowing, but [[spoiler: when Frank is impaled by Aguirre, he seems remarkably unconcerned with the mortal wound, pulling himself closer on the blade to grab the arrowhead from one of Aguirre's snakes and throwing it to Lily even as he falls off the tree, showing remarkable clarity of mind for somebody who's about to die. It turns out that Frank's actually immortal, and has apparently been impaled before. [[NoodleIncident Repeatedly]]]].
** Frank is negotiating with the natives in their own language. After a few moments, we see [[spoiler: the translation where Frank is surprisingly outspoken about Lily being difficult and blasé about their lives in danger. This sets up the reveal the tribe and Frank are working together and this is all a huge performance]]. A similar foreshadowing can be taken from earlier in the film where [[spoiler:the natives who "attacked" Frank's tour group were obviously also putting on a performance]].

** When Frank gets punched by either of the Houghton siblings, he comments on their "strong form." While this is expected for [[ActionGirl Lily]], he also says it about [=MacGregor=]. [[spoiler: [=MacGregor=] happens to be an amateur boxer.]]

** Why would Frank be particularly cold and dismissive of the Houghton siblings, even treating them exploitatively in the first acts? [[spoiler: [[MayflyDecemberFriendship As someone cursed to be immortal, he has already buried many of his friends so he does not want his heart broken again.]] The emotional distancing has become a coping mechanism.]]
* FriendshipMoment: Frank explaining to Lily his full backstory for the first time [[spoiler: including his true name and why he was also chasing after the Tears of the Moon]] marks the moment the two characters were able to finally trust each other.

** [[spoiler: Lope de Aguirre, the 16th Century Spanish conquistador, who's been trapped in the Amazon jungle since his supposed death. His comrades (Melchor, Sancho, and Gonzalo) are all names of historical figures relevant to Aguirre's conquest of Peru.]]

** Prince Joachim of Prussia was a real person; he did serve in the German army during the First World War but doesn't seem to have been particularly villainous. Indeed Irish rebels against the British during the Easter Rising in 1916 even considered offering him the throne of an independent Ireland in the event of a German victory. [[spoiler: Overlaps with DeathByAdaptation as the real Joachim survived the war only to take his own life in 1920 after Germany became a republic and his marriage had fallen apart.]]

* HumanoidAbomination: The conquistadors, [[spoiler: sans Frank]], due to a side effect of their curse; when they're freed after having been petrified for centuries, erosion had done a serious number on their bodies and they have to take elements from the surrounding area to fill in the missing parts. Aguirre himself is mostly snakes, and his men are made of beehives, mud, and tree branches respectively.

* InvincibleHero: Frank puts on the persona of being one in his river cruises, pretending to be an experienced skipper who can handle any dangers the jungle throws at him and his passengers with ease and cracking jokes all the time. [[spoiler: Then it turns out he's ''literally'' this, as one of the five conquistadors who were cursed by the chief, he literally cannot die or be meaningfully hurt by any dangers of the jungle, and has apparently been stabbed by weapons often enough that Trader Sam has [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight gotten tired of pulling them out of him]] and offers advice to Lily on how to best yank out a sword Frank's impaled by]].

* EvilMakesYouMonstrous: Unlike the similar curse in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'', the Conquistadores' curse doesn't specifically do anything to their appearance, [[spoiler: as demonstrated by Frank/Francisco, their TokenGoodTeammate who looks totally normal]]. Their current BodyHorror is the indirect result of continuing to be evil after being cursed. [[spoiler: Francisco had to trap them in a cave away from the Amazon to stop them pursuing him. Since they were suddenly away from the river, the jungle tried to pull them back, but it couldn't get them through the surrounding stone, and instead merged them with the surroundings. Even after they're re-animated by Joachim bringing the river to them, their original bodies have suffered so badly from erosion that they were replaced with things like bees, mud, and snakes. Had they not gone after Francisco, they'd look much the same as they always had.]]

-->'''Frank''': You should give up!
-->'''Lily''': ''You'' should give up the ''guitar''!
* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: Of all the snide remarks that Lily makes to Frank, the one that really gets to him is the accusation of playing his guitar off-key.

* CompleteImmortality: The conquistadors [[spoiler:including Frank]] are immune to any form of death, including old age or injury. The only way to circumvent this is to break their curse with the Tears of the Moon.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Comparisons to ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' were inevitable, but the film actually has much more in common with ''Film/TheMummy1999'': An eccentric yet determined woman of science embarks on an expedition to uncover a legend she has believed her entire life. Joined by her bumbling brother, they set through unforgiving environment with the guidance of a lovable rogue, and are before long set upon by undead monsters from an age long passed.

* AmbiguouslyGay: [=MacGregor=] is rather heavily implied to be gay, but not explicitly said to be so. He admits to Frank that he has rejected three attempts by his family to marry him off to highborn young ladies because his affections lie "elsewhere," and his sister Lily is the only relative who doesn't regard him with disgust. Given the social conventions of upper-class Edwardian English society, it's ''possible'' that he's talking about being in love with a working-class ''woman'', but his evasive description (and the fact that he's an able-bodied military-age male who's ''not'' in the army at the height of WWI), and the fact he never mentions an actual love interest and the specification that he could not accept ''any'' offer (which could be loyalty to another woman he has fallen for, but is more likely to mean that the issue is in the gender) pushes the audience's suspicions pretty far in the other direction.
** It's worth noting that this is accurate for the time period the movie is set in.

* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: The adventure-seeking Lily who prefers wearing pants to the AmbiguouslyGay [=MacGregor=] who tries to dress sharp and be clean, no matter how impractical.