THE STORY – A queen sends the powerful and feared sorceress Gray Alys to the ghostly wilderness of the Lost Lands in search of a magical power, where the sorceress and her guide, the drifter Boyce, must outwit and outfight man and demon.
THE CAST – Mila Jovovich, Dave Bautista, Arly Jover, Amara Okereke, Fraser James & Simon Lööf
THE TEAM – Paul W.S. Anderson (Director/Writer) & Constantin Werner (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 102 Minutes
Throughout Hollywood’s history, plenty of actress-director couples have frequently collaborated and provided us with great cinematic works. Of course, when you think of some of these duos, you think of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands, Frances McDormand and Joel Coen, etc. One duo usually absent from these conversations is Paul W.S. Anderson and Mila Jovovich. Sure, their films aren’t on the same level of acclaim as the previously mentioned couples, but the pair have one thing many of them don’t: longevity. The two have worked on eight films together over 20 years. Now, Anderson has reteamed with Jovovich for their ninth film, bringing to life one of the works of beloved fantasy author George R.R. Martin. While some of the minimal charm of Anderson’s early 2000s studio fare is apparent within “In The Lost Lands,” this time around, it’s clear he’s operating on autopilot.
We start “In the Lost Lands” with notorious hunter Boyce (Dave Bautista) walking right into the center of the frame to tell the viewers a fantastical story about the woman who eventually saved his life. The woman Boyce is talking about is the cursed sorcerer, Gray Alis (Mila Jovovich). Although Gray Alis is despised by many, Queen Melange (Amara Okereke), who finds herself at odds with the church, asks Gray Alis to go across the Lost Lands to retrieve the magical ability of shape-shifting from a werewolf. Gray Alis and Boyce undertake a harrowing expedition that finds them crossing paths with demons, religious zealots, and the loneliness so ingrained in the lives they live.
Viewers watching “In The Lost Lands” will easily discern that Anderson’s latest film is not doing much to differentiate itself from his previous work. It’s an “epic” genre film trying to do too many things at once, and it somehow succeeds in not only being unentertaining for a large majority of its runtime but also unbearably unwatchable. Constantin Werner and Anderson’s screenplay is a complete and utter mess, as it does very little to flesh out the world created by a talent such as Martin or any of the characters who populate it.
As the leads, Jovovich and Bautista are serviceable but nothing more. While their work isn’t anything special, the haphazard dialogue they must regurgitate has no substance to aid any working actor who would take on this job. A role like this is nothing out of Jovovich’s wheelhouse, as this has sadly become the default register of performance she has delivered as of late. That being said, this is one of Bautista’s weaker efforts, which is disappointing. He has gone to great lengths to display that he is an actor of high caliber, but as a film that is clearly functioning as a paycheck to help support more passion projects, his work here retains little to none of the charm that makes him such a unique screen presence. We’re forced to watch these two, with the chemistry of plaster, attempt to conjure up any spark for almost two hours. It’s as painful as the action sequences scattered throughout the film.
The action is unimaginative and boorish, bolstered by the drab Zach Snyder-esque aesthetic, which is already a visual catastrophe. It fuses Anderson’s stylized slop typically displayed throughout the “Resident Evil” films with constant flares, washed-out lighting, and some of the laziest blending of green-screen background work you’ll likely see this year. It’s enough to make any of the last few MCU projects look like James Cameron’s “Avatar” in comparison.
It’s a little ironic how Anderson has spent a solid amount of his career cashing in video game adaptations throughout the late 90s to the mid-2000s before this recent trend reentered the cultural zeitgeist. None of that works when applied to an attempt to adapt Martin’s work, most of which is not “Game of Thrones“-related and doesn’t translate. The film has clear inspirations, some of which reek of failed recreations, mainly of movies like “Mad Max” and “Dune.” Anderson attempts to juggle all of these genre influences but has made something that only feels like it’s not derived from its source material. When the action subsides, “In The Lost Lands” is a myriad of half-witted palace intrigue and unfocused storylines that all fall apart at the seams. It doesn’t help that the film is so disjointedly edited that it feels stapled together.
There was a point when Anderson’s aggressive 2000s core style of junk food filmmaking appealed to many. People have good reason to enjoy the “Resident Evil” films (most of all “Afterlife”), which, while failing to be faithful adaptations to the games, still elicited a sense of juvenile elation. “In The Lost Lands” is a far cry from “Event Horizon” or most of the “Resident Evil” entries. What does Anderson achieve here that he hasn’t in his previous films? There is nothing besides showcasing how some things were meant to be programmed on the SYFY network rather than made into a feature-length film.
