IN THE LOST LANDS Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Paul W S Anderson
Stars: Milla Jovovich, Dave Bautista, Arly Jover, Amara Okereke, Fraser James, Simon Loof, Dierdre Mullins.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world In The Lost Lands is the latest film from Paul W S Anderson, the director best known for his Resident Evil series.
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland two people head through the lost lands pursued by fanatical members of a religious cult under the command of Queen Melange (Amara Okereke), who presides over the only city still standing after the world has been destroyed by some catastrophe. She seeks the skin of a shapeshifter, which will give her unlimited power, and she has charged Gray with capturing and killing such a creature. The white witch Gray Alys (Milla Jovovich, a regular in the films of Anderson) and rogue drifter Boyce (Dave Bautista) form an uneasy alliance as they face numerous dangers during their epic journey through this benighted wasteland. The lost lands are full of dangerous, marauding creatures and monsters.
In The Lost Lands is based on a story written by George R R Martin, best known for his Game Of Thrones, but Anderson and his co-writer Constantine Werner have taken liberties with the source material, transforming it into a hybrid sci-fi/western which taps into much of the iconography and tropes of the two genres. In The Lost Lands deals with themes of power, resistance, betrayal.
Visually this is one of the ugliest looking films I’ve seen in a long time. Anderson and his regular cinematographer Glen McPherson employ a limited colour scheme for the various scenes, and there is little colour throughout. Some scenes are shot in sepia and dull brown hues, some in fiery reds, and some in cold greyish tints.
The special effects that create this bleak world have been created by the same visual effects team that has worked on most of Anderson’s Resident Evil films. Given his predilection for a video game-like aesthetic it’s not surprising that the treats the material here much the same as a video-game adaptation. The action has been frenetically edited, and this is another of Anderson’s trademarks which renders much of the action unwatchable.
The script itself is rather bland, derivative, and almost incomprehensible. It needed more substance, more background information and world building. I felt disconnected from the characters and ultimately disengaged from the cliched action. The film does deliver a high body count, but ultimately there is little here that we haven’t seen before in better films.
★
