What’s It About
A queen, desperate to find happiness in love, takes a daring step: she sends the powerful and feared witch Gray Alys (Milla Jovovich) to the “Lost Lands” to give her the magical gift of turning into a werewolf. With the mysterious hunter Boyce (Dave Bautista), who supports her in the fight against dark creatures and merciless enemies, Gray Alys roams an eerie and dangerous world. And only she knows that every wish she grants has unimaginable consequences…
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich resume their longtime partnership in “In the Lost Lands,” with Jovovich playing Alys, a powerful witch who battles various enemies alongside the character of Dave Bautista. Unfortunately, this fantasy action fails to realize its potential. The film has fundamental storytelling problems. World-building is practically nonexistent, with a throne-vs.-cult conflict taking place in the background without much context. The Queen’s motivations come too late to have any meaning, and the whole narrative has a detached, empty quality. Visually, Anderson aims for a desaturated post-apocalyptic look but ends up with something that resembles a video game badly rendered. The lighting is never natural, and the sunlight, when leaving the theater, is a welcome respite. The color palette—mostly various browns—adds to an ugly watch that comes across like a poor early 2000s film, not nostalgically. Both protagonists are infuriatingly mysterious throughout. While the mystery is fitting for one character, both protagonists are so undeveloped that they do not allow one to be interested in what transpires. With actors like Bautista and Jovovich being cast, the movie fails to give them material appropriate for their skills. The action sequences rarely hold true. There are some instances that deliver flashes of entertainment—a booby-trapped gun with snakes biting thieves and an opening fight recalling “The Book of Eli.” Most action scenes, however, are undermined by poor camera angles, excessive editing, or a lack of suspense due to Alys’s poorly defined but seemingly unlimited powers. Jovovich is most comfortable when her character is armed and kicking butt, her forte in this fantasy action genre. Bautista, showing a lot more acting talent in better movies, does what he can with his underwritten character. Together, however, they do not have the chemistry to make their relationship credible, which renders the third-act reveals emotionally hollow. The technicalities offer no rescue. The CGI is cheap-looking, the costumes are ridiculous, and the aforementioned brown color palette drains any sense of visual appeal. The film feels like a flashback to early 2000s B-movies without any of the charm. Anderson’s background as a production designer typically brings some visual flair to his films, but his reliance on digital environments throughout here cancels out those assets. For all its plentiful action, the movie does the bare minimum of plotting and neglects to explore potentially intriguing themes or messages. As a fantasy-western-sci-fi mashup comparable to others in its genre, it only manages to edge out “The Dark Tower” adaptation, which is not much of a recommendation. Although Anderson typically produces viewable B-movies outside of his “Resident Evil” franchise, this adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s short story squanders its potential in spite of the presence of Bautista and Jovovich. It’s never a pleasure to pan a movie this much, but “In the Lost Lands” has nothing redeeming or of value to offer. Let’s hope we don’t get a worse film this year.
OUR RATING – A WORTHLESS 2