Based on a short story by George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones), In the Lost Lands is the second film of the year that toys with the werewolf myth (following Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man).
Adapted for the screen by Paul W. S. Anderson, this fantasy film has been in the making for seven years and plays out as a strange melange of post-apocalyptic Western and lycanthropic love story. It’s a film that has the bones of an intriguing premise and features one thrilling set piece involving a high-wire school bus fight, yet it falls deathly flat in its plodding narrative partly due to the lack of chemistry between its two lead actors, Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista.
Jovovich plays witch, Gray Alys, who can grant wishes and is tasked with crossing a nuclear Hellscape with Bautista’s desperately lonely gunslinger Boyce by a manipulative Queen (Amara Okereke). Their mission is to steal the powers of a werewolf and the clock is ticking to the next full moon.
There are references to religious crusades, with a small cohort of soldiers led by The Enforcer (Arly Jover looking very Joan of Arc) on their trail but nearly every violent interaction ends with a giant, fiery explosion that borders on parody of buddy cop movies. The problem is, it’s too dull, hackneyed and repetitive to even be so bad it’s amusing. It’s best described as Mad Max minus any of the charisma plus The Lord of the Rings without any of the beautiful world building, divided by eye-rolling nods to the Spaghetti Western and the evil nature of patriarchy.
Aesthetically it’s what’s expected from the maker of the Resident Evil films, complete with video game style exposition and low lighting. In his oeuvre, Anderson is generally competent when it comes to memorable action sequences but with In The Lost Lands there’s far more emphasis on the dynamic between its two leads which unfortunately never really takes off.
In The Lost Lands will be released in cinemas on 14 March
