“In the Lost Lands” (2025) is an adaptation of a George R.R. Martin short story, which is unrelated to “Game of Thrones.” Director Paul W. S. Anderson, best known as the man behind the original “Resident Evil” franchise, reunites with his star, Milla Jovovich—they happened to be married to each other off screen, which speaks well to their relationship since they want to spend every waking moment together. Jovovich plays a witch, Gray Alys, who has run afoul of the church, one of the two ruling factions in the only husk of urban civilization, which The Patriarch (Fraser James) leads with the help of The Enforcer (Arly Jover). The other faction is The Overlord (Jacek Dzisiewicz), but The Queen (Amara Okereke), his wife, rules in his stead with Jerais (Simon Loof), her childhood friend turned Overlord guard, as her enforcer and protector. At the request of The Queen and Jerais, Gray Alys sets out to retrieve what they desire and hires a hunter, Boyce (Dave Bautista), to act as her guide as they venture into the Lost Lands. Will they find what they need? Yes, but will you care when they do? No.
I have nothing but unconditional adoration for Jovovich, who is a better actor than most are willing to give credit to and an action icon since the nineties while seemingly not aging a day. My favorite Jovovich movie is “Ultraviolet” (2006). So she is not the problem. As Gray Alys, she is calm and collected even in the direst of situations, sports some neat weapons that feel as if they were an homage to Xena’s chakram meets mini scythes and has some convenient powers, but not as many as most unrealistic media expectations of witches. Even though she obviously needs people to play against to make the movie progress, no one seems to be on the same level though Boyce is clearly supposed to be.
Bautista has transitioned smoothly from professional wrestling to acting, but Boyce feels like a cliché. All the ladies love Boyce so when Gray Alys starts to cozy up to him on his trip, it feels eyeroll worthy. There is no groundwork to show why she would like him other than he is the only man around who is not trying to kill her. She hires him to be her guide so when he does so, he is only doing his job. The bar is in hell. There is no groundswell of emotion between them that speaks to their kinship except him repeatedly saying that they are alike. Saying something does not make it true. Also he feels more like the protagonist as the narrator, which is somewhat annoying because he tells parts of the story that he would have no knowledge of. Moviegoers will be able to get over this inconsistency because no one watches a dystopian supernatural movie set in the future without expecting some nonsense and built in room for error.
Grey Alys would have made a far more compelling protagonist: powerful, older than she seems and a better fighter. Boyce is just a drunk, angst-filled playboy, and no amount of innately affable and soft-spoken shirtless Bautista helps give him more compelling points. It feels like a bait and switch for her to be the supporting character. The world and people who inhabit it feel hastily sketched even though the actors work overtime as if their lives depended on it. Some of the supporting characters felt as if they existed to get killed off. When Grey Alys and Boyce cross an army of animated skeletons, their debrief alludes to an earlier encounter that Grey Alys had with them. Gee, if only “In the Lost Lands” showed that scene or did a better job so the dialogue would be audible enough not to need Boyce to note the exchange so the audience does not miss the point, which has zero bearing on the entire narrative.
James and Okereke were almost in another movie, and their movie was good. They get the Michael Fassbender award for acting their asses off more than “In the Lost Lands” deserved. The Patriarch is about as logistically savvy as the Sparrow, but on a high note, he probably could sneak in as a Pharisee around Easter if some film is doing a production of the Passion of Christ. No one would notice. The Queen makes Cersei seem a bit more level-headed. Also, if you are suffering from a drought, just invite The Queen to window nearest to your reservoir, and it will rain. You could set your timepiece to it if you own one. Costume designer Milena Jaroszek made The Queen look like an ancient Egyptian regent: golden and airy. Jover got the right memo and chews the right amount of scenery while feeling fully immersed as The Enforcer swathed in an outfit that looks like she was drafted into the Crusades. When the movie works, it is because Jaroszek understood the assignment and put the actors in the right mindset before they uttered a word.
While the set/CGI was intricate and detailed, it felt as if the “Mad Max” franchise inspired it, specifically Immortan Joe, with the skull visual theme, locomotives belching fire and suicidal, loyal soldiers. Anderson also shot too close to the actors’ faces or too far with a lot of editing so the audience can’t drink it in, which is probably intentional because all the scenes were allegedly shot in one room. The fight scenes are good, and Jovovich knows how to handle a slo-mo, but I wanted more fight scenes with her trademark weapon and less slo-mo. The map was terrific with its golden lettering plus the ticking countdown regarding the number of days until they must get to their destination helped reassure the audience that the end is nigh without checking the time. The pacing is a little off because some days goby in seconds and others stretch on.
No narrator is needed, and if “In the Lost Lands” suffers from a problem, screenwriter Constantin Werner, who was on the list for possible directors, feels compelled to explain the plot in multiple ways instead of just making it clear the first time. Normally, starting the action without a monologue getting the audience up to speed about precisely what happened to change this world to the one on screen seems heavy-handed and unrealistic, but if a good amount of dialogue is devoted to Boyce brooding and getting drunk, a nice explanation about how Gray Alys got accursed, shape shifters existed and the world got wiped out would not have stymied the plot. Werner proves that adaptation is not as easy as others make it seem, or this particular story does not live up to the Martin legend.
All the ingredients for “In the Lost Lands” are great, but it never adds up to a rousing movie. While it feels as if the film rushed through the material, if it was longer, it would have been torture. It is a middling movie that is impossible to get invested in regardless of all the effort put into it. Who knew that a Western vibe set among the ruins of a vast wasteland could feel like a paint by the numbers hasty sketch?
