In the Lost Lands
VERTICAL
With each and every new Paul W.S. Anderson project, it begins with a glimmer of hope that the one time Event Horizon and Resident Evil director gets back to the practical grassroots horror and aesthetic of his heyday, only for his latest project to be announced and it further cement the director into glazed CGI Green screen bonanza. Anderson’s latest directorial effort, In the Lost Lands, falls into the camp of excruciating missed opportunity.
This is a venture that feels a cross between the thematic of the Paul Bettany starring Priest and the aesthetic of the Jude Law, Angelina Jolie starring Sky Captain of Tomorrow. Not quite the compliment granted, but it’s always intriguing to see a visionary filmmaker explore and craft something as digital as a project as this is. It has shades - written in the most restrained comparison - to Anderson’s later Resident Evil exploits, but fails to find the entertainment and bravado of Afterlife or Retribution and instead falls into the line of Final Chapter that fails to evoke heart and soul or, more importantly, fun. The latter Resident Evil films have a tongue-in-cheek understating of being silly and therefore surprisingly endearing. In the Lost Lands never evokes a sense of fun or entertainment. Partly being far too up its own Jackson in tone and execution, with such a serious and therefore banal approach, resulting in little levity being found.
It’s hard to watch something being composed with such serious severity in political discourse, as well as the survival against demons and werewolves and yet the approach never senses the fun it can have with the material. To make matters worse is that the material presented is never intriguing or entertaining, be it the central dynamic between the characters or the larger world at hand. Starting with the positives, this is a world that does have a slim veil of interest in that it is severely ruptured in political and religious turmoil. The two forces are fighting for control while a mystical supernatural takes the undercurrent. On paper, it sounds like basic fan fiction and on screen sounds and acts just like basic fan fiction. It’s an attribute of the film that holds the most weight and yet is shockingly background and used ever so infrequently, and when it is utilised on screen, fails to illicit any form of intrigue. Once the glaring darkness of horrible CGI green screens becomes blatantly tedious, it becomes abundantly clear that this is simply background noise and nothing else. It has no reason aside from a soundstage with no living, breathing integrity or pulse. Yes, it could be argued that it evokes a dying, lifeless feeling to evoke world building, but the film does so little to interact with this attribute that it would be a significant push to state as such.
Surrounding this flat and uninteresting world are equally dull and boring characters. Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista are not Academy Award-winning performers, so not receiving Academy Award-winning performances is not something that any viewer should be asking or wanting. Nevertheless, both performers do a standard and decent job at attempting to craft three-dimensional characters in a dire screenplay. Depth, charisma, cand harm are all far too stoic, flat and far removed. As the film bumbles on, it becomes clear that these characters don’t have engaging arcs and therefore material to work with. Yes, it attempts moments of peril and dynamics of affection, but these arcs and characters are lifeless with lacking emotional or spiritual depth, and fail to connect with the viewer with a substantial loss. Thrills and twists are far and few in between, and the attempts to illustrate such aren’t particularly compelling or narratively inspiring to see develop with little fallout and resounding depth felt. Accumulating in a finale that attempts to twist the narrative and a significant amount of drama to proceedings, but over complicates whatever simplicity Anderson’s film I finally intended.
As bizarre as the following statement will sound for a Paul W.S. Anderson film, In the Lost Lands is a far too visually dull and poorly crafted thematic venture to the extent of being excessive and overly indulgent in an uninspiring aesthetic for its own good. Its narrative and story are both uninteresting and quite frankly boring to sit through, with the few action sequences implemented feeling tepid and flat in tone and execution. The performances are equally as dull with such little material afforded to create a rich tapestry of characters who are left to mope and wander as lifeless beings in equally as devoid and utterly empty surroundings. In the Lost Lands painfully and regrettably extends another poor entry into Paul W.S. Anderson’s filmography that feels light years away from the director who makes cult classics such as Event Horizon, Alien Vs Predator and the Resident Evil franchise.
