In the Lost Lands (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – A queen sends the powerful and feared sorceress Gray Alys to the ghostly wilderness of the Lost Lands in search of a magical power, where the sorceress and her guide, the drifter Boyce, must outwit and outfight man and demon.

My Take – Considering the massive success both HBO‘s Game of Thrones and its prequel series, House of the Dragon became, it is quite surprising that it is taking so long for studios to mine other George R. R. Martin works.

Seemingly, first out of the gate, if you are excluding the long forgotten 1987 science fiction horror film ‘Nightflyers,’ which itself was based on his 1980 novella, is this epic dark fantasy feature, which acts as a combo of genres: gunslingers, werewolves, witches, a cult of church fanatics, and a post-apocalyptic set-up.

And sees filmmaker Paul W. S. Anderson, known mainly for his infamous video game adaptations of Mortal Kombat (1995), Monster Hunter (2020) and the Resident Evil series, bring to life Martin‘s short story of the same name from 1982, while offering his favorite muse (and wife) Milla Jovovich an ample amount of both beastly and human foes to slay.

But though the script, co-written by Constantin Werner and Paul W. S. Anderson, sets the stage for an action-packed adventure, the film ends up being a muddled mix of contrasting elements that fail to deliver on its potential.

Relying heavily on its eyesore visual effects, the narrative simply sticks to the formula, delivering, what should have been an entertaining fantasy tale, a slog of dull storytelling, lifeless dialogue, and painfully generic action sequences. Making this one fairly difficult to stay engaged.

Whether or not you’re a fan of his work, a Paul W.S. Anderson film has never felt as lifeless as this one, or as uncommitted to the heightened goofiness and bombast.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, which was destroyed in a great war long ago, leaving behind only one habitable human city that is ruled by an Overlord (Jacek Dzisiewicz) and enforced by the church, that is full under the control of Patriarch Johan (Fraser James), while everything behind the walls is deemed as the Lost Lands, full of a variety of dangers.

The story mainly follows Gray Alys (Milla Jovovich), a witch who, by defying the theocratic tyranny, has come to symbolize a growing resistance. But when she is not hunted by the church for heresy, she is sought out by those requiring favors that she can never refuse. So when the haughty young queen Melange (Amara Okereke) asks her for the power to shapeshift, Alys agrees, knowing that there is one with a bloody reputation out there whose powers she can steal.

To help guide her way through the lost lands, Alys recruits Boyce (Dave Bautista), a tough hunter with enough experience and begins a tough journey through the hostile landscape, all the while as they are being menaced by a crop-haired witch-finder Ash (Arly Jover).

From there on its all pretty basic and uninspired, the kind of basic tripe we used to see regularly release in the early 2000s.

Here, the post-apocalyptic director Anderson and regular cinematographer Glen MacPherson conjure seems to be aiming for something inspired by filmmaker Zack Snyder, but winds up closer to poorly rendered video-game territory, with lighting that feels anything but real. Indeed, the framework of the story is actually pretty solid, but the issues lie in the execution of the story, with its biggest failings being it world-building—or rather, its complete lack of it.

Fantasy films thrive on creating immersive, richly detailed universes, but director Anderson’s vision is shockingly barren and lifeless. A lot of elements just feel like they are dropped in with no real thought behind them, which you really start seeing when they start exploring the themes of power and revolution.

Reducing the characters to hollow shells of what could have been more interesting depictions. Hence, when the third-act twist arrives, we don’t care about the leads enough for it to have the desired impact.

Occasionally an action beat hits a pleasingly silly note that the whole film should have been going for, like a booby-trapped gun housing snakes who attack unsuspecting thieves, but its grandest action sequences are hard to watch, cobbled together from what looks like a handful of awkward takes in front of green screens with patently bogus VFX monsters mixed in.

The creatures and supernatural elements, which should have been highlights of the film lack detail or originality. The supposed dark forces that Alys and Boyce encounter feel generic and forgettable, failing to create any real sense of danger or wonder.

Performance wise, Milla Jovovich seems most comfortable when she is brandishing her weapons and cutting down everyone in her path, but then ends up struggling when it comes to straddling the line between Alys’ playful wisdom and her exhaustion at going through the motions of wish fulfillment. Dave Bautista has already well proven himself with his impressive skill, but here with a thinly characterized role, he ends up being only serviceable. To make matters worse, the duo just can’t muster the necessary chemistry.

Comparatively, Arly Jover’s truly unhinged turn as someone desperate to kill Gray Alys, comes out as a highlight. In other roles, Amara Okereke, Fraser James, Simon Lööf, Deirdre Mullins, Sebastian Stankiewicz and Jacek Dzisiewicz are simply wasted. On the whole, ‘In the Lost Lands‘ is an uninspired fantasy action flick that does the bare minimum to raise itself from being a tedious visual effect sludge.