I have an ordinate fondness for English director Paul W.S. Anderson. His debut featureShopping(1994) aside, he is a glorious and unashamed filmmaker of pulp. He broke into the mainstream with 1995’sMortal Kombat, and has more than 30 years directing videogame adaptations (Resident Evil, Monster Hunter), science fiction (Event Horizon, Soldier), pop culture team-ups (Alien vs Predator), and rollicking historical adventure (The Three Musketeers, Pompeii). It seems fair to say there is not one masterpiece within his oeuvre, but what he does have in excess is fun. He has a slick sense of visuals, a strong handle on special effects, and an enjoyable manner of casting cult and underrated talent in his films. Even when his films are not exceptionally good, and to be honest that is at least half of the time, they are still enjoyable to watch. He is one of heirs to the old-fashioned B-movie: his work gets in, runs around indulging in stereotype and crowd-pleasing mayhem, and runs the credits before anybody watching can get bored. There is a solid place for that, and it is high time he starts getting acknowledgement for what he does.
Anderson’s latest film,In the Lost Lands, adapts a 1982 short story byGame of Thrones‘ George R. R. Martin. It is an everything-in-the-blender mixture of fantasy, post-apocalyptic sci-fi, western, and horror. It came and went from Australian cinemas in the space of about a week. I am not certain if it was properly released in American cinemas at all. It is a German production, although produced in English. When the time comes to assess the year in movies, it is extremely doubtful if it makes any critic’s year-end list. In all honestly it is doubtful if many filmgoers will remember it exists at all.
Yet I had fun with it, and it is important to give these kinds of pulp nonsense their due. The circumstances of film distribution have changed over the years, and those changes have not been kind to films likeIn the Lost Lands. It is simply not designed to bear the scrutiny of a full-price cinema ticket, overpriced drink and popcorn, megascreen premiums, and the like. This is the kind of film designed to be stumbled upon by accident, late at night on some old commercial TV network. The viewer is supposed to miss the first five minutes, and thus not really have any idea what is going on. Goodness knows what the title is, yet for some reason it is an addictive watch. What started as aimless channel-flicking turns into an actual watch through to the end credits, and subsequent conversations with friends start with ‘I saw the weirdest thing on telly last night…’
The film is set in a post-collapse future where the world has erupted with monsters and undead creatures, and humans are confined to one walled city ruled by brutal theocrats. There is a witch (Milla Jovivich) and a gunslinger (Dave Bautista), and one escorts the other into the wilderness to hunt down a fabled shapeshifter.
The film is shot digitally, with a surfeit of artificial sets and locations. The entire picture has a glossy videogame sheen – Anderson has worked with digital backgrounds before, but never to this level of excess. This is more the territory of Zack Snyder and Mamoru Oshii. More than anything, the presence of Jovovich reminds one of Kurt Wimmer’s abortive Ultraviolet (2006). It is not a bad comparison either; if you have seen the earlier film, you will do a much better job calibrating your expectations on the new one.
Bautista and Jovovich are dab hands at this kind of false epic: the over-the-top gravitas, the slow-motion action beats, and the constant hushed whispers of portentous dialogue. I have not read the Martin story that inspired the film, but what is on the screen certainly reflects common themes among his more famous books: the corrupt religions, weak monarchs, and blunt violence all feel very akin toGame of Thrones.
For viewers who passed their time amiably with Anderson’sDeath Raceremake, or his sillyThree Musketeers, orMonster Hunter, this film is a warm, B-grade blanket. For anybody else, why would you try watching this film at all? Did you not see the poster? Did you fail to check the trailer on Youtube? Did you not read the names on the credits?
