In the Lost Lands is a science fiction-fantasy film released in March 2025, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and based on the short story of the same name by George R.R. Martin. The film stars Milla Jovovich as the witch Gray Alys and Dave Bautista as the hunter Boyce.

The film is set in a post-apocalyptic future, where humanity survives in a dystopian city, and the “lost lands” are in chaos. Gray Alys is asked by a desperate queen to find a way to turn into a werewolf to achieve happiness in love. Together with the hunter Boyce, Alys travels through dangerous lands, facing mystical creatures and cruel enemies. However, each wish Alys makes has unpredictable consequences.

Although In the Lost Lands combines post-apocalyptic and fantasy elements, the way these themes are exploited is not entirely convincing.

The plot is not groundbreaking

In the Lost Lands (2025)

Although based on a short story by George R.R. Martin, the film is considered to lack depth, with a fairly simple story: the character Gray Alys accepts a mission, embarks on a dangerous journey, faces challenges, but the script does not exploit the complexity of the characters or the post-apocalyptic setting convincingly.

Average visual effects
As a science fiction – fantasy film, In the Lost Lands should have built a spectacular and attractive world. However, many critics said that the visual effects were only average, not really creating a sense of mystery or danger of the lost land.

Performance of the main cast
Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista are both experienced actors in action and fantasy films. However, they do not have enough chemistry to create an attractive adventure couple. Milla Jovovich’s character Gray Alys is portrayed as cold and mysterious, but lacks clear motivation. Dave Bautista, despite his strong appearance, is considered one-dimensional and doesn’t have many memorable moments.

There is no information indicating that Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista had personal conflicts during the filming of In the Lost Lands. However, the problem may lie in the way the characters are built and the script, leading to a lack of chemistry between them on screen.

The character Gray Alys (Milla Jovovich) is portrayed as cold and mysterious, but lacks clear motivation, making her difficult to connect with the audience.

Dave Bautista’s character (Boyce), despite his strong appearance, is considered one-dimensional, without many highlights or clear personal development.
The lack of chemistry between the two actors may have come from the script not exploring the depth of their relationship enough, rather than any real-life conflicts. If the script had been better constructed, their performances might have been more appreciated.

Pace and Storytelling
The film was criticized for its slow development and lack of highlights, making the audience not really drawn into the adventure. The action scenes also lacked drama to make up for the lack of creativity in the content.

Overall, despite the potential thanks to the combination of post-apocalyptic setting, fantasy elements and famous actors, In the Lost Lands did not really take advantage of these factors to become an impressive film.

Paul W.S. Anderson’s In the Lost Lands looks like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It has some familiar features of the postapocalyptic — ruined, smoking landscapes; busted industrial cityscapes; giant mines filled with faceless, chanting hordes à la Mad Max: Fury Road — crossed with elements of medieval fantasy. But there are also cowboys and witches and werewolves and giant skeleton monsters. And while that combination is intriguing, what’s truly striking about the film is the storybook quality that Anderson has given every single scene. There’s a bit of video-game fantasy to all this as well, but what’s onscreen here is a lot more transporting and feels older, more elemental. Each shot looks like a page out of a cursed tome of twisted, postmodern fairy tales, the images forbidding and slightly abstract. This odd, distanced atmosphere is intentional. Anderson regularly cuts to a map showing us where the characters are on their journey — a device he also used in the Resident Evil movies — and he keeps time via an onscreen steampunk watch face that tells us how long it will be until the next full moon. The whole thing is marvelously unreal. You might find yourself wanting to lose yourself in it.

It’s also somewhat uncharacteristic for this filmmaker. Anderson loves visceral, gut-punch action, and in the past he’s brought to fairly generic stories an invigorating sense of menace and savagery. The Resident Evil films aren’t just filled with screeching zombies, they’re also filled with lasers that turn characters into piles of stew meat; the sci-fi thriller Event Horizon (1997) offers gory glimpses into a hellish dimension that I still haven’t been able to shake 28 years later; his 2014 disaster film Pompeii might look like a prestige period piece from the outside, but it’s also distinguished by the sadistic glee with which the director obliterates all his characters and locations. To some critics, these are knocks against Anderson’s work — his Tomatometer scores are famously in the toilet — but I find his movies a lot more cathartic and effective than the tasteful violence of so many antiseptic modern blockbusters. Some will consider this blasphemy, but he reminds me of Samuel Fuller in his directness and his no-nonsense willingness to just show us stuff.

In the Lost Lands has plenty of fighting, but its picture-book precision, its almost hand-drawn quality, tempers the cruelty, at least a little bit. It’s a classic quest story, following a lonely and powerful witch, Gray Alys (Milla Jovovich, the director’s wife and muse), known for her ability to grant any wish. “I refuse no one,” she mutters with melancholy eyes and gritted teeth, suggesting that once granted, the wishes will lead to more sadness and catastrophe. In the City Under the Mountain, evidently the lone enclave on Earth where humans still live, the Queen (Amara Okereke) comes to Gray Alys and asks to be given the power of a werewolf. Then the Queen’s loyal guard and lover Jerais (Simon Lööf) secretly comes and asks that the Queen fail in her request. Gray Alys accepts both wishes and sets off to find a man to guide her through the Lost Lands, a blasted netherworld where she hopes to locate the werewolf. She enlists the aid of a quiet, cowboy-like mercenary named Boyce (Dave Bautista), who has a Sergio Leone sneer and a gun that shoots out snakes. (Cinema!) They’re pursued by a group of modern-day Crusader knights led by the Enforcer (Arly Jover), who is in service to the Patriarch (Fraser James), a backstabbing church leader who seeks to unseat the Queen.

Why? I’m not entirely sure. The vaguely byzantine court intrigue is secondary to Gray Alys and Boyce’s relationship, which the film builds patiently and methodically — even at the expense sometimes of the action scenes, some of which probably go by too quickly. (One particularly climactic set piece looks fantastic but also feels like it’s over before it even starts.) Partly it’s because Anderson is more interested in the growing bond between Gray Alys and Boyce. Partly I suspect it’s because he doesn’t have James Cameron or Tom Cruise money to spend on intricate and expansive action scenes. Somehow, though, it all makes sense within the composed, fairy-tale simplicity of this world.

In the Lost Lands premiered in Australia on February 27, 2025, and in the United States on March 7, 2025. The film is not currently available on streaming platforms such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, but is expected to have a digital release in late March 2025.

With its combination of post-apocalyptic and fantasy elements, and the performances of Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista, In the Lost Lands offers an adventurous and mystical story.