Cast: Milla jovovich as Grey Alice, Dave Bautista as Boyce, Arly Jover as The Enforcer, Amara Okereke as The Queen, Fraser James as The Patriarch, Simon Loof as Jereis, Deirdre Mullins as Mara.

Written by: Constantin Werner and Paul W.S. Anderson, based on a story by George R.R. Martin

Directed By: Paul W.S. Anderson (Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, Resident Evil)

Notable Producers:Paul W.S. Anderson, Dave Bautista, Milla Jovovich, Constantine Werner

Original Score By:Paul Haslinger (Underworld, Blue Crush, Death Race)

Release Year: 2025

Runtime: 101 minutes

Audio Description provided By:

Audio Description Written By:

Audio Description Narrated By:

What Is It?: Adapted from a short story by George RR Martin (A Song Of ice and Fire), In The lost Lands centers on a witch, Grey Alice (Jovovich) who escapes her captors and seeks passage across the treacherous lost lands. She finds herself a guide (Bautista), but in this world, trust even when earned runs thin, and danger lurks around every corner..even in the form of werewolves! Can Grey Alice cast a spell to get you to watch?

What Works: If you are a huge Paul W.S. Anderson fan, this plays like a lot of his films do in the later part of his career. Martin does create these truly complex fantasy worlds that are often really fun to uncover. Anderson knows how to direct Jovovich probably better than anyone at this point, so her Grey Alice is featured well, and her magic witch powers are certainly interesting if not occasionally entertaining. Dave Bautista certainly has done more challenging work, and I wonder what he saw in this film, but he’s well cast for what his role is.

What Doesn’t Work: Anderson isn’t the most dynamic director, and his style feels somewhat lost in 2025. This feels like a film he would have made twenty years ago, and it seems critically underfunded. Martin spends so much time developing his stories, and creating large lore around them, that probably ever agreeing to a film adaptation was the wrong move. If you aren’t at least going to commit to this as a fully well funded tentpole fantasy opus riding on Martin’s coattails, then let it be a series, but certainly don’t cut it short and ask Anderson to salvage it. This project is too big for what he’s trying to pull off, and it never really gets off the ground. The supporting cast was all interchangeable and bordering on forgettable. Something is interesting here, but no one seems truly interested in or capable of mining it.

The Audio Description: I think my favorite parts of the AD track were based around Grey Alice using her magic. When she’s trying to escape, she seems to be able to get into people’s heads, and in one cool sequence, she makes a guard believe he’s the one about to be hung, so he ends up freeing himself, but really freeing her. There certainly is something complex in the film that gives the team something to describe, and it was a nice track.

You Might Like it If: you enjoy low budget science fiction and fantasy. Some people do, and there’s a charm in those. Also, if you enjoyed the totality of the resident Evil film franchise, than you are prepared for Paul W.S. Anderson at his most mediocre.

Why You Might Not Like It: It feels cheap. It feels like a film that some studio made out of obligation, found a somewhat competent filmmaker, got non-A list, but recognizable stars, and rolled the dice. It is at least as unmemorable as science fiction or fantasy entries like red Planet, Supernova, and Ultraviolet.

Final thoughts: Paul W.S. Anderson’s budget was left in the lost lands, and he’s sadly unable to figure out how to make this feel as creatively appreciated as Martin’s other works.For a film that starts with one of its leads asking if we’d like to hear a story, the better story is where did the reported 55 million dollars go?

Rotten: Final Grade: 4.6/10