The
Lost Future Gets a Little Lost Itself
by
Kristin Battestella
Young
tribesman Kaleb (Sam Clafin) and Savan (Corey Sevier) protect their
village against violent, mutated humans affected by a unknown virus.
Their people, however, are starving while the beasts increase. Tribal
leaders fear the disease and do little as they become prey – much
to Kaleb's protest. A mysterious outsider Amal (Sean Bean) aides the
young warriors in battle and tells them of a yellow powder antidote
developed by Kaleb's late but literate father. Unfortunately, the
cure and its formula have been stolen by Gagen (Jonathan Pienaar),
who lords over an abandoned city. Will Kaleb – who is also able to
read – be able to retrieve and recreate the yellow powder in time
to save his people from death and monsters?
With
its 2010 European via SyFy Channel production, the odds were already
against The Lost Future. However,
it is the clouded action before promising story approach that truly
dampens the potential of this post apocalyptic tale. I know it isn't
saying very much when The Lost Future feels like a poor man's
10,000 B.C – which I did
like – but neither the double talk tribal angst nor the hunting
action cold opening fool viewers into thinking that The
Lost Future is in caveman times.
We know the title of the picture and the not cool misleading of the
audience isn't as clever as producer Jonas Bauer (The
Pillars of the Earth), the
numerous writers, and
longtime television director Mikael Salomon (Nash Bridges)
think it is. Wooden dialogue is immediately indicative of the
primitive meets future mash up, and this stilted mix of attempted
speaketh fancy with leftover modern lingo is at times so jarring that
it sounds like a bad dub job. Awkward
“What's a book and what do you do with it?” conversations
highlight this first draft script design, and the lies about the
status of this post apocalyptic community which should be at the
forefront of The Lost Future falter
as a result. Though underdeveloped, starving hunters fearing a
killer virus and a monster perimeter thanks to speculation on God's
will, justice, fate, and generational punishment are intriguing
topics. Place these alongside a spying outsider and debates on
remaining stagnant and clinging to fear or trying to proactively save
one's people, and you have story and suspense. Unfortunately, The
Lost Future doesn't fully
explain its who, what, and why and instead favors several assorted
battles and beastly fights before mentioning its confusing goings on
in the minutes between the would be spectacles. Three
supposedly important deaths happen in first fifteen minutes, but we
can't much care about nameless fatalities when the action has already
been proven as more important that the plot. Mutants, diseases, past
information, immunity – a lot's being thrown at the screen to
deflect us from the superficial writing. Intercutting between trapped
villagers, the journey for a cure, and more split action means to
trick the viewer into not seeing the aimless happenings but instead
leaves the audience without an anchor. It's not the best option, but
opening with a prologue explaining the science and experiments gone
awry would have gone a lot further in grounding the nonsensical and
putting the premise at hand in focus.
“How
will I ever unlock the secret of the yellow powder?!” cries the
lackluster Sam Clafin (The
Hunger Games) as our hero
of the hour Kaleb. He doesn't look the part, has heaps of bad
dialogue, and seems insignificant thanks to a too similar rival
turned best friend. If he's the tribe's only hope, whelp this is
Miscasting 101 all around. The post-The
Tudors Annabelle Wallis as
Dorel isn't made to be too sexy a cavewoman at least, but everyone
else does wear more and her fabrics cover up everywhere except where
they are needed. More sad however, is that she remains a useless love
triangle damsel who, considering the hunting and gathering society in
which she lives, shockingly can't do anything like, you know, maybe
hunt or even row the fricking boat. By contrast, Eleanor Tomlinson
(Poldark)
as Kaleb's sister Miru is made overly gung ho and supposedly strong,
but unfortunately, her convenient and contrived plot points lead to
exactly what she hoped to prevent. Good job! Although he
uncharacteristically changes his tune because the plot says so,
prospective antagonist Corey Sevier (Cedar
Cove) as Savan at least
looks brutish and bearded as The
Lost Future requires.
He also gets slightly more to do than have sex with Dorel
while Kaleb watches. Awkward! Going with these primitive teenager
perspectives to steer an already muddled script hurts The
Lost Future when
the apocalyptic divisions
and dystopian strata could have been much more nuanced.
No,
I didn't only watch The Lost Future for
Sean Bean, but he adds a much needed classy to a production
that knows he is the best they have. The DVD designs all feature Bean
(Game of Thrones) over everyone else, he is top billed despite
having less screen time than others, and most importantly, he looks
smashing with a bow and arrow. As the wise outsider Amal, his voice
alone raises the tone of The Lost Future, and his smooth
delivery adds authority even if he's stuck with a lot of mutant
exposition. Was Bean the only person who took the much maligned
script seriously or simply the only cast member with the know how to
do so? Amal's introduction advances the tale more in five minutes
than a half hour of action, and the irony that this one man is doing
better than an entire village helps make some of the unintentional
chuckles slightly explainable. The cowering superstitious folk
flounder while Amal and his family make their home in a ruined church
with re-purposed past gadgets – but his comfort isn't enough to him
so long as others are without a cure. He has the titular focus in
mind rather than the immediate struggle, and The Lost Future plum
seems like it would have been a great sociological science fiction
film had it been told from Amal's point of view. Man doing
science with consequences, antidotes stolen, mutant results,
apocalyptic separation, a brotherhood to protect human tribes – the
back story Bean is telling sounds a lot more interesting!
Ironically,
other elder statesmen support in The Lost Future provide
more bad acting instead of maturity. The old speaketh, out of
touch adults don't jive with the protesting teens, and everyone feels
like they are in the wrong movie. The Lost Future styles
itself as a would be television pilot with unnecessary village B and
C episodic storylines and too many characters that should have been
removed. Capable men on horseback arrive out of nowhere to help in
the final half hour when it's too late, and smarmy villain
Jonathan Pienaar (To the Ends of the Earth) hams it up a bit
too much amid the rushed industrial finish. Once again, The Lost
Future misplaces itself by
introducing a city, new population, and more characters far, far too
late in its 90 minutes. How are viewers supposed to get our bearings
when someone new comes along every fifteen minutes? This backdoor
pilot mood really piles on the people and possibilities yet
simultaneously gives away everything that could have been done in a
series season. Unfortunately, The Lost Future unfulfills
on most of this blink and you miss it, fast moving potential –
there's simply no time to digest whether we like any of these players
or not.
Yes,
the CGI sloth monster is poorly designed and the actors are woefully
thrusting spears into thin air before looming over cheap looking faux
animal carcasses. The zombie virus makeup and yellow powder designs
are poor, too, and the hectic fight scenes make it tough to tell who
is who – unless there is a cool slow motion moment with the
appropriately cued music swells. Those fast, seemingly superior and
parkouring mutant humanoids are also conveniently and nonetheless
defeated, and some of the action looks distorted, as if the camera
speed was altered for some kind of misguided special effect. A cave
exploration side plot is likewise ridiculously small scale and poorly
edited to cover up the rock reuses, however, the up close, through
the leafy foliage filming smartly hides outdoor limits. The distant
cityscape graphics also look fine, and the Life after People
damaged set pieces with piles of
dusty rubble, rampant vegetation, old technology, and abandoned
libraries look the part. Though perhaps misused thanks to a
lot of meaningless walking to and running fro, the South Africa
locales are quite lovely with a fitting, untouched bleak beauty. The
Lost Future may look rocky to
start with an over reliance on battle graphics, but overall, the
practical designs look natural and any slightly hokey visuals
are not the deterrence here. Indeed, a half hour behind the scenes
feature on the blu-ray release proves the production wasn't without
its merits, but the absent subtitles – which would have helped
tremendously with names and unclarified plot points – highlights
the decision to go with the gimmicks instead of fully executing all
the script possibilities.
I
saw The Lost Future when
it first aired on SyFy, and although I haven't watch the channel much
before or since thanks to its lack of actual science fiction, this
one does seem a bit more sophisticated than the hear tell likes of
Sharknado and
the other monster of the week knockoffs. Granted, the cerebral post
apocalyptic possibilities go unexplored at the expense of more action
or a speedy run time while the script spends most of its time on
muddled, disjointed storylines and distractions that proceed
accordingly just because they should. Ironically, The
Lost Future can
be humorously viewed as an educational tool on how to not botch a
good story with what modern television and film says we should have
rather than what the tale needs. One may prefer something more
serious, but this is still somehow a fun picture. If you accept
The Lost Future as
is for the superficial entertainment, Bean fans and science fiction
audiences can have a
good time. Viewers may even see this as a gateway to search for
similar but better realized dystopian adventures, and ultimately, I
like to think that the point of The
Lost Future is that the
ability to read can save the planet. Who knew?
