The Lost Future (2010)

Directed by: Mikael Salomon | 90 minutes | adventure, science fiction | Actors: Sean Bean, Corey Sevier, Sam Claflin, Annabelle Wallis, Eleanor Tomlinson, Hannah Tointon, Jonathan Pienaar, Danny Keogh, Jessica Haines, Tertius Meintjes, Garth Breytenbach, Bjorn Steinbach, Andre Jacobs, Steven Jubber, Pope Jerrod

Sean Bean (‘The Lord of the Rings’ , ‘Game of Thrones’ ) is cut out for rough roles. He looks slightly uncomfortable in a tailored suit, but give him a horse, sword and leather armor and he’s in his element. In that respect, the role of chieftain in ‘The Lost Future’ is perfect for him. Three-day beard, quiver on the back, that’s Sean Bean in a nutshell. Still, we hope not to see the tough Brit in films like this one. If even he can’t bring an authentic touch to a tale of a natural tribe in distress, then you know you’re looking at a lost cause.

‘The Lost Future’ is set in the distant future. After a disaster of apocalyptic proportions, humanity is alive again as in the Stone Age. Survivors live in small, isolated communities and earn a living. Unfortunately, the tribes are regularly thinned by giant creatures and mutated beast-humans who infect everyone within coughing distance. After a fierce mutant attack, things look bad for the clan of Savan (Corey Sevier), Kaleb (Sam Claflin) and Dorel (Annabelle Wallis). Enter Amal (Sean Bean), a member of a neighboring tribe, who tells the trio about a yellow powder that makes humans immune to the mutant virus. Unfortunately, the stock was stolen by the rival chieftain Gagen.

Savan, Caleb and Dorel know what to do. While the other tribesmen hide in a cave with a wooden shutter, they decide to retrieve the powder and find out what components it consists of. Caleb is the only caveman who can read, and that makes you kind of like Mark Zuckerberg in the Stone Age. The idea is that anyone who can read from the work of Mark Twain can also crack chemical formulas. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only implausible element in ‘The Lost Future’. How is it possible that one tribesman can read, while the rest have no idea what a book is? And if the tribes of Savan and Alam live so close to each other, why have they never noticed each other’s existence?

It’s a pity that the world of ‘The Lost Future’ is so poorly developed, because the concept of a reverse evolution offers nice starting points. How does humanity survive in a world without modern conveniences? Which knowledge is preserved and which is lost? Are there relics from an advanced past that are still used today? Unfortunately, the lost future from the title is no more than a peg for a predictable story about a search for a miracle cure. Visually, the data is also not optimally used. Only the overgrown city where Gagen is staying has a wow factor, for the rest you mainly look at forest, forest and more forest.

There is also a lot wrong with this cheaply made television film in terms of tension build-up. The computer programmer slashes the CGI budget in the first fifteen minutes of the film with a few shots of a giant sloth; the rest of the time you have to make do with mutants who open the attack ad nauseam. And then Gagen, the bad guy, an obstinate dictator-wannabe who can’t even control his own daughter. Due to the lack of real threat, the quest for the yellow powder has little to do with it, just like the main characters themselves. Savan & Co may live in prehistoric times, but their Stone Age leather outfits just barely show a designer label.

The idea was nice, but ‘The Lost Future’ is dull, unconvincing and also boring. Even Sean Bean’s guest appearance doesn’t change that.