The Dead Lands (2014)

The Dead Lands is a 2014 New Zealand action film directed by Toa Fraser. It was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival where it had its world premier on 4 September 2014. It was selected as the New Zealand entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.

Plot.

Tane, a Māori chief, his 15-year-old son Hongi and their tribe allow a rival tribe access to the remains of the second tribe’s fallen warriors. Hongi does not trust the rival tribe’s leader, Wirepa, and follows him. As Hongi suspected, the visit is a ruse, and Wirepa desecrates the grave site as a pretext for war, blaming Hongi for disturbing the remains. Tane believes his son is innocent, but offers to kill Hongi if it will prevent war. Wirepa refuses, saying war is imminent. Wirepa’s tribe returns later in force, kills the men of the tribe and beheads Tane, taking his head as a trophy. Hongi is knocked away from the battle, and survives. Hongi leaves and attempts to track down Wirepa.

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On the way, he discovers that Wirepa and his men have entered the Dead Lands, an area where any who venture in are believed to be killed by a monster known as a Taniwha in Maori mythology. Hongi, suspecting that the monster is in fact a man, tracks him down and, although reluctant, the monster agrees to help Hongi hunt down Wirepa. The monster is in fact a warrior (who is never named in the film) who murdered all the men of his own tribe, and he kills anyone who ventures there to prevent his tribe’s historic lands from being occupied. The warrior is motivated by a desire to redeem himself and thus be led to the afterlife by his vengeful ancestors.

While tracking down Wirepa, Hongi has a series of visions of his long dead grandmother, who helps them on their way. Hongi and the warrior track down Wirepa and kill several of his men before Wirepa flees with his surviving warriors. Hongi and the warrior go after them, and the warrior kills a small band of hunters they come across to keep his identity a secret. Hongi is devastated by this, and screams at the warrior. The two separate, but the warrior has a vision from his ancestors that convinces him to continue helping Hongi.

Reception.

The film received mixed reviews. It has a 69% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 51 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The critics consensus reads: “The Dead Lands doesn’t add anything new to the primeval quest genre, but its battle scenes boast enough visceral thrills to carry viewers through the more mundane moments.” According to Metacritic, which sampled 14 critics and calculated an weighted average score of 59 out of 100, the film received “mixed or average reviews”. Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com gave the film 2 stars out of 4. Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter put it in her top ten films of the year.