This movie is so good it almost entirely overcomes its basic weakness.Lost tells the story of Jeremy Stanton (Dean Cain), a man who finds himself on the road from California to Nevada. Unable to take the straight and easy path to a place called Red Ridge due to storms and flooding rendering the main roads impassable, Jeremy finds himself wandering the back roads and forgotten trails with only an inaccurate map and the thoroughly unhelpful directions over his cell phone of Judy (Ashley Scott), a woman who works for this movie's version of AAA. That could very easily be the premise of a road comedy, except there's a bag of money in the trunk of Jeremy's rental car and a vicious killer named Archer (Danny Trejo) chasing after him.You might not expect too much of a film that's just an hour and a half of Dean Cain driving around the desert and talking on a cell phone, but you'll be pleasantly surprised if you give Lost a gander. This film has many strengths and only one real flaw.Dean Cain gives a good performance made even better by the normality of it. Jeremy Stanton is a man stuck in the desert, alone and unable to get where he needs to go, with a murderer lurking in his rear view mirror. Most actors in that sort of tale will start out chewing the scenery and end up vomiting it back at you. They'd give you a performance full of every overwrought emotion they can. Cain avoids that temptation and gives us a real Jeremy, who doesn't fall to pieces or morph into some movie cliché "man driven beyond his limits". Cain's Jeremy feels frustration and anger and anxiety but when things go wrong, he puts his head down and keeps on going like many people do in tough spots. Cain doesn't give you the performance you'd expect in this sort of film, and he's able to carry on his back almost the entire movie.Lost is also a very quick moving story and even when Jeremy is just driving around in circles, there's something going on. But it's not repetitive and the film doesn't just jog in place waiting to unleash this "twist" or that "shock" on the audience. Flashes of Jeremy's memories play out along his travels, memories relating to the terrible situation he got himself in and to the man he is. The car radio also joins the voices on his cell phone as another character in the story, through news reports, talk show snippets and even a motivational tape that Jeremy plays to keep his spirits up. The script also deserves credit for trying to explain things to the viewer, instead of just relying on them not thinking too hard about what is happening. Many films abuse the suspension of disbelief to cover up for plot developments or characterizations that don't make any sense. Lost works fairly hard at making sure things make enough sense that you can pay attention to the story and not have to make excuses for it.Lost does have a weakness, however, and it's a pretty big one. As fine a performance as Cain's is and as smart at the writing is, it's still not much more than an hour and a half of a guy driving through the desert and talking on his cell phone. Oh, there are moments of action and suspense and humor and I suppose the movie deserves credit for not injecting a bunch of contrived and unrealistic developments into the plot out of fear it can't hold the audience's attention. For all that though, it really is an hour and a half of a guy driving through the desert and talking on his cell phone. It held my attention, but that might not be your cup of tea.Lost is a little gem of a movie. Not a diamond, to be sure, but it's not cubic zirconium either. It's an emerald, or maybe a sapphire. Some folks can appreciate the beauty of those stones and some folks just look at them and wonder why they aren't diamonds. But if every piece of jewelry was a diamond, think how boring that would be.

i really wanted to enjoy this movie. it started out with a nice premise and as it unspooled, it just ended up a bungled mess of celluloid on the floor. when i found out the lead was actually involved in a bank heist, i became very interested until the actual robbery was revealed. that is what took all of the air out of this tire. what was the lead really thinking? he helps criminals rob a bank that he works at and attempts to take half the money instead of the agreed upon 5%. his plan is that he will disappear while the bad guys get caught. what?????? first of all, if they are apprehended, don't you think that they would be happy to implicate this idiot to gain revenge? and what was this lead truly thinking? the minute the robbery is committed, he and his fellow employee vanish with the loot. oh yeah. he's gonna take a plane to somewhere and will never get caught. just move to a secret place with his photo and description plastered all over the media. with a wife and kid in tow. yeah. right. sorry......i know the guy was in over his head financially, but that does not mean he could pull off something so thin and flimsy. plus on top of everything else he never thought to have several escape routes just in case so he gets........lost. wonderful, i guess there would have been no story if he had actually used his head. bah

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Some of the dialog was a bit contrived, but so what? It was still a wild ride with unexpected moments thrown in throughout. I thought Dean Cain did a good job.This movie is like a poor man's Duel (which I consider a compliment.) Duel, I believe was Steven Spielberg's directorial debut as this is for Darren Lempke. He has real talent. He is very good at building up suspense. I also liked the way it ended -- it wasn't a cop-out. It had good camera work and everything made sense at the end, which often does not in these types of movies. It was a fun way to spend 90 minutes. P.S. I don't have a clue as to why a reviewer thought this movie was a sci-fi picture. It bears absolutely no resemblance to one.

This film is a low budget wonder! It may not have had the budget to pursue its potential 100% but it is fantastic and definitely better than most large studio productions."Lost" is a film spawned from the fundamental and most crucial aspects of film-making: good acting and good writing. Most big-budget Hollywood films rely heavily upon the star system (the popularity and "pull-power" of its cast)and upon multi-million dollar advertising campaigns. "Lost" relies on neither of these superficial aspects, and is a far better film for it. Using but a select few actors, the film carries a story that is both entertaining and enthralling. The end was an unexpected surprise and the movie, in its entirety, introduced and explored several moral themes which provided a lot of food for thought. The main character, played by Dean Cain, was the type of person that we could all relate to and his actions in the film were VERY pertinent to anyone and everyone watching the film. All of these factors made the film quite enjoyable.Like I said in the very beginning, the one and ONLY aspect lacking in this film was a larger budget. But regardless of that detail, the film's impressive script and great acting performances made it thoroughly entertaining!