Directed by Eli Roth and based on the video game series of the same name, Borderlands follows Lilith (Cate Blanchett), an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, who reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas (Édgar Ramírez). Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team – Roland (Kevin Hart), a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), a feral teenage demolitionist; Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap (Jack Black), a persistently wiseass robot. These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power and leave the fate of the universe in their hands.
The Borderlands series is easily one of the wildest video game franchises in existence, known for its colorful characters, super fun gameplay, over-the-top violence, and unfiltered humor that had won the hearts of many gamers growing up including myself. So when a film adaptation was announced for Borderlands I was definitely excited to see it, given the limitless potential it has, even if they were to change some things from the source material.
Unfortunately, all that excitement ended up being for nothing and one of my most anticipated films of the year instantly became one of the year’s biggest disappointments. This adaptation may visually look like the beloved video game series on the surface, but it lacks any of the unhinged nature, humor, or heart that the franchise is best known for, making this a poor representation of the awesome world of Borderlands. There were multiple opportunities for this film to be a hugely fun time for both fans of the games and casual audiences but it failed to take any of them. So much potential was wasted in this adaptation, including the talented cast that was recruited for this film who are given such poorly written and shallow portrayals of beloved characters to work with. Some of them try their best to make something out of the mediocre material they are given but others felt like they didn’t want to be there or were completely out of their element.
The biggest disappointment among the bunch surprisingly was Cate Blanchett as Lilith. On paper, this casting seems perfect and Cate has always been known to deliver the best work possible no matter what film she is in, but that was not the case here. She seemed to be phoning in the entire performance, which was honestly a shock to see given that she has never really done that in her entire career as far as I know. Lilith is a total badass in the games and while we do get a few glimpses of that side of her in this film she just ends up being a rather boring and depthless lead for this film when she could have been so much more.
The same can be said for Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis and Edgar Ramírez as the film’s villain Atlas, who both feel so out of place in this film and offered very little in terms of performances, making them two of the most forgettable and one-dimensional characters in the entire film. Tannis is displayed as some kind of cliche quirky genius and Atlas is just your typical cliche corporate bad guy lacking any sort of menace or charm in comparison to the most iconic villain from the games, Handsome Jack.
Kevin Hart as Roland was one of the most hated casting choices amongst the group as many believed that he would just be playing himself for the whole film but in a surprising twist he actually ends up being one of the few cast members who is actively trying in terms of performance, playing much more of straight man role than expected, which is more in line with what the character is like in the games. That being said, Roland is highly underdeveloped and comes off as extremely bland in this adaptation to the point that Hart’s dedication to doing the role justice ends up being severely wasted.
Ariana Greenblatt acts her heart out as Tiny Tina to the best of her ability, nearly nailing down an accurate portrayal of the character, but is unfortunately held back from being the more feral and unhinged version of the character that is well-known in the games. The same goes for Florian Munteanu who is an absolute physical beast as Krieg but could have been so much more with better and unrestricted material.
But by far the best cast member and character that ends up being the saving grace of the film is Jack Black as Claptrap. This was the most perfect casting this film had to offer, with Jack giving his all to bring the iconic chatterbox of the series to life, and is the only one to provide the best jokes and laughs of the film in its entirety. Every moment he was around and yapping it was honestly heavenly to witness and listen to. He had the most energy and the best moments that kept me from fully switching off from the film entirely. Basically, he carried this film and if he had not been done right then I would have been furious.
Some other potential perfect castings include Benjamin Byron Davis as Marcus and Gina Gershon as Mad Moxxi. They were also a joy to see onscreen but both of them are sadly underutilized.
The narrative is a complete tonal and structural mess from start to end as it felt like a speedrun of the story of Borderlands, offering no character development or world-building of any kind to get engaged in. If the adaptation doesn’t give a shit about taking the time to explore these characters and the crazy world they live in then why should the audience? The Borderlands games have a lot of lore to them but there were many ways it could have been adapted into a sensible, compelling, and even fun narrative for this film but that didn’t happen. Instead what we are given is a water-downed and neutered version of the hyper-violent and hilarious world of Borderlands that throws together a bunch of plot points from the lore across the games in a checklist and slaps them together into a large confusing mess that never sticks the landing on anything.
This film’s narrative also doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be like Borderlands at all but instead tries to be a clone of Guardians of the Galaxy in terms of being a story of misfits that has heart and humor involved, but it is so poorly executed in every way possible. With the exception of Claptrap’s dialogue, all of the jokes and attempts at humor are either painfully unfunny or feel extremely forced to the point that the only thing that could be heard in my theater was dead silence, and when that happens with a film you know that you have f**ked up big time.
There are also so many lazy attempts at heart that this film attempts to push down your throat that never felt earned in the slightest. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the desperate attempts they made to make me feel the same feelings as these characters are experiencing in various scenes with no proper build-up or genuine emotion. There were so many opportunities to make this film’s story fun and engaging in certain ways but instead it just feels soulless. So many wrong choices were made for this film from a directing and writing standpoint though it’s hard to determine if this was all Eli Roth’s fault, the studio’s fault, or a mix of both.
Now with the story being the mess that it is you’d think perhaps the action and technical elements could perhaps salvage something for this film, but unfortunately you would be wrong. Not only is the action edited so poorly with frequent cuts but it feels so heavily censored to the point that it came off as incredibly boring rather than thrilling or entertaining. It’s clear that this film wanted to be R-rated like the source material but it feels so held back, which is honestly shocking to see considering this film is directed by the same man who delivered some of the most hyper gory films imaginable in his filmography.
Additionally, the action is further ruined by some of the worst CGI I have seen in a film this year. The CGI effects and green screen of this film are so terrible and unconvincing that it made a majority of the visuals feel like a constant eyesore when it should have been eye candy, much like the games are. Even the cinematography feels as lifeless as the CGI, apart from a few nice shots, and that truly is saying something. I will however praise some of the practical effects, costumes, and sets used in this film because they were the only visually pleasing aspect of the film that at least tried to capture the look and feel of the games.
In regards to the music, it sadly doesn’t do much to improve things, with a largely forgettable and repetitive score by composer Steve Jablonsky as well as an even more forgettable soundtrack that doesn’t use any songs used from the games, and the songs they do use feel out of place in the world of Borderlands.
This adaptation had so much potential that was completely wasted, making this one of the worst video game adaptations I have seen in a while and easily one of the biggest disappointments of the year so far for me. If you truly want to get into the world of Borderlands you are better off playing the games rather than watching this film. This film isn’t worth your time or your money. I’m going to give Borderlands an F = 20.
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