Looter shooter games were the next big trend during the PS4 and Xbox One console generation. Every other release required you to collect numerous weapons with random stats to support the endless grind. The game series that popularized this genre on PS3 and Xbox 360 is Borderlands. The original game is a classic and the subsequent installments have all achieved a similar level of popularity. Since the series was so successful, it was inevitable that a film adaptation would come out at some point. But perhaps turning a series known for its gameplay into a movie wasn’t the best idea because Borderlanddirected by Eli Roth and starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black (among others), will go down in history as another misguided video game adaptation.
It’s not all bad
Before I get all grumpy and start tearing the film apart, I have to say that there were a few parts I enjoyed. Despite my reservations, the cast did a relatively good job of executing the script they were given and capturing the mood of the characters fairly well (some more than others). Cate Blanchett was definitely the best of the bunch as Lilith, even if she’s probably a little old for the role (she would have been perfect 10 years ago). But I think she portrayed an older, more cynical Lilith well. Jack Black as Claptrap was quite entertaining and his interactions with Lilith were the reason for my few giggles throughout the 100 minute runtime. In fact, most of the banter between the characters was funny, which made some of the awkward dialogue a little more bearable.
Some of the action scenes were pretty entertaining too (even though they were all in the first half of the movie). The opening scene of Roland (played by Kevin Hart, but should have been Terry Crews) rescuing Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) from space prison made me think that at least the action was going to be good. Since the following few action scenes involving Lilith were just as entertaining, I was pleasantly surprised. I also liked the chase scene, which was probably the best-paced action sequence in the movie, despite some iffy CGI here and there. It’s just a shame they couldn’t keep that momentum going for the rest of the movie.
Yes, it is not good
OK, now for the bad parts, and there are a few. First of all, this story is not good. It’s a jumbled mess that constantly jumps from one story point to the next, pausing only for brief explanations designed to help the audience understand what’s happening. I was able to follow along for the most part, but I’ve played the games more times than I’d like to admit, so I knew most of the world lore that this movie is trying to make newbies understand. It’s almost as if someone showed the writer a brief summary of Borderlands 1, 2, The Pre-Sequel, and Tales from the Borderlands as an outline and the writer just threw them together and made a worse version. Add to that the frenetic pacing, and you’re lost if you come in here without any prior knowledge of the series.
I mentioned before that there were some questionable CGI effects in the early action scenes. Well, it only gets worse as the film goes on. Aside from Claptrap, everything after the 50 minute mark just looks bad, sometimes downright awful. Maybe they put the entire $100 million budget into the first half because that’s how it feels. This is most evident in the final act, which features some of the worst visual effects I’ve seen this year. Madame Web levels, but it was close.
It also didn’t help that the final battle comes down to the power of friendship defeating the evil corporate guy who came out of nowhere and made me feel like I missed 20-30 minutes of character development. That was when two people (out of five) walked out of the theater, and I really couldn’t blame them.
SPOILERS FOR BORDERLANDS IN ADVANCE
But as an adaptation?
As with any adaptation, fans will always compare it to the source material, and Borderland is right 50% of the time. In terms of Easter eggs, references, and cameos, it’s surprisingly good. I enjoyed quickly skimming each scene to see if I could identify what weapon a character was using or what location they were passing through. My personal favorite was the character Marcus (Benjamin Byron Davis), who, just like in the original Borderlands, drives a bus for new Vault Hunters on the way to Fyrestone. They nailed this character perfectly in the entire two scenes he appears in, and I wish he was in the movie more. I was also glad that Lilith used her Siren powers at the end (Sirens are extremely important to Borderlands lore), even if she didn’t get any tattoos to go with it. But no cameo or Easter egg could fully make up for some of the liberties taken with the lore.
First off, they made Tiny Tina an Eridian clone created by Atlas, which is the furthest thing from what she is in the games. She’s supposed to be a girl with major parental issues (both are dead) who loves to blow stuff up, not a science experiment who likes to blow things up while claiming they’re special. Ariana does her best with this version of Tina, but nothing could save her. A copy of fan favorite Handsome Jack was the villain, only he had none of Jack’s charisma and came across as just another generic villain (at this point, there was just Handsome Jack). The story mostly tries to follow the plot of the first game, but it does involve Sanctuary and Krieg (Florian Munteanu) (introduced in Borderlands 2), which baffled me. The vault was much more similar to the one in the pre-sequel, in that it didn’t contain a giant monster (technically there were tentacles, but they weren’t fully shown, so they don’t count) and only contained a few floating rocks, and the whole special person who was the only one to open the vault was taken straight from Tales of the Borderlands. These could have been interesting storylines on their own (and they are in the games), but this just felt unnecessary, and the movie would have been better if they had just focused on the first game.
Borderland isn’t the worst thing I’ve seen this year, but I wouldn’t say it’s good. The fun character shards, good action scenes, and fun innuendos can’t save a poorly paced plot, some terrible CGI effects, and a gruesome final act. The cast does what they can, and maybe I enjoyed it a little more because I love these games, but Borderland is just not good. I would suggest only watching it if it happens to be on TV in a few months or during a flight.
Already seen Borderland? What do you think? Is this the worst movie of 2024? Let us know in the comments where we can talk about the Borderlands games instead.
