“I don’t think anyone would call Borderland “Art, but it’s fun.” This is a quote from Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, who stars in this film. Regardless of the end of her sentence, the fact that she can’t consider this film to be art says everything you need to know. This film is based on the Gearbox Software video game series and features an incredible ensemble cast. We have one of the game’s greatest actresses in our lead role, along with Kevin Hart and Jack Black, borrowed from the Jumanji series. Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis joins the cast, as does Barbie alumna Ariana Greenblatt and boxer and actor Florian Munteanu.
Borderlands is almost unbearable. While it can’t claim the title of worst blockbuster of the year (that honor goes to Madame Web), it certainly disappoints in its lack of entertainment value. I haven’t played the game this film is based on, so I can’t reasonably judge how faithful the adaptation is. I can only judge how well the film works on its own, and it doesn’t. This is a frustratingly dull film masquerading as a film full of personality.
The film starts visually like a Star Wars movie with its prison break scene. Tiny Tina (Greenblatt) is captured but is rescued by Roland (Hart). Once Roland takes off his mask, the film takes on a slightly sillier tone. However, the action is almost always serious. I can’t imagine people taking Kevin Hart seriously as an action hero, but that’s exactly what this film asks of us. Then we meet Lillith (Blanchett), a badass woman with a gun and an itchy trigger finger. She’s a bounty hunter tasked with finding the captured Tiny Tina.
At first, it’s confusing that Lillith is setting out to save a person we’ve already seen rescued in the opening scene, but Borderlands moves at a brisk pace. Our main characters are introduced early, plot points fly by, and by the end of the first act, we’re treated to a fairly entertaining chase scene involving most of our main cast. That’s where the film’s positives end, though. We’re soon in the midst of a plot that lacks interesting twists. It’s a series of set pieces that often feel like part of the video game, but none of it adds any depth to the characters or the story.
Borderlands has quite a long production history. The film was shot over three years ago, and in the meantime Blanchett played her Oscar-nominated role in Tár (she was preparing for that film in between filming Borderlands), director Eli Roth shot and released a completely different film called Thanksgiving, and Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate director Tim Miller did two weeks of reshoots. Craig Mazin, the original writer who recently co-wrote HBO’s The Last of Us, also pulled out of the project. All of this suggests that this project is a poor afterthought by creatives whose talents far exceed those of this film.
Blanchett can’t give a bad performance in anything. She’s a cool character, but the film tries to give her a backstory surrounding her mother that she barely remembers. The emotional backstory doesn’t work at all and leaves the audience detached from her character. You don’t feel anything for her, not even in the final act that requires you to empathize with her character. Hart gives a good performance, but his character is the most boring person in the film. No amount of short jokes and Hart-isms can make you care about a character who has nothing on paper.
Many will highlight Jack Black’s voice acting role as Claptrap, a loud-mouthed robot who teams up with Lillith early on and provides comic relief. Black has done excellent voice work in the Kung Fu Panda films and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Unfortunately, his work here is some of his worst. The humor in this film doesn’t land, and the audience is left unentertained. There are plenty of jokes, but most of them don’t provide any laughs. Black practically shouts his dialogue the entire time, which becomes very annoying after a while. Greenblatt does the same, making her a character that isn’t easy to like.
Curtis gives a forgettable performance as Dr. Patricia Tannis. The villains are an exceptionally weak aspect of this film. They barely appear. By the time a villain shows up in the final act, I had completely forgotten his existence because he wasn’t physically in the film for far too long. Another villain is mainly discussed, but we don’t see his misdeeds until the final act. The film’s selling point is a cast of colorful characters that come together for some big action sequences. But even the action feels mediocre, and you don’t start to like these characters, nor do we see their dynamic develop.
There’s a scene where one character takes on many villains at once. We cut away, and when we cut back, they’ve killed all of the villains. It would have been much more entertaining to see how they got out of that situation, especially given the insurmountable odds. We also have characters like Claptrap and Tiny Ina constantly making decisions that get the characters in trouble, which is always an annoyance that never gets us on their side. The film also never knows when to slow down during its plot. The plot is always consistently chaotic, rather than offering peaks of violence and valleys of tension.
Ultimately, Borderlands fails to deliver the cinematic experience it should. It is one of Roth’s weakest films, offering neither suspense nor laughs.
RESULT: 3/10
As explained in ComingSoon’s rating guidelines, a rating of 3 is considered “Poor.” Significant problems make this media a chore to pick up.
Disclosure: ComingSoon attended a press screening for our Borderlands review.
