Before landing in UK cinemas, Borderlands appeared to have all the components that would make it a hit. What could go wrong with cast members Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jack Black bringing to life a popular video game franchise…
Cast members: Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu and Cate Blanchett in ‘Borderland. (Credit: Lionsgate)
Well, no amount of gaming cheat codes could help this movie be a hit. It falls short of delivering what the game fans want and deserve and quite possibly might make the list of 2024 flops.
With a rich history of games to pull material from, Borderlands, although vibrant and packed with some of Hollywood’s leading names, has a weak script and rushed CGI and neither fully replicates the games nor carves out a fresh path for it to be a big screen hit.
This article contains spoilers
If you are yet to watch the film and want to avoid spoilers, read no further but for those of you wanting to know more, keep reading.
What is Borderlands about?
It doesn’t take long for the film to draw parallels to Guardians of the Galaxy—not only for its deep space antics, quests, and gun fights but also for trying to fit into the sci-fi comedy subgenre. Florian Munteanu underdelivers a Dave Bautista’s Drax comedy meets muscles angle with strong man Krieg, and Black’s voicing of robot Claptrap, although giving it a good go, doesn’t hit the mark the way that Bradley Cooper does by playing Rocket.
The story springboards from a prophecy about a chosen one; I know, where have we heard that before. The chosen one is believed to be Ariana Greenblatt’s Tiny Tina. Tina is the daughter of rich tycoon and tech mastermind Atlas, played by Edgar Ramírez, who has an obsession with finding a mystical vault constructed by an ancient race known as Eridians. The vault also happens to be hidden on the hostile world of Pandora, Blanchett’s character’s homeworld.
Hart plays Roland, a former Atlas soldier who comes wise to his ex-bosses evil ways and rescues Tina. He works with and listens to the counsel of Curtis’ Tannis – a hermit and kookie scientist.
Atlas initially recruits bounty hunter Lilith (Blanchett) to rescue his daughter. However, as the plot unfolds, she learns of his sinister plan and joins the motley crew of misfits to take him down.
In the final climatic scenes, audience members discovers that she is, in fact the chosen one – Daughter of Eridia. In opening the vault gets a serious power upgrade from the gun slinging she impressively uses for the majority of the film.
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, and Jack Black (Credit: Lionsgate)
Each cast member is hugely talented, yet they do not consistently gel or produce convincing chemistry.
In an attempt to cover up any plotholes in the story, exposition is shoehorned in via Blanchett voiceovers or one-liners from characters. This is not enough to hide the fact that the script is weak. Granted, avid gamers who have played the many titles in the series, the story and premise will be clearer, but for them, it still doesn’t quite land.
Video games have leapt to the small and big screen with recent success like The Last of Us and Fallout. But Borderlands is not on the same level.
It has a mild Judge Dredd meets Mad Max vibe and taps into the game’s space Western theme, so it does hit some targets.
Overall, it is one to watch at home when it is out.
Who is in it?
Eli Roth directs Borderland. The cast includes Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Edgar Ramírez, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Janina Gavankar and Jack Black.
Borderlands hit the cinema on August 9th.
