Borderlands: A Summary
Today’s movie review stars Borderlands, an adaptation of the first-person shooter video game series created by Gearbox Software which follows Lilith, a washed-up bounty hunter employed to track down a young girl called Tina, who was kidnapped by former mercenary Roland and is now located on the wasteland planet Pandora. Accompanied by the robot Claptrap, the group set out in search of a mysterious vault that contains incredible power, but their journey brings them into conflict with the Atlas corporation, who have been genetically modifying children in hope of producing one capable of opening it.
The Evolution Of Video Game Adaptations
Within the last few years, video game adaptations have really begun to find their place within the world of film and television after years of being treated as a joke for their consistently subpar quality. The likes of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, The Last of Us and Fallout have shown that when translated to the correct medium and handled by creators who respect the source material and understand why they’re so beloved, it’s possible for these properties to appeal to audiences outside of their core fanbase. Borderlands certainly looks to try to continue this trend, coming courtesy of Eli Roth whose previously subpar exploits in the horror genre have recently seemed to finally find critical success with The House in a Clock in its Walls and last year’s Thanksgiving.
But the film’s production has been tumultuous, with filming originally completed back in mid-2021 and reshoots early last year being handled by Tim Miller of Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate due to Roth’s preoccupation with Thanksgiving. Between this and uninspired trailers it would be easy to assume that the final product is a top to bottom disaster, but there surprisingly is some treasure worth being found within it.
Screenplay Adaptation: Balancing Faithfulness with New Elements
It’s worth noting that the first Borderlands game was released in 2009, and while its premise and themes of found family predate a film like Guardians of the Galaxy, this adaptation can’t help but feel derivative as result of sticking so heavily to such a similar structural template even if that structure isn’t inherently a bad thing. Though the screenplay isn’t a one to one faithful recreation of the game’s plot with several details changed, it allows the film to duck and cover its way through its relatively short 100-minute runtime with consistent setpieces and action sequences that feel like levels directly translated to the big screen, even if it does heavily rely on exposition and narration to get most of its backstory across.
However, what doesn’t work is the attempt that Roth and Joe Crombie make at incorporating the game’s sense of humour, which while fairly juvenile, worked there as it was always happening in the background while the player was busy focusing on mowing down everything in their path. Though there are a few laughs to be had, namely from the banter between cast members, it’s fairly standard quips and slapstick, and this also applies to the film’s gore and its violence which is rather tame for both Eli Roth and a 12A certificate despite the games being universally rated 18.
Casting Highlights And Missteps
Though not all of the cast feel well-suited to their roles, there are some stand out performances to be found, namely from Cate Blanchett as Lilith who fits right in as this jaded bounty hunter who’s seen everything, is sick of everything, but still has a lot of unresolved childhood trauma relating to her origins that she’s still dealing with, which contrasts extremely well with Barbie’s Ariana Greenblatt as the aggressively aggro Tina, whose daddy issues are on full display in her willingness to blow up everything in sight. Jamie Lee Curtis, Florian Munteanu and Edgar Ramirez put in solid supporting work, but Kevin Hart feels woefully miscast as Roland due to being ill-equipped to handle the more dramatic material, and although Jack Black is entertaining in small bursts as the voice of Claptrap, he does become slightly grating when he overstays his welcome.
Visual Design and Production Quality
The production design also suffers from being too visually reminiscent of other recent sci-fi works, namely Mad Max: Fury Road and Neil Blomkamp’s Elysium, but it’s still well constructed with a real sense of universal scope, impressive stunt work and convincing CGI, even if the direction feels rather anonymous due it ultimately being presently unclear what was shot by Roth and what came from Miller’s reshoots. Meanwhile the licensed soundtrack choices do feel like a cheap attempt to recapture the spirit of the Awesome Mix, but Steve Jablonsky’s adrenaline pumping score more than makes up for it.
While it’s certainly not a masterpiece, Borderlands also isn’t the killshot for video game adaptations that some have made it out to be, with a few solid performances, fun setpieces and a genuine sense of heart that puts it above several of this summer’s offerings.
The Borderlands Movie review was created by Joe Warne, a member of the Sedgemoor FM team since 2017. Joe specialises in providing weekly reviews of the latest film releases at 6.30pm each Monday evening as part of the Sedgemoor Life show.