Borderlands movie review. How bad is it?

The Borderlands series of shooter games has sold more than 85 million copies and consistently brings good money to 2K. And all this despite the fact that it does not catch stars from the sky(almost all games in the series have a score of more than 80/100 according to Metacritic – ed.) Each individual element in the games of the series, such as the character development system or the shooting experience, is simply well done, but not more. However, the combination of an endless search for new weapons, vivid characters, a unique universe, and goofy but sometimes very witty humor resonated with players.

Where sales are good, there are attempts to turn any series into a transmedia franchise. The authors of Borderlands decided to go big and announced a Hollywood movie adaptation with famous actors. But from the very first trailer, viewers began to have doubts about the final quality of the movie. In the end, everything turned out to be not an outright disaster, but it’s hard to find anything good in Borderlands.

The planet Pandora is considered the most unpleasant place in the cosmos, even by people who are capable of fighting back against anyone. Lilith (Cate Blanchett), a bounty hunter and outlaw, is one of them. The head of the Atlas Corporation asks her to find his daughter Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) on Pandora(the editorial staff, which includes fans of the Borderlands series, is shocked by this mockery of the game’s lore – ed.) Reluctantly, Lilith agrees. However, it quickly becomes clear that Tina doesn’t need any special rescue, and that Pandora is hiding something much more significant than the daughter of a rich man.

Let’s be honest, the Bordelands games have never been primarily about the plot(the games in the series actually have a good story and lore, especially in the DLC, but most players simply ignore it – ed.) Except for Tales from the Borderlands by Telltale, of course. In Bordelands, it’s fun to kill enemies, look for secrets, and endlessly chase new loot, and the dialog and script have always been a bit of a background. This is despite the fact that the characters and setting in the games are surprisingly well written. For example, the developers of Borderlands 2 managed to turn the mostly faceless protagonists of the first part into real characters with charisma, complex relationships with the world, and terrible secrets. This is one of the many reasons why Borderlands 2 is still considered the best part of the series.

As you can tell from the poster alone, the Borderlands movie tries to combine the plots of the first and second parts of the game into a single scenario, and create something original. But the games had tens, even hundreds of hours to interact with players. The movie only got more than an hour and a half. This is a rather modest running time, and it is obvious that even something close to a video game could not have been accommodated in it. But the authors of Borderlands also failed to use it to tell an interesting story.

It’s a messy, chaotic movie. The games of the series, of course, can also be described in such words, but in relation to them it is rather a compliment. In Borderlands, the opposite is true. Scenes, moods, and entire storylines do not find synergy with each other, which makes the viewer feel as if he or she is facing a rough montage of individual fragments, with which the authors are trying to convey the spirit of the original source. But this is not a movie in the full sense of the word, but rather a concept that must first be approved and then developed in detail.

The best comparison that comes to mind is David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. Borderlands also features vivid characters played by famous actors, but neither the script nor the direction allows them to give the audience a satisfying viewing experience. The movie lacks drama, climaxes, and adequate heat of passion. The final act does not give any pleasant sensations, and everything ends so hastily, as if the filmmakers themselves wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible.

It would seem that brutal, cynical, cruel stories can be told about Pandora. The filmography of the director of Borderlands should contribute to this. Eli Roth gave the world such horror films as Hostel and The Green Inferno, in which the script was uncompromising in its treatment of human life. In some scenes of Borderlands, one can indeed see hints of Pandora’s dirty appeal. But it seems as if the director’s talents and creative vision were deliberately suppressed by his superiors. This would also explain the lack of connection between scenes and the general lack of consistency in the movie.

Perhaps they abandoned the “black stuff” for the sake of trying to attract new viewers who are not familiar with the peculiarities of the Borderlands universe. Indeed, if a person hasn’t played the source material, they will perceive the movie more positively. Yes, it won’t cure all the problems, but then you will be able to watch the movie as an original work of art. After all, when the search for connections with video games begins, things are far from clear in Boardwalk Empire.

On the one hand, the movie is filled to the brim with references to iconic Borderlands elements. This applies to the more obvious things like characters and locations, as well as to the details of banners, advertising designs, and the branded vending machines where you can buy weapons in the game. The fan’s heart will definitely rejoice, especially when the “Easter eggs” are not obvious.

On the other hand, if you remember the plots of the games, then Borderlands will not give you any real surprise. The whole drama, which is based on falsification of facts, will be obvious to you from the very beginning. Even considering that the final plot twist of the first part of the game in the movie doesn’t have much weight, there are still too many elements that the script and the intrigue of the story rely on that will be known to the players in advance. In other words, the filmmakers seem to have tried to change the canons of the game a bit to make it interesting for everyone, but it didn’t work.

In addition, it seems that the entire cast was well aware that the movie would turn out to be rather mediocre. But this realization led to an unexpected result. Absolutely every one of the main characters is very pleasant to watch, because the actors seem to be getting high on the chaos around them. Cate Blanchett shines, and the usually overly comedic Kevin Hart as Roland turned out to be surprisingly adequate and organic. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian version of the movie lost the voice of Jack Black, who voiced Claptrap.

But in return, I got jokes about blackouts and the “little cog”. Blunt, almost crass humor has always been an integral part of Borderlands. In this sense, the movie feels softer, more “family-friendly,” if that’s the word for a story like this. And the jokes adapted for the Ukrainian audience fit perfectly into the crazy setting of the movie, although it is obvious that not everyone will like them.

In addition, Borderlands has a lot in common with games in terms of visuals. It has enough beautiful landscapes and places, and the overall level of CGI in the movie is high. At the same time, the authors did not lean too much towards realism. Therefore, many moments still resemble video games. Without the signature Borderlands effect of outlining characters and objects, but still.

However, the rather mediocre action does not allow the visuals to work to their full potential. The maximum that “Borderlands” can give is some individual shots of battles. But the choreography, staging, and dynamics are lame in almost all confrontations. The whole thing is a bit like a game race in which the players don’t really understand how to get through the next location.

The film crew also seemed not to realize what the movie was supposed to be. That’s why it looks ridiculous and clumsy almost all the time. Yes, it has some good moments, and fans of games should enjoy the fanservice elements. But on the whole, Borderlands is more of a failure.

And this is sad, because the script was considered one of the most promising in Hollywood. It was the script that helped to assemble such an outstanding cast. But rumors have already surfaced that it was Roth, as a director, who destroyed the original vision of the story and failed to offer his own. And some of the people who actively worked on the movie were not even credited. So it was probably the poor production process that made Borderlands hard to watch. This, of course, does not excuse anyone or anything.