The movie Borderlands is really bad. As bad as you might have feared. He was born long, slowly and in pain. During the production there was also an additional reshoot, so the question directly arises how bad it must have been before. Behind the film is an experienced team led by director Eli Roth and a relatively stellar cast. It was supervised by the original authors from Gearbox studio. The crew had a generous budget at their disposal. But none of this has obviously helped, and the novelty most of all inadvertently reminds of the naive and stupid early adaptations from the turn of the millennium, which gave the games the worst possible reputation. When watching it, non-gamers are bound to ask what’s so great about those games. Fans, on the other hand, will probably be surprised by how the filmmakers played with the template and the characters.
Director Eli Roth is said to have always dreamed of making a film like The Fifth Element or Barbarella. Well, he can keep dreaming about it, because it didn’t work out.
I’ll be honest. I didn’t expect much from Borderlands, but I got even less. I went to the cinema with an open head and a switched off brain, exactly as director Eli Roth advised the audience in an interview with Deadline magazine. He said he always dreamed of making a movie like The Fifth Element or Barbarella. Well, he can keep dreaming about it, because it didn’t work out. The comparison is really very painful. The story of a group of disparate freaks brought together by fate to make the greatest discovery in human history pays off, first of all, on a catastrophic scenario. The narrative is completely lacking in any depth, and in fact, I’d say the entire film could be recapitulated in a ten-minute action clip.
Borderlands is a festival of clichés, naive statements and awkward jokes. Except that not in the sense that you might have liked the game series. Part of the problem may be that the game is rated for adults, while the movie is intended for a younger audience. But not that I think just more blood, guts, or swearing will miraculously “fix” this adaptation. To give you a better idea of the level of comedy we’re probably on, it’s enough to mention that the whole gang pees on something and about a quarter of an hour later, Claptrap smokes bullets. I think only someone who discovered the existence of humor yesterday can laugh at that.
Borderlands is really a bit like Guardians of the Galaxy from Wish.
Considering the script and the story, it’s no wonder that the acting doesn’t impress either. The best one was apparently given by a robot with the voice of Jack Black, which speaks for itself. Cate Blanchett is undoubtedly a great actress, but here she seems like she just did her job and came to collect the check. A routine boring performance, although I understand that she couldn’t get much out of her dialogues. I think Jamie Lee Curtis had the potential to put on a bigger show because she’s one of the few who sees the whole exaggeration and has an obvious sense of self-deprecation. Plus, he really knows gaming culture. But she doesn’t get excited either, because she got almost no space. Kevin Hart gave an unimaginative forgettable performance as Roland.
However, despite all the criticisms, the film Borderlands is unfortunately not so bad that it is at least funny. It’s just boring. I would really like to write something positive, but positives are hard to find. So you might at least be pleased to know that it’s not very long. But you would have to go to the movie first. I’m usually pretty allergic to such labels, but yes, Borderlands is indeed a bit like Guardians of the Galaxy from Wish.
