Lionsgate FilmsEli Roth should stick to making splatterpunk films than dabble with properties that he’s not likely to include his trademark scares with. The reason I like the Borderlands game is because of the archaeology. Those legends to explain why the tech exists are a lot more fascinating than the characters, and in this film, it’s lightly touched upon instead of gone nose deep!
Here, the idea concerns Vault Hunters in the search for artefacts from a forgotten civilization strewn around the world of Pandora. Any weapon they find can help “enrich” them in later missions. I liked the world building but didn’t feel I had to play through them all. The characters who populate this world are misfits. Some cry foul language, and there’s a bubblegum pop culture aesthetic which made the game come alive.
As these hooks aren’t as solid in this movie adaptation, I thought I was watching another “lost child has come home” story. It’s easy to tell that Lilith (Cate Blanchett) has some kind of history with the planet. When she’s hired to “go home,” she’s reluctant. But Atlas (Edgar Ramírez) wants his daughter, Tina, rescued. When the kidnappers took her to Pandora, I secretly hoped this world would be more like the one James Cameron invented than another remote desert world.
That’s because this planet is a wretched hive of scum and villainy where no one is safe. The first interaction with the inhabitants looks exactly like what I experienced when launching the game for the first time. In the video game, I had to search a compound of vagabonds, uncage some folks, gather resources and hope the enemy isn’t going to chase after me because of what I did!
In virtual reality Borderlands 2 is quite fun to navigate through. Maybe the writers should have looked at this game over the original to adapt, since those people wanting to see it can see the action without all the introductions. Both games are more concerned with how the player’s avatar gets along with others, and when not of that is really communicated in this movie, that’s where it also failed.
Also, I was watching Mad Max. And like Furiosa, there’s no wow factor, or impact when seeing the action take place on the big screen. And with one spoiler reveal, Lilith is not Jean Grey from the X-Men! The only redeeming aspect is that Jack Black never fails to deliver a subpar performance. He’s spent years playing Po in Kung Fu Panda, and to deliver a character that is not this furry master must have been a welcoming experience. Even though this film really depended on star power to draw in audiences, it seems most of their talents just didn’t really care about the role they’ve been assigned to.
The potential to get it right wasn’t noticed by the Hollywood team who think that as long as they make any adaptation of a game, they will come. Borderlands suffers from being stuffed into a standard plot from writers who probably didn’t play enough of the game to understand where the appeal should be. I have to compare this failure to Black Adam, where despite providing a compelling backstory, the story that unfolds in the present tense isn’t all that different. The person who is this film’s focus needs to do something to save the day. Here, the similarities are too front and centre: is everyone willing to stay together or drift apart? It’s easy to tell they’re not going to and that’s not a finale to admire.
2½ Stars out of 5
Borderlands Trailer
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