With all these awesome video game film and series adaptations doing huge justice to their sources like the Fallout TV show and last year’s Captain Laserhawk, it’s only fair that the scales are balanced with a complete dud of a film that misses the mark. The new Borderlands movie, released in August 2024, may not be a complete abysmal train wreck, but it sure is a dud you’ll only want to watch out of sheer spite and ridicule.

To be fair, the production of this film has gone through numerous delays and possible reshoots (and many writers and directors), and it clearly shows in the final product. There are some elements in the film that work, but it’s not enough to salvage what remains of this Lionsgate-produced and Eli Roth-directed mess of an adaptation.

It’s A Fine Day, Full Of Opportunity…

The plot is basically Cate Blanchett and her really fake red wig as bounty hunter Lilith as she is given a job to hunt down the child of the owner of gun-maker Atlas in the wasteland of Pandora. Said planet is what happens when the Mad Max setting goes through a video game iteration, and then spat back out in live-action form backed up with a substantial budget. Lilith comes across a motley crew of characters to team up with in her mission, from the short-but-kinda-serious soldier Roland (industry plant Kevin Hart in a semi-straight-faced role), explosives expert Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), muscle man Krieg (Florian Munteanu), and eccentric scientist Tannis (a senile Jamie Lee Curtis). And a robot sidekick named Claptrap voiced by Jack Black. Unless this is your first sci-fi action flick, you’re be going through the motions with the expected twist and turns that you can see coming a mile away.

Really, the visuals, tone,  and settings are all over the place. For every nice recreation of the vehicles, weaponry, cities, and desert backdrops from the long-running looter-shooter series, you still have dank corridors and uninspired fight setpieces to punctuate some of the key moments of the show. The A-list cast performances range from doing the “paycheck-level” standard acting (not bad, but not good) to “actually having fun with the role” tier.

Jack Black especially nails the annoying sidekick robot role, but that is expected from a comedian and someone in-tuned with the video game voice-over roles. Cate Blanchett is really doing her best playing the disillusioned bounty hunter when her wig isn’t distracting your eyes. And the less said about the forgettable villain Atlas, the better.

If you’re here to see if Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford did due diligence with putting production money to recreate Borderlands in live-action, you’ll be feasting a bit. There’s a lot of nods, references, and iconic locales & landmarks recreated and displayed in all their glory, from Marcus and his bus in the first game’s intro, to even some shots of Pandora’s wildlife, not to mention a certain iconic Vladoff gun carrying the first half of the film. True, we could use more, but given the show’s troubled production, fans should take what they can get.

Don’t Catch-A-Ride

While the Borderlands movie isn’t complete trash, it is pretty subpar as a standalone sci-fi action flick and will only sate the jollies of fans who love to spot easter eggs and references from the long-running looter-shooter series of games. The casting may seem mismatched, but there’s a bit of heart in some of the performances, and some of the locations are recreated with love and care. However, the entire film’s direction and editing definitely need a lot of work, with some parts needing trimming and cleaner cuts. Some battle scenes are clearly rushed and sloppily put together, with the backdrops for these pivotal scenes being questionable choices given how colourful (and dangerous) the world of Pandora is.

The Borderlands film is clearly a product that went through many edits, was waylaid by production issues, and had an unclear vision. There are some genuinely nice visuals and work put into parts of the film, but it’s all dragged down by the majority of the narrative and flow that just screams uninspired and stock.

This one’s strictly for the fans who might give it a pass just because of Gearbox and 2K’s adherence to their source material. For everyone else? Just wait for the streaming version of this clearly direct-to-video handiwork.

Final Score: 40/100

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