Borderlands review

 

Based upon the popular video game franchise of the same name Borderlands is supposed to be a bloody, violent, fun and over the top romp but this adaptation is anything but. Directed and written by Eli Roth Borderlands is a total misfire on almost all levels and fails to nail the foundation and world building of the games. Right off the bat it's clear to see that the casting is just all wrong. Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis are nothing like their game counterparts and the same can be said for Kevin Hart. It's all sort of lumpted together in a story that is as unfunny as it is cliche. 

As of late video game adapatations have been on the right path. Both Sonic movies, The Last of Us TV show and the Mario Bros movie. It's such a downer now to see this what arguably should've been a high ocatane, high intensity movie filled with action, blood and humour. They did get one thing right and that is the visuals. Visually Borderlands pops and is very much on brand for the world and charcters that inhabit it. Filled to the brim with barren wastelands, a main settlement named sancutrary and dirty old sewers it's all so pleasing to the eye. What isn't pleasing is the lack of whackyness that the games have going for them. 

Borderlands isn't the adapatation that Lillith, Roland, Tannis and Tiny Tina deserved. Performance wise it's by the numbers with the cast doing nothing to elevate said characters to new levels whatsoever. It really doesn't help that the script is boring, bland and so uninspiring. It sets video game adaptations back tenfold and is one of the poorest movies of 2024 which is such a shame to say as I do love the game series so very much. Borderline bad!

★★