Review: Borderlands

Being a long-time fan of the Borderlands game franchise, investing hundreds – perhaps thousands – of hours into its instalments throughout my childhood, this film hurt me to the core.

Divorced from its essential charm and wit, the once-celebrated IP has been replaced with a substandard narrative akin to any other unexceptional Hollywood action piece. As such, Borderlands fails on nearly every level and is a testament to how not to make a video game adaptation and a warning to filmmakers overall.

With Eli Roth (Hostel) in the director’s chair and pure Hollywood backing, Borderlands was doomed from the start. Even before it was screened to the press, the film was slated for its baffling casting, an incredibly bland trailer, and the peculiar artistic choices of Roth and co.

Chief among Roth’s issues is his aforementioned casting, which has all the negligence of a summer blockbuster with no care for its source material: Cate Blanchett plays a character who is supposed to be in her 20s, Kevin Hart is allegedly an unflappable military man of 6’2″, and Jamie Lee Curtis is, we are expected to believe, an eccentric brunette 30-year-old.

Once this lineup was announced, most fans and critics understood how Hollywood would tackle a Borderlands story. Their dynamic does not play out well on screen, with zany one-liners and limp chemistry culminating in an overall less-than-invigorating performance – even Blanchett’s well-rounded effort cannot save a predominantly boring end product.

Borderlands fails on nearly every level and is a testament to how not to make a videogame adaptation

A film adaptation of the Borderlands series would have made better sense if it were animated and more closely aligned with the game’s art style and tone. Instead, the live-action setting portrayed in the film removes much of the source material’s iconic gore and gratuitous violence, replacing them with invincible A-listers who cannot emulate the flair of their source material.

Structure-wise, this is a run-of-the-mill treasure-hunting story with corporate interests shoe-horned in as a form of hackneyed plot device. Several have observed that it is superficially similar in form to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy films; I would argue that it does not even rip them off particularly well.

Humour is another glaring issue. Comedy is here without potency, relying on a cringe-inducing screenplay and slapstick relief from Claptrap (Jack Black), an inoffensive recreation of the game character which nonetheless lacks any of the substance and gleeful disappointment inherent to his original incarnation.

Some praise must be afforded, however, to the film’s production design and art direction. Guns, costumes and landscapes do all feel ‘Borderlands-esque’; in some instances, characters unveil fan favourite weapons and traverse environments littered with decaying ruins and sacked homesteads, both iconic features of the Pandoran wasteland. My praise is limited, however, as the CGI-laden action sequences play out as though they were shot in the early 2000s. Perhaps this is to emulate the ‘comic book’ art style present in the games – whatever the case, the result here is one to be avoided.

Comedy is here without potency

Amazon Prime’s Fallout adaption proved that true fan service, strong storytelling, and direction can produce game adaptations worthy of representing their respective franchises while enabling entertaining viewing.

Video games on screen have enjoyed something of an upward trend in recent years, with HBO’s The Last of Us able to preserve the intricate and robust narrative of its much-loved source material. Even The Super Mario Bros. Movie, while animated, performed better than expected and provided strength within the storytelling on show.

Verdict:

Unsurprisingly, Borderlands fails to mirror the highs of the video game series, choosing to fall head over heels for cheap Hollywood gags and a badly mismatched cast. Its failure is more than just an attack on the game franchise, but an attack on film lovers in general, with Roth’s unoriginal storyline, uninventive use of source material and sterile performances from A-list actors (barring Blanchett) culminating in one of the poorest game adaptations for either film or television. I do not recommend this film, even for the most diehard of Borderlands fans.