by James Coulter
Once upon a time, video game adaptations were considered box office poison. From the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros movie to Street Fighter and BloodRayne, films based on video games were consistently never good. Not only did they fail to accurately reflect the games they were adapting, but they also failed to be proper movies in and of themselves.
However, recently, video game adaptations, both big screen and small, have seen a significant shift in quality. Both Mario and Sonic have experienced box office success with their respective movies, and Fallout has proven to be one of the best series streaming on Amazon Prime.
So, with this recent wave of video game adaptations that are actually good, one would assume the Borderlands movie, based upon the popular sci-fi first-person open-world shooter, would also be good. But does this movie live up to the hype of the AAA game it’s based upon? Or do fans need to hunt for more loot boxes until they find the treasure they’re searching for?
Borderlands is set in space within a dystopian future—specifically, on the planet Pandora. (No, not the planet from Avatar!) Legend has it that the ultimate power of the universe, created by an ancient alien species, is hidden somewhere on that planet in a location known as the Vault. An evil corporation (is there any other?) called Atlas is dead set on finding this ancient power and claiming it for itself—because money!
This is where our protagonist steps in. Lilith, a bounty hunter, is hired by Atlas to track down a young girl, Tiny Tina, who is suspected of being “the key” to locating and finding The Vault. However, rather than return Tina to the Atlas Corporation, Lilith instead decides to protect the child and track down The Vault herself.
Lilith is joined on her quest by an eclectic band of equally eccentric characters, including the robot ClapTrap, a renegade solider named Roland, and a mad scientist named Dr. Patricia Tannis. Will this ragtag group of ruffians be able to find the Vault before the evil corporation does? And in doing so, become the guardians of their galaxy?
Confession time: I have never played the Borderlands games. (I’m more of a classic gamer than a modern gamer!) The only thing I know about them is that they are a first-person shooter set in a dystopian future in space. (So, essentially, Fallout meets Mass Effect.) Also, one of the characters, Tiny Tina, is voiced by Ashly Burch, who also voices Molly McGee in Disney’s The Ghost and Molly McGee.
So, as such, I will only be reviewing this movie as a movie and not as a video game adaptation. From what I have heard from fans through online discourse, this movie is nothing like the video games. So, I will take their word for it that this is not a good adaptation of the Borderlands games.
So, how does the movie stand on its own? Eh, not great. On the one hand, the entire movie reeks of, “We have Guardians of the Galaxy at home!” But on the other hand, the movie still has some charm despite being a discount Guardians.
Let’s not kid ourselves. This movie has some real A-list actors. Cate Blanchett. Jamie Lee Curtis. Kevin Hart. Even Jack Black as the eccentric robot ClapTrap. Say what you want about their performances in this movie. But even when they’re not at their best, they’re still pretty good actors.
My personal favorite is Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina. She is a real Chaotic Neutral hell gremlin with manic pixie nightmare girl energy, a spunky little brat who can throw insults as hard as she can her own homemade explosives. She gives me real Nimona energy. (Ariana also claimed she modeled her character after Margot Robbie, so, at the very least, she makes for a good discount Harley Quinn.)
Cate Blanchett as Lilith was also a fun character. From what I could glean, while she didn’t look exactly like the video game character she was based on, she still did an excellent job playing a world-weary yet still kickass bounty hunter. Watching her pack heat and pull off some really badass moves almost made me forget this was the same woman who played Galadriel and Hela. (From what I could glean from interviews, she said she chose that role to test her limits and versatility as an actress. And, well, while not perfect, she did a good enough job.)
Of course, most of the action scenes were pretty decent, but where the movie really shined was the comedy. I didn’t make the comparison to Guardians lightly. Where this movie really works is the overall camaraderie of a reluctant ragtag team of ruffians and how they comedically bounce off of each other through their witty banter and retorts. My favorite scene is where ClapTrap has to distract a mob of armed thugs, and as he does so, he blurts out a string of curse words—that he’s being told to say by Tiny Tina. (Sorry, that’s hilarious!)
Unfortunately, where the movie fails is the story. Again, I didn’t make the Guardians comparison lightly. I never played Borderlands, but the overall plot does feel like it was trying to copy Guardians’ homework, what with an evil villain trying to hunt down a cosmic McGuffin and a ragtag group of misfits trying to stop him. (Also, no spoilers, but one of the key plot points is that one of the characters is the “key” to unlocking the cosmic McGuffin. There’s a twist about that character and plot point you can see coming a mile away!)
Overall, while I cannot determine whether or not the movie does the game justice, I will take fans’ word that it doesn’t. But while the film is evidently imperfect, there’s still a sliver of good acting, witty comedy, and bombastic action scenes that will, at the very least, keep you entertained for nearly two hours. I wouldn’t recommend watching this movie in theaters, but I would say give it a chance once it comes out on streaming and rental. At the worst, it’s so bad it’s good!
