‘Borderlands’ – Explosions, Weirdness, Bad Jokes Fill Live-Action Movie’s First Trailer
Can Borderlands escape the video adaptation curse? Based on the derivative first trailer, I’m not convinced it won’t be another failed attempt.
The off-the-rails loot-driven space-western game franchise is critically acclaimed and a commercial success. More than 45 million copies have been sold, and its net revenue is over $1 billion – making it one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. So, it’s natural that it’s getting a live-action movie adaptation. That choice always goes well.
It’s got some extra issues on top of the always questionable choice to make a live-action video game adaptation. It was announced back in 2020 with Eli Roth directing; filming finished in 2021. Last year, it went through reshoots handled by Deadpool‘s Tim Miller.
Craig Mazin (The Hangover series, Last of Us), the movie’s initial screenwriter, asked that his name be removed from the project. Several more writers were brought on to make changes. It’s messy.
The result is a trailer that feels tired and slightly off. Take a look.
Sure? The characters and world they’ve created look enough like their game counterparts to work. But it feels like a late-to-the-party mix of Guardians of the Galaxy and Suicide Squad. There’s some Tank Girl in there, too. Overall, it’s meh. The nicest thing I can say at this point is I like the actors in other movies.
We’ll see if fans of the game franchise enjoy it when it hits theaters this summer.
Borderlands Cast & Details
The cast is led by Cate Blanchett as Lilith and includes Florian Munteanu as Krieg, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Jamie Lee Curtis as Dr. Patricia Tannis, Kevin Hart as Roland, and Claptrap (voiced by Jack Black). Also starring are Gina Gershon as Moxxi, Edgar Ramirez, Janina Gavankar, Cheyenne Jackson, Charles Babalola, Benjamin Byron Davis, Steven Boyer, Ryann Redmond, and Haley Bennett. Penn Jillette also has a cameo.
“In the movie Lilith, an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas. Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team – Roland, a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina, a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg, Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis, the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap, a persistently wiseass robot. These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.”
Borderlands hits theaters on August 9th.
