The latest gamer IP to get the big screen treatment is Borderlands – hugely successful as a game despite being yet another dystopian view of a future intergalactic existence heavily influenced by westerns and featuring a rag tag gang of characters. Think Suicide Squad meets Guardians of the Galaxy and you get the idea except none of the characters are anywhere near as endearing, likeable or even cool.
Anyone thinking Borderlands might be an immigration related riot fest will be disappointed as here the story plays out on the planet Pandora where corporations and gold diggers are looking for a hidden vault containing untold riches from the ancient race of Eridia and their secret vault can only be unlocked by a long lost daughter of that race. It’s CEO Atlas (Edgar Tamirez) who hires bounty hunter Lilith (Cate Blanchett) to find his daughter Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt ) who has been kidnapped by mercenary Roland (Kevin Hart) in a bid to locate the vault. Along for the ride also is muscles man Krieg (Florian Munteanu) , scientist Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis) and a quirky robot ClapTrap voiced by an unrecognisably voice modulated Jack Black). Rarely has a character been so suitably named that sums up the entire film.
So off they all set in a bid to find the vault in a series of explosive episodes in the evitable Mad Max lite landscapes as several of the characters wrestle with their own personal inner turmoil. Lilith has mummy issues, Tiny Tina has daddy issues and all the cast will have issues with their agents after this. The alleged comedian Kevin Hart is miscast as the action man, Jamie Lee Curtis is just plain wasted in such a role Montreau should at least be grateful that he wears a mask throughout and must be hoping that future casting directors will forget he was ever in this. The only levity throughout this is the seemingly indestructible robot Claptrap with his comic quips.
Co-written and directed by Eli Roth it is another move away from his horror roots and though this is competently shot with the occasional, very occasional, spark it horror where his heart clearly lies as seen with previous film, ‘Thanksgiving’. It’s taken several years for Borderlands to be released and having finally arrived it is likely to infuriate the gamer fans and cinema audiences will find this a bloodless, bewildering, cluttered caper.
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related feature : The Pinocchio kill in Eli Roth’s ‘Thanksgiving’ ….
Here’s the Borderlands trailer…..
