A Borderlands video game series adaptation with an all-star cast led by Cate Blanchett will serve open-minded fans and get criticized as expected by highbrow critics. The beloved, first-person looter-shooter and its dedicated players will be pleased. They are madcap characters of the games who are easily recognizable and they set about to find treasure through violent means but with a twist or two. For this reason, the horror and gore maestro Eli Roth made sure that his non-stop action would fit into a PG-13 rating thereby capturing a wider audience. There is no blood from sliced arteries or gaping wounds.
She continues to wow as red-haired Lilith while snuffing out lives in her Oscar-winning role; she is Pandora’s most dangerous bounty hunter from another world too. However, Lilith’s drinking spree on another planet was interrupted by Atlas Corporation goons. Upon being shredded politely by Lilith afterwards, its CEO gave her an exciting offer. Help me find my daughter Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), he said, and I’ll let you take home lots of money.
Lilith is hired by Atlas after an unexpected betrayal occurs. Tiny Tina was rescued by Roland (Kevin Hart), who is a former soldier of Atlas along with her fiercely loyal protector Krieg (Florian Munteanu) when they were initially caught up in it all; together they fled to Pandora where he disappeared again. On returning home, Lilith meets the usual welcome party there… She remembers vaguely how her mother (Haley Bennett) died here and why Eridian manic Dr.Tannis compelled them to flee their day-to-day life in Pandora when she was just a kid. A search of her old house reveals that it has picked up an irritating one-wheeled robot ally instead: Claptrap (Jack Black). He is unhappy working for Lilith because he knows that finding Tiny Tina is a suicide mission.
The gameplay of Borderlands mirrors the co-op RPG it is based on. Lilith and Claptrap link up with Roland, Tina, and Krieg predictably after finding out what Atlas actually wants to do to his bunny-loving little girl who throws bombs around. This all takes place relatively quickly in the first act before setting up larger action set pieces with quick exposition. As they are chased by mercenaries from Atlas as well as various monsters, Roth also has characters moving through different objectives. There’s a better than expected second act where he lets off some steam and allows the ensemble to bond.
If there isn’t any star chemistry, then Borderlands is another mindless video game adaptation. Together, the seasoned adult actors and talented Greenblatt from Barbie and Star Wars: Ahsoka limited series make an engrossing ensemble. However, these two protectors are assassins at heart who take care of Tiny Tina even though she can be so mean sometimes. Having been young, alone and trying to survive against dangerous predators means that Lilith knows this all too well especially since Tiny Tina does not know she works for Atlas. Thereby, Roth installs a possible betrayal when there is finally exposure to realness of matters by Tiny Tina who gets angry over it.
The visual effects on Borderlands are pretty sharp… up to the point when that CGI-induced climax happened, leaving you feeling disappointed. That’s a bummer because the practical action was worth the price of admission until that point. This is where Roth shows his expertise in filmmaking especially with regards to fight scenes. The team takes down psychos and Atlas army in an avalanche of bullets, explosions and good old-fashioned beatdowns. Munteanu’s Krieg is a beast and a half, wrapping human baddies into pretzels with unashamed delight. While it can be brutal, the violence doesn’t get graphically disturbing.
To not see blood in a Roth film is amazing. They made some business decisions with this movie so as to keep its rating below R and allow kids who enjoy playing games like these to come and watch it too. Die-hard Roth fans expecting his trademark gruesome torture should sit this one out.
However, Borderlands does have issues with pacing at the end of Act Four. As for the first hour, there were so many things happening very fast but then from there everything slowed down as more characters emerged from nowhere plus new places met Eridian mumbo jumbo ever deeper than before (Roth). This attempt at intrigue stumbles when everything was rightly humming along at a good clip. There’s some overthinking here that leads to superfluous padding (Roth 161). In fact, he should have gone for mere eye candy and action all through till credits roll.
It is just another summer popcorn flick for gamers only; take it as such! Before jumping to any conclusions about this movie based on what other people say consider thinking twice! It isn’t an English period costume drama featuring Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth (thefilmstage.com). She’s having fun being silly and most audiences will feel likewise (cinemablend.com).
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