Borderlands: Movie Review

Cast: Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Ariana Greenblatt, Jamie Lee Curtis, Florian Munteanu, Gina Gershon
Director: Eli Roth

It's easy to see why the Borderlands movie has been so widely mocked.

It's the paper-thin story of a mercenary Lilith (played with ennui by Blanchett) who takes on the job of tracking down Tina (Greenblatt), the errant daughter of the owner of the Atlas corporation (Ramirez) at his request.

But when Lilith heads to the planet Pandora, she finds Tina is in the company of Roland (Hart) and Krieg (Munteanu) and determined to stop Tina falling back into the wrong hands.

Essentially true to the 2K game's aesthetics, much of Borderlands feels like it's reverential to its origins - and even Blanchett is having a blast as the flame-haired sharpshooter as she moves from one encounter to the next. Even Black's OTT hyperactive delivery as Claptrap, the robot more likely to shoot its mouth than a gun follows the game's roots.

However, where Borderlands the movie falls short is in a little of its dynamics and narrative.

Granted not every video game adaptation should be The Last Of Us grime and grit, but a lack of chemistry and depth within the team doesn't help matters.

Hart's soldier and Munteanu's beefed up wrestler type are reduced to mere stereotypes and one-liners - it's never entirely clear why Roland has taken on this quest to protect Tina from Atlas - and as the film continues, it becomes a regular frustration in among the bloodless gun-slinging and destruction just how surface level some of the main characters are.

More successful is Blanchett's gunslinger-for-hire who absorbs the wearied approach of her character and clearly has fun playing the basic part to the hilt.

It's perhaps maddening that Borderlands doesn't hit more of the highs than it should - it's frustrating to think the ragtag group of misfits would be compared to Guardians of the Galaxy's group (and the film's more acceptable behaviour) - but in truth, it's a comparison it brings upon itself with thanks to feeling underdeveloped for a 100 minute CGI-led escapade.

But Borderlands isn't as bad as they'd have you say - with its adherence to its game roots and its execution thereof, it feels like the perfect adaptation. However, it falls apart as you realise what it could have been if the script and the characters had been a little more polished and rounded.