Borderlands Movie Review

Borderlands (2024)

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Written by: Eli Roth and Joe Abercrombie (screenplay by), Eli Roth (screen story by)
Directed by: Eli Roth
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Edgar Ramírez, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Black, Ariana Greenblatt
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
An infamous bounty hunter returns to her childhood home, the chaotic planet Pandora, and forms an unlikely alliance with a team of misfits to find the missing daughter of the most powerful man in the universe.

Verdict
I knew going in reviews were bad, but this isn't the train wreck I expected. It's a mindless action movie with a unique setting that's under-developed. This movie seems to exist just to cash in on the popularity of the game. The characters exist to serve the plot, and the goal is to open a vault. Why they're all so invested isn't explained, other than it's a valuable treasure. It's because the plot requires it. This provides an interesting premise but fails to develop it, instead checking the boxes and trying to do the bare minimum.
Skip it.

Review
An introduction that isn't just voice over and provided some visuals would have helped provide more of a foundation. This could have provided more scenes prior to Roland (Kevin Hart) infiltrating a base so we get a sense of the world and where he is. This crams a lot into the start, and I'd rather it start with Lilith (Cate Blanchett). Through her we could have seen a bounty hunter chasing a target and traversing the area before ending up at a bar and getting a new target.

Cate Blanchett plays Lilith

I haven't played any of the games, but I know a bit about them. This movie seems to e trying to cram in everything from the games as fan service when it should be picking a focus. Roland seems pointless, and that only becomes more true farther into the movie.

We get this great premise, a fun, over the top space adventure. It would help if this built the world and told us about Tina (Ariana Greenblatt). I don't understand the characters or their motivations. We quickly get them all together which at least provides an opportunity for them to banter as they're stuck on this nearly inhospitable planet. It's irreverent and silly, but it relies too much on the audience knowing these characters. This does a terrible job of making this a credible world. I don't know what the video game did, but this movie could do a better job of giving these characters a foundation. At one point Roland stays behind to help them escape, and that didn't seem necessary.

Cate Blanchett, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Kevin Hart play Lilith, Tina, Krieg, Roland

The problem is that this is a lot of mindless action masquerading as plot. There's not enough story to develop these characters. This movie presents a 'surprise' towards the end and then a montage of all the clues as if they weren't already quite obvious. This feels inspired by Mad Max, Guardians of the Galaxy, and even Blade Runner, but this tries to overwhelm you into thinking there's something here when there's not.