Movie review: "Borderlands"

For readers who may be unaware, the video game franchise for “Borderlands” has a very large following of dedicated fans, with the series having reportedly sold over 77 million copies, according to LEVVVEL. The video games are known for their wit, violence, chaos, humor and satirical take on — well just about everything. 

But the film “Borderlands” has absolutely none of these qualities. Every piece of this film feels forced, everything from the acting to the writing. IGN — who are known for scoring even the worst films as at least a 5 — tore “Borderlands” to shreds in their review, ranking it a 3 out of 10. This is the common theme among most critics as of right now.

Here’s the deal: Movie adaptations of video games are consistently poorly created — whether it is films like 1997’s “Mortal Kombat: Annihilation” or 2008’s “Max Payne,” — and sadly “Borderlands” is no exception.  

Regarding the writing, “Borderlands” feels as if it were written in a matter of hours. The film could have easily taken the storyline from the first game and involved the writers who worked on that project to help adapt it into a film. Instead, they butchered what was a very marketable opportunity. 

So why would a company insist on pumping out garbage like this instead of actually putting an effort into paying attention to what the fans are asking for? 

The only assumption that can be made as to why they would do something like this, is that they were focusing all their efforts on making a film that appeals to the masses, while forgetting who their target audience actually is. 

“Borderlands” ignored its own demographic in hopes of gaining the favor of a larger audience. The correct way to make any film is to find your audience — know exactly who they are — and make exactly what they want to see. 

In the case of “Borderlands,” all they had to do was make their fans happy. If they had done that, their fans would have told their friends and family what a good film it was, and they would have received the wider audience they were hoping to find. Word of mouth is the most valuable asset that any art form can be given.

Even searching for redeemable qualities within this movie becomes a chore. Without being overly nitpicky as a fan of the games, viewers may still leave the theater feeling as though they wasted both their time and their money. 

The characters are poorly written and pay no mind to their source material, and the actors/actresses who play them have no chemistry together whatsoever. Each performance is uninspired, and lacking in any kind of emotion. None of the jokes land, and overall the humor feels forced and lacks conviction. 

The cast has an incredibly star-studded ensemble. Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, Jaime Lee Curtis, Kevin Hart, Ariana Greenblatt, Edgar Ramírez and Gina Gershon are all present. Many fans of the franchise complained that the ages of the characters did not align with the ages of the cast, but even if this fact is ignored, the actors just are not believable as these characters. 

This is entirely due to the writing and dialogue, and has nothing to do with the talent of any of these professionals. With the exception of Krieg — played by Florian Munteanu — who only talks in “psycho” babble, just the same as he does in the game. However, his entire subplot is missing, and because of that, there is no emotional investment in the character. 

The soundtrack is one of the positive aspects of the film; however, the big battles are often accompanied by either licensed music or original score. These tracks do a decent job of setting the tone. 

On the other hand, the soundtrack is just about the only thing that sets the tone for a fight because the fights themselves are lacking. There is no risk; you never feel as though any of the characters are in danger or that they are worth investing in emotionally. 

Another somewhat good thing about the film is that it does a good job of capturing the atmosphere of the games — at times. While a large portion of the movie feels claustrophobic, certain environments do feel similar and authentic to the games, but these moments are few and far between. 

“Borderlands” tries too hard to tell an emotional story, while forgetting that the satirical comedy of the video games and their aimless violence, coupled with the games’ self-awareness of these core traits, is what made them great. 

No one ever played the video games for their gut-wrenching, emotionally heavy plots. We played them for their looter-shooter style and stayed because the writing that accompanied this core gameplay mechanic was good enough that it was able to make the audience invest in their favorite characters' storylines. 

The “Borderlands” video games are also known for being incredibly violent and mature. The “Borderlands” film tries way too hard to stick to its “family friendly” PG-13 rating, which definitely detracts from the experience. Movies need to take notes from films like “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which showed audiences that an R rated comedy can still shatter the box office records, as long as it is done correctly. 

Currently, “Borderlands” is a massive flop at the box office. The Direct said that the film has made $10.3 million globally with a reported budget of $115 million. This flop should be a massive warning sign to any movie studio that even considers doing a film adaptation of a video game. TV shows such as “The Last of Us” are a perfect example of an adaptation done right, whereas “Borderlands” is a perfect example of what happens when you disappoint the fans. 

A star-studded cast and big budget can only take you so far. We can only hope that movie studios recognize the failure that “Borderlands” wound up being and begin to pay attention to what they are doing the next time that one considers making a video game adaptation. 

If you really want to watch this movie, wait until it's  available to stream. Or watch the trailer, because the entire movie is basically in it. 

For fans of the franchise, it may be best that you sit this one out and pretend that “Borderlands” was never made. For newcomers to the franchise, you may enjoy some parts of this film; it isn’t the worst thing that has ever been made, but it should not sway your decision if you have ever thought about trying the game out. You should still try the game — it’s  much better.