Borderlands was one of this year’s bigger critical and box office bombs. Though I hadn’t yet seen it for myself, I wasn’t monumentally surprised. A few noteworthy exceptions notwithstanding, video game adaptations are generally pretty terrible. Additionally, director/co-writer Eli Roth has always been wildly inconsistent. While he’s done some good stuff, his resume is also includes plenty of artless garbage.
So in reviewing the Blu-ray, I fully expected a spectacular dumpster fire. And with manic moron Kevin Hart in a prominent role, I was prepared for it to be an endurance test and a strong candidate for the worst major studio release of the year. But while Borderlands is certainly no masterpiece, I have to admit I kinda enjoyed it.
Granted, I’m not at all familiar with the video game series on which it’s based and maybe my assessment would be different otherwise. Based on interviews in some of the bonus features, the film drops familiar characters into a new story, which has bounty hunter Lilith (Cate Blanchett) hired to rescue Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), the daughter of powerful corporate bigwig Atlas (Edgar Ramirez). She’s been kidnapped by Roland Greaves (Hart), a rogue soldier from Atlas’ own army, Crimson Lance.
This means Lilith has to return to her home planet of Pandora, which she succinctly describes as “a shithole.” Pandora is also where an advanced alien race, the Eridians, hid their technology in a hidden vault eons earlier. Companies, criminals and treasure hunters have been searching for the vault ever since, and it turns out that Tina - supposedly cloned from Eridian blood - might be the key to finding it, which is the real reason Atlas wants her back. Naturally, Lilith has a change of heart, joining Roland, Tina and a few others in finding the vault before it falls into the wrong hands (namely, Atlas’).
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| "Well, it is a hole...make the bunny go first." |
Borderlands didn’t exactly knock my socks off. The story is pretty derivative, as is the whole ragtag motley crew concept that seems inspired by Guardians of the Galaxy, though these guys are never as funny or endearing (Claptrap, the Jack Black-voiced robot, is downright irritating). The film features the usual big CGI set-pieces and competent action scenes, though nothing that hasn’t been pulled off more creatively in other movies.
On the other hand, I liked some of the characters and performances. Blanchett is fun (and kinda sexy) as Lilith, and believe it or not, Borderlands has the distinction of being the only film I’ve ever seen where Kevin Hart was fairly enjoyable. At the very least, he turns off his oxygen-depleting hey-look-at-me! schtick long enough to make Roland an engaging character. Additionally, the props and production design are pretty neat and appear to be directly derived from the game. Though predictable, the story more-or-less stays on-point and moves along at a decent clip.
I dunno…maybe it was my frame of mind at the time, or maybe my expectations weren’t high to begin with, but Borderlands was a agreeable way to kill a couple of hours. I don’t know if I’d ever feel compelled to revisit it, but the film was certainly worth catching once.
EXTRA KIBBLES
FEATURETTES - From Game to Screen; Meet the Team; All Aboard the Death Choochoo; Bringing Borderlands to the Screen; Badonkadonk Time; Fashion and Action on Pandora; High-Tech Hellscapes. Most of these featurettes are self-explanatory and run 5-10 minutes each.
BLU-RAY, DVD & DIGITAL COPIES
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