Borderlands Movie Review

Borderlands (2024) Movie Review

Up until recently, video game adaptations haven’t been the best received both in terms of box office numbers, and critically. With many flops including ‘Assassins Creed’, ‘Hitman’, ‘Hitman: Agent 47’, ‘Doom’ and ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’ just to name a few. However, in recent years, we have seen a shift in this, with many hits hitting both the big and small screen. Some of these hits included: ‘Uncharted’, ‘Tomb Raider’, ‘The Last of Us’, ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 1 & 2’, ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’, ‘Detective Pikachu’, ‘Fallout’, ‘Warcraft’ and ‘Gran Turismo’, all impressing audiences across the globe. This trend has continued into this year, with many of these releases hitting the big and small screen in 2023 and 2024, and many more adaptations on the horizon.

One of these flicks, was the eagerly anticipated ‘Borderlands’ from director Eli Roth. Roth has made a name for himself in the horror genre, with many flicks including ‘Hostel 1 & 2’, ‘Knock, Knock’, ‘Cabin Fever’, ‘Green Inferno’ and last year’s holiday slasher (based on the fake trailer he directed in Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse), ‘Thanksgiving’. Given his success in the horror genre, Roth has tried his hand in other genres, dabbling in broader, family entertainment with his entry-level horror flick, ‘The House with the Clock in It’s Walls’, which saw him team up with 2-time Academy Award winning actress Cate Blanchett. This relationship has blossomed over the years, seeing Blanchett cast as Lilith in his Borderlands adaptation. Lilith, an ageing bounty hunter, returns to her home planet, Pandora, a desolate wasteland, home to Psychos, Skags and Varkids. Lilith forms an unlikely alliance with a team of misfits, Roland (played by Kevin Hart), Tannis (played by Jamie Lee Curtis), Tiny Tina (played by Ariana Greenblatt), Krieg (played by Munteanu) and Claptrap (voiced by jack Black), as they find themselves doing battle with the most dangerous man in the universe Atlas (played by Edgar Ramirez), to prevent him from finding his lost daughter. Whilst not a critical darling, Borderlands has found its audience on home media and I’m happy to report, its actually a lot of fun.
Borderlands is a colourful romp, populated with wacky characters, weird and creative environments, and a fun plot. The film does a great job of capturing the fun energetic and humorous tone of the video games, translating it to the big screen in stylish fashion. The quirky characters are all bought to life beautifully by the films talented cast. Blanchett brings her Hela (Thor: Ragnarök), energy to the role of Lillith, clearly having an absolute blast with the character and enjoying the on-screen insanity. The supporting cast all, also do a magnificent job with their respective characters, Kevin hart is fun as Rolland, Jamie Lee Curtis does a great job as Tannis, Jack Black is hilarious as Claptrap and Ariana Greenblatt steals the show as Tiny Tina. They all make for a fun team, and I hope we can see them again together in another adventure. 

The world of Pandora is also a highlight. As someone who has played every Borderlands game to date, I was looking forward to seeing the world of Pandora bought to life on a cinematic scale. The world feels gritty, but never loses its personality or trademark weirdness. The world of pandora remains bonkers and wild and that’s exactly what fans wanted to see it. Eli Roth clearly has an eye for the weird, and an appreciation of the games. He doesn’t focus too heavily on the mythology of the world but gives fans enough of an insight that they can still enjoy it.

‘Borderlands’ was a lot of fun. It’s not the best video game adaptation, but it’s definitely not the worst. The film is anchored on its performances, from its talented cast. The visuals are creative, the world building is great and the films narrative is fun. This is a must watch for adventure fans and those wanting a fun sci-fi action romp. Be sure to secure your copy on DVD, Blu-Ray or 4K Ultra HD today.

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Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here