Borderlands - Nostalgia Critic

Even though he's never played the game, Nostalgia Critic can see from a mile away why this box office bomb was a disaster. Let's take a look at the video game movie flop, Borderlands.

Borderlands is a 2024 American science fiction action comedy film co-written and directed by Eli Roth, based on the video game series developed by Gearbox Software. It stars Cate Blanchett as Lillith, an outlaw who forms an alliance with a team of misfits to find the missing daughter of the most powerful man in the universe. The ensemble cast also features Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Edgar Ramirez, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Gina Gershon, and Jamie Lee Curtis.

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[ChannelAwesome]

What do you think is the worst video game movie?

[bradysutton]

Better to have Doug review this than actually watching the movie.

[adrianmedeiros]

You wanna know why everyone is treating Cate Blanchet like she's 20 in this movie?

Because that's how old Lilith is supposed to be. And Tannis (played by Jamie Lee Curtis for some reason) is supposed to be around that age too

[yeetthebeatout]

They took the plot of the first game, used characters from the second, designs from the third, then doused it in PG-13 flavored piss

[chrimsonphantom]

The movie that makes you think you should check out the source material, but punishes you for knowing the source material. Because it took inspiration from everything but the source material.

[dinocz]

15:20 sirens are super important in the games. Thing is, the reveal "Lilith is a siren, one of 7 most powerful beings in whole universe" IS IN THE FIRST MINUTE OF THE FIRST GAME

[flooshar]

2 Points:
1) You know this movie did woefully when Doug is able to review it with no copyright strike only a few months after it released.
and 2) The games already did all the hard work with the story, heck, just make the origin story on how all the people got stranded on Pandora, Mostly DAHL corporation civvies and scientists (Like Tannis)

[slinkbradshaw]

This is the Last Airbender movie for Borderlands fans. There is no Borderlands movie on Pandora.

[tristanhartup]

"Why does everyone think Cate Blancett is like 20?"
As I think everyone else has stated, her character in the games is supposed to be in her 20s, so of course it naturally makes sense to cast someone in her 50s in the role, what the hell was the casting director on?

[griefingglem]

What's most annoying is that Claptrap in the games is a funny annoying. Everyone hates him, but the world lets you know that even he hates himself as he's programmed to always sound enthusiastic, no matter how he's actually feeling. There is a reason he won an award for "Best Character" the year the original Borderlands game came out.

[FirebunCEO]

I don’t understand how you can take Borderlands, a game series that has a quest with a guy BEGGING YOU TO SHOOT HIM IN THE FACE and turn it into something so… dull. The ingredients for at least a fun popcorn movie are RIGHT THERE.

[ScarlettShana]

First mistake of movie: Krieg is not narrator. Imagine to hear calm and heroic voice then to discover it belongs to psycho who speaks complete opposite.

[Voltra_]

The casting is beyond bizarre. People complain that Tobey Maguire was too old to play Spider-Man, but here we have a 60 something woman playing a 20 something siren, and a 60 something woman playing a 40 something bar lady. A short stack playing a muscle mountain badass, etc.

Nothing fits in tone or looks

[broodwarjc]

The reason everyone thinks Lilith is only 20, is because in the games she is in her young 20s and Tanith is supposed to be in her later 20s or early 30s. Instead they casted actresses who are more than twice those ages.

[Necronb]

The choices they made to alter the story are just bizarre. Borderlands is a goofy whacky game, but in many ways the characters are a study of how long term ab use, isolation and violence can damage people. Hell, Roland is supposed to be "the sane one" but because he only knows how to be a soldier he basically has no social skills and it affects his ability to have relationships....he can lead a revolution but struggles to maintain a romantic relationship....that's the sane one. All the characters of Borderlands are deeply damaged people, when you peel back the childish humour of the games, there is some real, brutal tragedy to each of their lives that they are all trying to cope with by having this make-shift rag-tag family they created. The choices made in trying to give it "a movie treatment" sucked any nuance out of it.

[noir-]

5:20-5:28 I see why Handsome Jack is insane if I had to deal with this version of Claptrap. I destroy them all, too

[TheEclecticGoat]

Basic Google search: “The average age of Borderlands players is 18-30.”

Borderlands casting: “A cast of people in their 60s seems perfect.”

[barney]

This is why I don't watch a movie because of the cast

When a movie spends a fortune with a heavy cast, exotic locations, and extravagant costumes

It means that very little was spent to make the script

[BlazingOwnager]

"I'm getting too old for this"

In this case, that works more on a meta level than a film line level

[smackajackal]

13:40 Nobody can convince me to believe that anyone fell for the "twist". If you played the games then you know she's a Siren. If you didn't, her character design just gives it away. Maybe they were banking on the fact that fans knew it was a poor adaptation and would think its so poor that they'd commit to having Tina be the Siren.

EDIT: Also, why "Knoxx"? If you're gonna change almost everything about a character, why have them in the movie only to do next to nothing? Same goes for "Krom"
EDIT again: There's also something I hate about the costume design. Things just look too "clean", like they came neat and pressed right off a clothes rack.