Borderlands leaps off the console: a gamble in the movie-making game? (trailer).
In the quest to turn every pixelated adventure into box office gold, Lionsgate is rolling its dice once more with Borderlands, a film that dares to ask the question: “What if we took a video game about shooting everything that moves and made it into a scifi film?” Directed by Eli Roth, a man who apparently enjoys dabbling in all things eclectic, Borderlands promises to blend action, comedy, and science fiction into a concoction that could either be a cinematic masterpiece or the kind of movie you watch because “it’s so bad, it’s good.”
Set to invade theaters across the United States on August 9th, 2024, the film boasts an ensemble cast that reads like the guest list of an A-list Hollywood party nobody thought to invite us to. Cate Blanchett dusts off her action chops to play Lilith, the outlaw with a heart of gold and a mysterious past. She’s joined by Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Edgar Ramírez, Ariana Greenblatt, Bobby Lee, Florian Munteanu, Gina Gershon, and Jamie Lee Curtis in what can only be described as a casting director’s fever dream.
The premise is as Borderlands as it gets: Lilith returns to her home planet of Pandora (not the one with the unobtainium) to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas. Along the way, she teams up with a ragtag crew including a former elite mercenary, a feral pre-teen demolitionist, a musclebound protector with a limited vocabulary, a scientist who’s a few beakers short of a full set, and a robot that won’t stop cracking wise. Together, they face alien monsters and bandits, all in the pursuit of the missing girl who holds the key to unimaginable power. It’s a tale of friendship, redemption, and the universal quest to shoot things in the face for loot.
Behind the scenes, the film’s journey to the silver screen reads like a game of musical chairs. Starting with Leigh Whannell in talks back in 2015, the script has passed through more hands than a well-used game controller, finally landing with Joe Crombie, who co-wrote the screenplay with Roth. The production itself kicked off in Budapest during the delightful global backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, wrapping up in June 2021 with all the secrecy of a new iPhone launch. And because no production is complete without a bit of drama, reshoots were directed by Tim Miller, stepping in for Roth who was tied up with his commitment to another project, Thanksgiving.
For the musical score, Nathan Barr initially took the helm, only for Steve Jablonsky to swoop in later and take over. One can only hope the music captures the essence of looting, shooting, and the occasional emotional moment when the audience remembers they’re supposed to care about the characters.
As for marketing, Lionsgate teased attendees at CinemaCon 2022 with a whopping one minute of exclusive footage, presumably showing characters walking in slow motion while things explode in the background – because nothing says “cinematic adaptation of a video game” quite like explosions.
Will Borderlands be the film that finally bridges the gap between video game lore and cinematic storytelling, or will it join the ranks of adaptations that missed the mark? Only time will tell. But one thing’s for certain: when the lights dim in theaters on August 9, 2024, audiences will be treated to a spectacle that’s been years in the making. Whether that spectacle is worth the price of admission, however, is a story for another issue of SFcrowsnest.
