‘Borderlands’: Review

Dir: Eli Roth. US. 2024. 101mins

In her chameleonic profession, Cate Blanchett has donned many guises – however by no means earlier than has she had the prospect to be a gun-toting, ass-kicking motion star. Sadly, Borderlands is an unworthy automobile for her swaggering efficiency because the reluctant chief of a ragtag bunch of misfits making an attempt to rescue the daughter of an evil company overlord. Based mostly on the favored online game, and freely lifting from Star Wars and Guardians Of The Galaxy, Eli Roth’s sci-fi movie boasts loads of marquee names however little originality when it comes to spectacle or laughs. 

It’s fleetingly amusing to look at Blanchett flex her wit and charm amidst this motley crew

Borderlands hits UK and US theatres on August 9, and even these unfamiliar with the sport sequence, which began in 2009, could also be tempted by an action-comedy that stars Blanchett alongside Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Edgar Ramirez and Jamie Lee Curtis. Hyper-violent — however not bloody, in order to keep away from a restrictive score that will hold youngsters from seeing the movie — this energetic, spinoff style providing could wrestle in a market dominated by Deadpool & Wolverine and the upcoming arrival of Alien: Romulus. And with a hefty price ticket reportedly round $100 million, Borderlands could also be yet one more summer season 2024 launch that finally ends up labelled a business flop.

Because the movie begins, the intrepid, hardened bounty hunter Lilith (Blanchett) is approached by Atlas (Ramirez), an evil tech genius who hires her to trace down his daughter, Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), who has gone lacking. Not wishing to be concerned with Atlas however unable to show down his profitable phrases, Lilith visits the hellish planet of Pandora, which she fled as a lady, in hopes of finding Tiny Tina. However when Lilith does discover her, she realises others are additionally in search of her — together with soldier Roland (Hart) — and they’re all pressured to work collectively as soon as they uncover Atlas has extra nefarious causes for wanting his youngster returned house.

Roth’s follow-up to final yr’s Thanksgiving, whose tight manufacturing schedule required him to show Borderlands’ reshoots over to Deadpool director Tim Miller, consists of a number of of the online game’s memorable characters. (As well as, photographs from the movie immediately echo scenes within the sport.) And Borderlands clearly attracts inspiration from its supply materials’s fame as one of many pioneering ‘looter shooter’ video games, first-person shooters that enable gamers to accumulate totally different rewards alongside the best way. In layman’s phrases, because of this Roth offers his antiheroes a number of probabilities to blast the whole lot in sight, the mayhem typically scored to fist-pumping hard-rock bands like Motorhead. 

Whether or not it’s the smart-aleck robotic sidekick Claptrap (voiced by Black) or the myriad pictures of the feminine characters’ heaving cleavage, Borderlands sports activities an impish juvenile streak meant to be boyish and escapist. Sadly, Roth has by no means been a very creative filmmaker, and so the image’s sophomoric sense of humour and sometimes partaking set items solely reinforce the suspicion that Borderlands is little greater than a rehash of earlier sci-fi footage. Whereas James Gunn was skilful at creating lovably dysfunctional de facto households within the Guardians Of The Galaxy franchise and The Suicide Squad, Roth populates his story with boring renegades who’re by no means emotionally absorbing. And regardless of Daniel Orlandi’s vibrant costumes and Rogier Stoffers’ flashy cinematography, the movie seldom springs to life. And, as Borderlands options little swearing or graphic violence, this supposedly irreverent, down-and-dirty motion flick feels neutered.  

Not many within the starry ensemble shine. Vivid character actors like Gina Gershon and Jamie Lee Curtis, who, respectively, play an alluring membership proprietor and a revered scientist, are trapped in stale style sorts. Even the possibly intriguing change-of-pace performances — similar to Hart in a much more sombre flip than we count on from the explosive comic — flatline.

What retains Borderlands mildly involving is Blanchett’s sport portrayal of the Han Solo-like Lilith, who professes to not care about anybody earlier than, predictably, having a change of coronary heart over the course of the movie. The Oscar-winning actress is saddled with the identical achingly ‘hip’ dialogue as the remainder of her costars and, in step with the image’s male gaze, Lilith solely rocks skin-tight outfits. Nonetheless, Blanchett manages to craft a number of winningly cocky moments as this ace gunslinger and world-weary cynic, leaning into her character’s attractive, strutting essence. 

In Blanchett’s occasional villain roles, like in Hanna or Thor: Ragnarok, she has demonstrated a aptitude for flashy, modulated showboating, however Lilith is one thing totally different for her: an unalloyed hero that offers the viewers a likeable rooting curiosity. It’s fleetingly amusing to look at Blanchett flex her wit and charm amidst this motley crew of outsiders and reprobates. However Lilith so simply outclasses the whole lot round her that Borderlands is that uncommon would-be blockbuster the place you want the principle character might get her personal standalone function, simply so she will escape this meagre journey.