Borderlands
A gang of misfits convene on the planet Pandora to locate a magic vault, or box, in Eli Roth’s chaotic, derivative adaptation of the video game of the same name.
Mad Maxine and the crew
Image courtesy of Lionsgate UK
Considering the phenomenal turnover of the video game market, there was bound to be a crossover with the multiplex. And no doubt fans of Gearbox Software may appreciate the CGI congestion of Eli Roth’s big-screen adaptation of the eponymous game, but it can have little appeal to those seeking more innovative cinematic spectacle. Writer-director Eli Roth carved his reputation in torture porn and one can see the connection between his early horrors Cabin Fever, Hostel and The Green Inferno with this one-dimensional, sensorially brutal hotchpotch of recycled concepts.
Even if it’s too cartoonish to feel a scintilla of interest in any of its characters, it is still torture to watch. Six years ago, Roth branched away from horror with the PG-rated The House with a Clock in Its Walls (in the US), which starred Jack Black and Cate Blanchett and became his highest-grossing movie to date. This may go some way to explain the current presence of Black and Blanchett, who presumably enjoy a symbiotic working relationship.
Here, Blanchett plays Lilith, a trigger-loose bounty hunter with bright red hair who claims from the start that, “I’m getting too old for this shit.” Nevertheless, a hologram of corporate megalomaniac Atlas (Edgar Ramírez) makes her a financial offer she can’t refuse – to rescue his daughter Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) from the planet Pandora, a “shithole” where Lilith grew up. It is here that the film shifts into Mad Max territory, with the same desert landscape, quarries and rust-bucket detritus, and from where the masked, musclebound inhabitants of Pandora have obviously escaped.
What follows is not so much derivative as downright pop-cultural thievery, borrowing liberally from Star Wars and countless rip-offs, filling the screen with interminable combat, explosions and near misses. Apparently, Blanchett agreed to do the film because of “a little Covid madness,” and of course she throws herself into the part, running, jumping and wise-cracking, making a case for action women of a certain age (she’s 55). Less successful is Ariana Greenblatt as an obnoxious Tina, Gina Gershon imitating Mae West as the proprietress of a bar and last year’s Oscar-winner Jamie Lee Curtis completely squandered as a veteran scientist. Returning to the fold, Jack Black supplies the voice of a smartass robot called Claptrap that would appear to be indestructible, much like the rest of Lilith’s motley crew. It’s not a good sign when the most empathetic actor in a movie is Kevin Hart, but that is just the case here.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black (voice only), Edgar Ramírez, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Janina Gavankar, Gina Gershon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Hayley Bennett, Olivier Richters.
Dir Eli Roth, Pro Ari Arad, Avi Arad and Erik Feig, Screenplay Eli Roth and Joe Crombie, from a story by Eli Roth, Ph Rogier Stoffers, Pro Des Andrew Menzies, Ed Julian Clarke and Evan Henke, Music Steve Jablonsky, Costumes Daniel Orlandi, Sound David Grimaldi, James Miller and Angelo Palazzo.
Media Capital Technologies/Arad Productions/Picturestart/Gearbox Studios/2K-Lionsgate UK.
100 mins. USA/Hungary. 2024. UK and US Rel: 9 August 2024. Cert. 12A.
