Borderlands is proof that the era of good videogame adaptations is officially over

The main characters in Lionsgate's Borderlands movie look down a sewage well

Even an ensemble cast can't save Borderland's bad script – the jokes of which don't land. At all. (Image credit: Lionsgate)

Mild spoilers follow for Borderlands.

We really have been spoiled lately. Big-budget HBO and Prime Video videogame series like The Last of Us and Fallout have seriously impressed gamers and newcomers alike, delivering note-perfect adaptations of these beloved stories. Full of emotion, laughs, gorgeous settings, and gripping scripts, finally, gamers were eating well when it came to adaptations. We're having a good run, right? So, surely it can continue?

I guess not. This successful run of movies based on videogames has all come to a grinding halt thanks to Eli Roth's new movie Borderlands. It is baffling how you can take a videogame series that's so unique, story-rich, and full of heart and turn it into one of the most generic-looking action movies you'll see this year, or possibly ever. When you have a source material as strong and as captivating as Borderlands, messing that up is an achievement in and of itself.

What is the Borderlands movie about?

Claptrap: a yellow robot with a blue lens, one wheel and arms — Claptrap is about the only accurate thing in the movie. (Image credit: Gearbox)

The game's timeline is different from what we see in the Borderlands movie, so I'll outline how they've approached the plot for clarity's sake. In it, we follow Lilith (Cate Blanchett), an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, who reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora after she's offered a lot of money to bring a missing daughter home to her father, who just happens to be an incredibly powerful man.

The daughter in question is Tiny Tina, a character who has appeared across the Borderlands franchise as well as the spin-off game Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (great game, by the way). A fan-favourite character and a figure who is synonymous with the Gearbox Software franchise, moviegoers are no doubt keen to see how she's depicted on the big screen.

I guess the cast had fun?

A silhouetted image of the main cast members in Lionsgate's Borderlands movie adaptation — Tiny Tina needed to be more annoying (no seriously). (Image credit: Lionsgate)

Tiny Tina is badly depicted in the movie. I don't necessarily think it's Ariana Greenblatt's fault, either, because she was great in Barbie. Much like the rest of the ensemble cast, she's simply been given a poor script to work from, and her performance suffers as a result. A shame, really, because it's clear she gave it her all. But I can't believe I'm saying that Tiny Tina needed to be more annoying, given how she often grates on players. The characterization is so unlike the Tina fans know, which is disappointing indeed.

What I will say is that other fan-favourite character Claptrap is about 70% there, with Jack Black suiting the role perfectly. As the annoying robot who follows you around, sings, and cracks jokes, he provides at least some comic relief. Not nearly enough, given the fact Borderlands is a very witty franchise. Some of his jokes are painfully unfunny, in fact, including one bit of toilet humour that goes on way too long. Yeah, that's what we're dealing with here.

It’s a shame the adaptation captured none of the game’s uniqueness – it felt like a generic action movie with the Borderlands logo slapped on it

Only two of the playable characters from the first game appear; Blanchett's Lilith and Kevin Hart's Roland. Those expecting to see Mordecai the Hunter and Brick the Berserker will be left disappointed, as they're nowhere to be found, another sad omission from a game that had plenty to give. The two characters they did choose to focus on were fine but didn't do much to stand out from other action heroes. The costumes might raise some eyebrows too, especially the ones on the lead characters.

The movie is like bad cosplay

Borderlands movie — The fight scenes are too chaotic and go on for ages. (Image credit: Arad Productions)

There's not a lot to take away from this movie, which genuinely does pain me to say. Sure, it looks nice in places and I liked some of the fictional branding, but even some of the CGI is ropey, and considering the massive budget that will be disappointing to fans hoping to see this in IMAX or other big screen formats. It really isn't worth the ticket price, and there'll be better titles you can spend your money on instead.

If you do want to see Borderlands, perhaps wait until you can stream it at home instead. That way, if it annoys you too much, you can always pick up your controller and play the original games instead, which is a wildly funny, self-aware, stylized experience with a lot of heart. Ah, that's better.

Lucy is a long-time movie and television lover who is an approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes. She has written several reviews in her time, starting with a small self-ran blog called Lucy Goes to Hollywood before moving onto bigger websites such as What's on TV and What to Watch, with TechRadar being her most recent venture. Her interests primarily lie within horror and thriller, loving nothing more than a chilling story that keeps her thinking moments after the credits have rolled. Many of these creepy tales can be found on the streaming services she covers regularly.

When she’s not scaring herself half to death with the various shows and movies she watches, she likes to unwind by playing video games on Easy Mode and has no shame in admitting she’s terrible at them. She also quotes The Simpsons religiously and has a Blinky the Fish tattoo, solidifying her position as a complete nerd.