Borderlands - Movie Review

Taking place on the chaotic territory of wanddering stars named Pandora, ‘Borderlands’ tells the story of Lilith, a ruthless perspective of a bounty hunter captured by Cate Blanchett. Recalled to her home planet, Lilith comes face to face with a motley crew of characters – from a talkative robot with a decidedly cynical outlook on life to a preadolescent demolition genius – with whom she must save the daughter of one of the Seven Sisters and the universe’s richest man, Atlas. The quest makes them face alien species, malicious bandits, and a secret that will bring an explosion large enough to build together a story of friendship and survival in a world of exchanged loyalties and battles for authority in ‘Borderlands’. The tease is wonderfully disorganized—and perfectly captures the video game aesthetic that is the show’s raison d’etre. There is the fixed mood throughout the films somber reflections with laughter to keep you on your toes in a sci-fi thriller filled with comedy.

Cate Blanchett gives a polished performance as Lilith, portraying an authoritative figure yet fragile at the same time. Kevin Hart finally does justice to the role of the funnyman Roland as the audience gets to experience both laughter and tears from him. Dr. Patricia Tannis portrayed by Jamie Lee Curtis is wonderfully bizarre and Jack Black’s Claptrap character is full of comic relief. It is also extremely fortunate that Borderlands has assembled an all-star cast, and this makes it feel like not only an action movie, but also a character-driven movie. This director manages to combine utterly intense sci-fi adventure with certain dosage of comedy and thus offers a unique movie-watching experience. At the same time, it seems that the narrative is too complex, although it may be due to Roth’s desire to create an extraordinary action. All the tracks amplify crucial sequences, independent of the narrative and emotional arcs, but there are moments where vibrant reinstatement of softer characters’ relationships feels lost in music.

Vividly capturing the beauty of Pandora, the cinematography feels vibrant and detailed throughout. Shooting and movements are borrowed from video games, and, therefore, focus on bright colors as a reference to the planet’s wild nature and the urgency of the heroes’ actions.

Everything is designed with love for the Borderlands universe and fits the game’s ethos and aesthetics to the teeth. Even the environment and the characters’ outfits, the spaces they navigate, and the architecture of the world depicted in the movie look ingeniously designed. However, there are also cases where set pieces dominate actors’ performaces at times.

The action works well, featuring terrific CGI, which viewers see in the bioengineered creatures and the technology of Pandora. Now and then, CGI tends to overtake practical effects but, for the most part, visual excitement stays high.

Crisp and clean with a rhythm that corresponds with the film’s intense vibe, the editing is good. Transition between scenes are smooth and keeps the viewer interested but fast cuts often sacrifice character growth. The plot is fast moving, which helps create suspense but can lead to superficial characterization and a scanty development of the story line when compared to the action scenes.

The performing is characterised as fluent and passionate or cheeky and sarcastic depending on the lines which are a mixture of witty and profound dialogues. They are funny and sentimental at once which reflects the true spirit of the series that the movies are based on. Still, some of them sound unnatural, depriving the show of the necessary dramatic authority.

’Borderlands’ is gorgeous and filled with action, but sometimes it tries to be too epic. Action film’s disadvantage is its fast pace and reliance on special effects making some character arcs and main storyline aspects incompletely developed. Hopefully the next time, viewers will be somewhat more prepared for the sheer mayhem and overwhelming gunfights from this action-packed sci-fi experience although fans of the franchise will possibly agree that it does not quite explore as complex a globe as the video games do. For lovers of vigorous films and the casual players of video games, it offers an ostentatious yet rather unpolished adaptation on the big screen. Because of this, humor, action, and memorable visuals make the film much more entertaining even though the overarchingly disruptive narrative at times can hardly keep its balance.