Borderlands
Director:
Eli Roth
Year: 2024
Rating: 6.0
I love coming across a film that everyone hates.
From sea to shining sea. I went on a scavenger hunt to see if I could find
a review that liked it and came up empty. It was like the Ox-Bow Incident
when all the townsfolk happily hang a man and I am Henry Fonda saying he
may not be guilty. At the box office it did a good imitation of a suicide
bomber. So why I have to ask myself was I entertained by this absolute mess
of a film. The fault, dear Brian, is not in our stars, but in myself. A lack
of character, a lack of taste? Probably but come on, it is not the worst
film ever made as some reviews say. Have they not seen Dr. Strange in the
Multiverse of Madness?
It is based on a popular sci-fi video game
which I had never heard of. I haven't played a video game since Pong and
I was dreadful at that. But being based on a sci-fi video game naturally
means lots of special effects, action, violence, constant motion and a paper
thin plot. That is a given and this film delivers on that promise with gusto.
Something is always happening on the screen. It may be stupid or annoying,
but it is a bombardment of imagery attacking your eyeballs. This is directed
by Eli Roth whose horror films I avoid like ex-girlfriends. This one is pure
fantasy and considering the result, he is probably back to torturing victims.
Once upon a time the galaxy was ruled by
an ancient race called the Aridians who were technologically far advanced
from humans. But they died out thousands of years ago and legend has it,
they left behind a cache of advanced technology on the planet of Pandora.
Humans have been searching for it for generations and are called Vault Hunters.
When the young daughter of the richest man in the universe Elon Musk aka
Atlas is kidnapped and taken to Pandora, bounty hunter par excellance Lilith
(Cate Blanchett) takes the job of finding her. She is aided on the planet
by a small stumpy one wheel comic robot named Claptrap that is voiced by
Jack Black.
But the robot isn't the only small creature
in the film for laughs. There is also Kevin Hart who took the girl because
she is the key to opening the vault. They end up teaming up along with a
Psycho and Jamie Lee Curtis to fend off troops of Atlas, a giant monster
and hordes of blood thirsty Psychos. It is kind of a mash of Mad Max, The
One and The Fifth Element. And I expect many other films in which a small
group trek across forbidden land on a mission. It isn't by any stretch of
the imagination a good film, but I enjoyed my time with this more than I
should have by all accounts.
