Borderlands (12A) |Close-Up Film Review
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, Ariana Greenblatt, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Review by Carol Allen
So could the next big long running money making genre be the video game? Judging on Borderlands, probably not.
It has a big star – Cate Blanchett, having fun as bounty hunter action heroine Lilith, who has been commissioned by Atlas (Edgar Ramírez), a sort of corporate biz type to find his daughter Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), who’s been kidnapped by petty criminal Roland (Kevin Hart) and held somewhere on the planet Pandora, where lore or rumour has it there is powerful treasure hidden to which Tina is the key – or is she? It’s a quest, innit?
Like the setting for much of Deadpool and Wolverine Pandora looks suspiciously like the recycled scenery for Mad Max again. Are designers running out of ideas or is Hollywood just taking recycling very seriously? Tine turns out to be a rather brattish child with plaits, lots of makeup and a collection of soft toys which are actually high explosive weapons. So Kevin’s not doing a great job of holding her hostage. Also involved in the quest is a robot named and speaking Claptrap, which looks like a box with one wheel and a camera lens and is voiced by a motor mouthed Jack Black. Plus a heavy in a mask (Florian Munteanu) and somewhat late in the movie, Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), a scientist who has a connection to Lilith’s past and who in a different type of movie I would describe as a tough broad.
Blanchett looks magnificent with a smartly styled head of crimson hair and cool outfit, and has fun kicking arse all over the place. There’s also a lot of fighting with some funny creatures who live underground.
I’ve never played a video game in my life but those who have might recognise the various moves in the story, as the characters move towards their objective. Or they may just get really cross at what director Eli Roth has done with their favourite pastime. Me, I just felt somewhat dazed and confused
