Don’t be alarmed that other websites are giving “Borderlands” a zero-percentile review. Note to those contributors: You didn’t watch the movie, you idiots.
The premise of “Borderlands” is based on the video game of the same name, and the filmmakers are trying to duplicate the “Guardians of the Galaxy” energy. Double Academy Award-winner Cate Blanchett (“The Aviator,” “Blue Jasmine”) plays Lilith, leader of a group of people and a robot voiced by Jack Black. They are trying to find a treasure on a planet called Pandora, which Lilith calls a dumpster fire of a planet. Lilith and her crew are also searching for a young woman named Tiny Tina, played by Ariana Greenblatt (“Barbie”).
I laughed and chuckled quite a bit in this action-comedy because of the clever, witty script co-written by director Eli Roth, who’s usually associated with horror porn, such as his “Hostel” horror flicks.
I didn’t mind comedian-actor Kevin Hart (“Ride Along”) in this one. I usually find him obnoxious. In this outrageous adventure he’s Roland, a soldier-for-hire. His character is actually engaging in this one. Hart’s not just going through the motions like he often does.
Jamie Lee Curtis, a Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” in 2023, is good here as well as Tannis, an old acquaintance of Lilith from the past.
The production value is on the screen. Roth (“The House with a Clock in its Walls”) shows that he knows his way around action and comedy, not just horror.
I enjoyed myself watching “Borderlands” and had a good time. This is a movie worth seeking out in a theater, despite its poor opening at the box office. For some reason, it appears that the movie-going masses preferred a wife-beater movie (“It Ends With Us”) on opening weekend.
I had a good time and laughed a lot.
Grade: B
