[Film] Borderlands

[Freyland]

Huh. As far as trailers go, I liked it. Definitely could have avoided the spoiler though.

[Max Peck]

I'm in (once it comes to a streaming service near me).

I might be willing to pay extra for a sound track where the lines are dubbed by the games' voice cast. I could care less whether Roland is too short or whatever, but I will be sadge when Tiny Tina speaks and I don't hear Ashly Burch.

[Daehawk]

I didn't notice a spoiler so dont tell me.

[hepcat]

My 17yo is a big Borderlands fan. If, by the time it arrives, he wants to see it with his dad, his dad will go. Without his interest, I doubt I have any interest.

What if I told you it featured Billie Eilish on the soundtrack? Hmmm?

[Grifman]

I thought the trailer looked pretty good. I went from not interested to slightly interested, but I have doubts, because most video game adaptations end up being pretty bad. I’ll wait for reviews.

[coopasonic]

My 17yo is a big Borderlands fan. If, by the time it arrives, he wants to see it with his dad, his dad will go. Without his interest, I doubt I have any interest.

What if I told you it featured Billie Eilish on the soundtrack? Hmmm?

Hey it worked for Barbie.

[Scuzz]

For being based on a pretty wacko video game it looks pretty interesting. My daughter and I have played all the games and based off this we probably will see this in a theater.

[Max Peck]

I somehow completely missed the news that Borderlands will be in theaters on Aug 9. I only found out today because it's mentioned in the notes for a Borderlands 3 update.

The long-awaited Borderlands movie hits theaters and IMAX on August 9, 2024—so to celebrate, we've popped open a loot chest's worth of new Heroes of the Borderlands cosmetic goodies that are free to all Borderlands 3 players on all platforms!

[gilraen]

I was actually just wondering about it last week since we go to the movies fairly often but haven't seen any trailers for Borderlands except once months ago.

[Holman]

That the studio is not hyping it suggests that they don't expect much success.

[Brian]

That the studio is not hyping it suggests that they don't expect much success.

Tickets finally went on sale for this at my local Alamo Drafthouse.

The only tickets available are for two showings, on Thursday, in the smallest theater.
A 3pm and a 6pm.
That's it. Those are the only listed showings.

Now, it's possible they might add more showings but we are less than a week away.

Alien:Romulus is almost two weeks away and they have showings available for the entire week.

[Blackhawk]

I'm absolutely going to see it, but I'm going in with appropriate expectations.

[Brian]

Well, we bit the bullet and got our tickets for the 3pm showing on Thursday.
Will report back afterwards.

[hepcat]

If possible, could you post images of you in your Tiny Tina costume at the showing?

[naednek]

should we be concerned there's barely any trailers promoting this movie? I have a suspicion this is gonna stink.

[Max Peck]

It's a film adaptation of a video game, so the odds of it actually being a good movie were never great to begin with. I'm hopeful that it'll still be good enough to enjoy as a fan of the games, but I won't be watching it until it lands on a streaming service so I'm pretty ambivalent about how well it does at the box office.

[Brian]

If possible, could you post images of you in your Tiny Tina costume at the showing?

Only if my cosplay outfit from Etsy arrives in time.
Otherwise I'm going to have strip down to my skivvies and go as Krieg. Again.

[hepcat]

[hepcat]

Oof, early word is that the movie is....not good. But you never can tell with word of mouth reviews. Hopefully it's fun, at least.

[TheMix]

I'm expecting it to be terrible. So I figure anything above that is a win!

It just feels like the casting choices and decisions on who to include were made by people that really aren't familiar with the game. They are so glaring that it makes it hard for me to get past them to enjoy the story. Hopefully I will be wrong.

[Brian]

It looks like Alamo finally added a bunch more showings as they now have multiple listings through the next week.

We have tickets for tomorrow at 3pm so we'll let you know.

[hepcat]

It doesn't have any Wahlburgs, so how bad can it be?

Also, Brian and I enjoy shitty movies when they're REALLY shitty. So it's a win/win for people like us.

[Blackhawk]

Oof, early word is that the movie is....not good.

That's a particularly kind take on what I've been seeing.

[Malificent]

Oof, early word is that the movie is....not good.

That's a particularly kind take on what I've been seeing.

It's an August release. That's a traditional dumping ground for films that the studio either thinks is bad, knows is bad, or just doesn't understand. So maybe not shocking Borderlands is not beating the odds.

[EvilHomer3k]

It looks like Alamo finally added a bunch more showings as they now have multiple listings through the next week.

We have tickets for tomorrow at 3pm so we'll let you know.

Thanks for taking one for the team. Hopefully you enjoy Kevin Hart playing Kevin Hart for the 50th time. We have one son (21M) who is excited for the movie, one who isn't (due to the casting of Hart, Jack Black, and JLC) but would watch it streaming. Both are avid players of the game with multiple play throughs of each game. I'm a more casual player having really only played the first but I'm very likely to wait for streaming. Honestly, when you put that much money into the stars it's likely the rest of the movie suffers (especially for a video game adaption). I do find the movie to be visually appealing though.

[Daehawk]

Id go see it if i had a car that worked. I love jack Black. I used to like Kevin Hart until he was in that car wreck and simply got out, walked up the hill, and got a ride home leaving them stuck in the car and shit. F him.

[Holman]

The only question is why Cate Blanchett decided to take this role.

She can take or refuse anything. Weird choice.

[hepcat]

It looks like Alamo finally added a bunch more showings as they now have multiple listings through the next week.

We have tickets for tomorrow at 3pm so we'll let you know.

Thanks for taking one for the team. Hopefully you enjoy Kevin Hart playing Kevin Hart for the 50th time.

Okay, that’s just perfect.

[gilraen]

T-Mobile does a "rewards" program every week, and this week's offer was $5 tickets (through Atom Tickets) to see Borderlands. Not sure if those kinds of promotions are pushed by the studio or by Atom Tickets themselves.

Since we have AMC A-List, it won't cost us anything (well...time) to go see it anyway so maybe tomorrow.

[A nonny mouse]

The only question is why Cate Blanchett decided to take this role.

She can take or refuse anything. Weird choice.

Well she probably took the Michael Caine attitude on Jaws: the revenge: "I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.

[Carpet_pissr]

3% Rotten Tomatoes, FWIW. That's THREE, not a typo. Not an easy "score" to achieve, so well done!

[Scraper]

Kevin Hart as Roland is terrible casting. The only way I would cast him as Roland is if literally ever other Black actor turned down the role (and yes I'm including Jaleel White in that list of Every other actor).

I stand by this comment from 6 months ago. Reviews say it's Kevin Hart playing Kevin Hart, but with terrible low budget looking scenery and writers who apparently didn't like the games.

[dbt1949]

Kate Blanchett likes the game.

[Max Peck]

I'll still watch it if it comes to a streaming service near me. Hell, I just finished the director's cut of Rebel Moon (parts 1 and 2) and enjoyed it. I'm a super cheap date for movie night.

[Blackhawk]

I'm absolutely going to see it, but I'm going in with appropriate expectations.

Today's reviews and word of mouth have made this untrue.

It kind of sucks - I normally only get to see a couple of movies in the theater per year. This was #2.

[Archinerd]

3% Rotten Tomatoes, FWIW. That's THREE, not a typo. Not an easy "score" to achieve, so well done!

It's up to 8% now!

[Brian]

Well, we just got back and I have some good news and some .... news.

First, the good news. Or, at least, what I would consider the good news given the terrible reviews and RT score.

1. It's really NOT that bad. I was certainly expecting worse. Especially when the snack jockey who took our order said, "Yeah, I heard it's really terrible." Well, it's not.

2. Honestly, Kevin Hart did not Kevin Hart his way through this movie. In fact, I thought he was rather subdued to be honest.

3. They got a lot of the creatures, look, and background lore from the games correct. Hell, even Marcus (and his bus) was a welcome reveal since I went in unaware that he was in the movie at all.

OK, now for the...news.

1. It commits the nearly unforgiveable sin of being a movie set in the world of Borderlands and ending up.... dull. The action was generic, the story was not only meh but utterly predictable. The "surprise" revelations were not and the Tiny Tina character was wrong wrong wrong.

2. I have no idea what Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis are doing in this. Clearly at some point Cate realized just how poor this was going and you could see the resignation in her eyes. JLC was completely wasted and it seems entirely likely this was just a paycheck project.

3. Possibly the worst sin imaginable, however, is that with Krieg grunting and bashing his way through hordes of psychos, not even ONCE did anybody scream, "You're going to be my new meat bicycle!!"

[Brian]

More stuff that I meant to add to the above:

The special effects were terrible. Like, 90's era, early CGI levels of terrible.

None of the jokes land. I don't think I so much as chuckled let alone laugh.

Oh, and Gina Gershon as Moxxi...no. Absolutely did not work for me.

[hepcat]

“It’s not that bad.”

<writes multiple paragraphs describing something that bad>.

[Brian]

“It’s not that bad.”

<writes multiple paragraphs describing something that bad>.

I mean, fair point. It's just that it's not absolutely terrible.
It's, at best, serviceable and, at worst, completely forgettable.

This is a movie that absolutely does not need to be seen on the big screen.
It's worth a watch if you are a fan of the games but wait until it's on a streaming service.