Say what you will about Borderlands, the venerable Gearbox Software game series about treasure hunters on the ruined alien planet Pandora, it lives up to its title. Borderlands games find the places between places, whether it’s the line between traditional role-playing systems and skill-based shooter mechanics, or the line between good humor and gimmick.

Like many other game series of this size and age, this franchise relentlessly pushes improbable boundaries. Borderlands was a narrative point-and-click adventure from Telltale, a top-down iOS strategy game, and a high fantasy adventure. But with Lionsgate’s film adaptation BorderlandDirected by Eli Roth, starring Cate Blanchett (tar), Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything everywhere at once), Kevin Hart (“Jumanji”), Jack Black (The Super Mario Bros. Movie) and Ariana Greenblatt (Barbie), the series attempts to cross a line that has left even the biggest and worst video game franchises stranded in the wilderness.

But here too, Borderlands has found a place in between, which is impressive but unfortunate. Borderland The film is not particularly good, but, as unlikely as it may be, not particularly bad either.

Image: Lionsgate/Everett Collection

Blanchett plays Lilith in the film, a cynical bounty hunter who takes a job from the head of Borderlands’ eternal corporate rulers, Atlas. The job is too lucrative to pass up, even though it will take her to the one place in the galaxy she never wants to see again: her homeworld of Pandora. (While BorderlandThe plot is tailor-made, the main roles are played exclusively by characters taken from the games.)

After some unexpected alliances, a group of misfits come together and temporarily agree on something. They include runaway demolition expert Tiny Tina (Greenblatt), her protector Roland (Hart), eccentric scientist Tannis (Curtis), and Jack Black as Borderlands mascot, the extremely annoying robot Claptrap.

Borderland isn’t an intelligent film, but it’s not meant to be. Roth and co-writer Joe Crombie are far more interested in briskly switching between necessary plot points and pleasant environments. The film never drags, and the sets — while noticeably cramped for a wasteland world — make for lively, compellingly staged action. The film’s version of Pandora has a noticeable style that relies firmly on the instantly recognizable visual elements of the Borderlands games.

This style isn’t limited to the locations. The costumes are some of the best I’ve ever seen when it comes to bringing truly gonzo video game character designs to the screen. Everyone in the main cast has the distinctive, instantly recognizable silhouette of a character-based shooter avatar, and they remain perfectly consistent throughout the film’s runtime. (Kudos to Cate Blanchett’s asymmetrical wig – it’s a masterpiece.) Daniel Orlandi (Logan) nails Borderlands’ unrealistic clothing style, all without giving everyone the squeaky-clean corporate cosplay look of the actors manning an E3 booth. (See: Warcraftthe movie.) I still couldn’t tell you how it works.

Image: Lionsgate

Among the cast, Blanchett is the most outstanding. She has a supernatural feel for the camera: In films by The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring to Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare AlleyFor decades, it has transformed the fundamental task of “hitting the bullseye” into iconic cinematic moments. Borderland proves that she can do it in an action movie too. Every move she makes in every shot of every action scene is so perfectly timed to the camera’s eye, as if a team of animators were posing her – her silhouette is clear, her movements are legible and rhythmic. She is as cool as a human embodiment of Cowboy Bebop Opening. Hollywood, put Cate Blanchett in more action movies!

The problem is that you can tell that this clarity of action comes from Blanchett, not the crew, because she is the only person in the film who looks so good. Ultimately, the place where Borderland Most disappoints its star and its source material in its narrative coherence, in the ability to give this story enough instead of almost enough.

The plot is a standard of the genre and competes with the winners of the category “outsider heroes do good” such as Guardians of the Galaxy or Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. (At least until a reveal at the end of the game that’s less of a twist than a diversion, and is almost, but not quite, backed up by previously revealed information.) Roth and Crombie are clearly trying to ground the story in the existing characters and make them root for each other, but it’s not quite enough. This is a Dungeons & Dragons movie that could have used 10% more emotional connection or a lower IQ. Fifth Element This doesn’t exactly give viewers a reason to be interested in the world-threatening missions.

However, if you want an afternoon full of silly antics, great costumes, fun action, and Cate Blanchett’s performance at Work, then this film is for you. Borderland. A much worse. Turning off your brain during a movie is not a bad thing if the movie is just meant to be entertaining. Borderland is the kind of film that is hardest to get excited about: the kind of film that lies somewhere between a project with its own strong identity and a compromised adaptation trying to appeal to the masses. It’s hard to live in that liminal space.