The latest post-apocalyptic, sprawling science fiction epic, Borderland is not only an extremely boring and dull film, but also strikingly uninteresting and thus sets a new low point for director Eli Roth, whose previous productions were also nothing special.
It centers on a bounty hunter named Lilith (Cate Blanchett) who is tasked with finding the daughter of a powerful criminal named Atlas (Edgar Ramirez). This young lady – called Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) – is currently on the run with Roland (Kevin Hart) and Krieg (Florian Munteanu) when Lilith catches up with them and, with the help of Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis) and the wisecracking robot Claptrap (Jack Black), becomes involved in a quest to uncover the greatest secrets in the universe (which all seem to be stored somewhere on a planet called Pandora).
Unfortunately, that description is about as intriguing as the film’s plot gets, which isn’t very surprising given director Eli Roth’s straightforward and brutal approach to filmmaking. The film is based on a hit video game franchise, and that’s exactly what it feels like: a series of spectacles tied together by a loose and often incomprehensible story. The script, written by Roth and Joe Crombie, doesn’t bother with world-building or any other logical setup, aside from a sprawling opening sequence in which Blanchett’s character tells the audience the current state of the universe in fairly colorful language.
Cate Blanchett in Borderlands. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate/Courtesy of Lionsgate – © 2024 Lionsgate.
As the film’s main character, Blanchett does her best to make things somewhat relatable to the audience. But there’s little she can do given the incomprehensible setup and uninspired story unfolding before her eyes. Other actors, including Hart as a renegade soldier named Roland, play supporting roles alongside Blanchett and Greenblatt, but none of the characters are given any depth beyond their generic “character profiles.” Ultimately, they all blend into a hodgepodge of stereotypes that never gain traction or hold much interest from audiences.
While the film isn’t as dark as most films in this genre, cinematographer Rogier Stoffers instead uses a colorful palette dictated by Andrew Menzies’ production design and Zsuzsa Kismarty-Lechner’s art direction. The problem, however, is that the state of the universe in which the story takes place requires the typical dystopian nightmare, requiring the hero to free the subjugated from the shackles of said purgatory. This world is never portrayed as horrific or as something that needs to be fixed—it’s just violent. To be blunt, there are no real stakes here.
To say that Eli Roth’s Borderland “is boring” would be the most brutal criticism of this film, but it is much more than that. It is also a huge waste of time.
