The Borderlands Movie looks surprisingly good, but there’s still time to ruin everything

A first look at the upcoming Borderlands movie has been released, and somehow it doesn’t look like the Handsome Jack-led train explosion we were all expecting. While it doesn’t look perfect, the new video game movie actually looks surprisingly good?

We’ve all dealt with an awful video game adaptation at some point in our lives. For example: Uwe Boll’s House of the Dead, Uwe Boll’s Alone in the Dark… okay, everything by Uwe Boll. Even in the TV space we’ve seen some underwhelming adaptations, such as the Halo TV show which is actually getting good.

Directed by Hostel and The Green Inferno’s Eli Roth, the Borderlands movie wasn’t expected to be good in the slightest. While Roth hasn’t so much made bad movies as mediocre ones, the director’s grindhouse horror aesthetic is only a small part of Borderlands’ appeal.

However, in a short sneak peak released on Tuesday, the Borderlands movie is shaping up surprisingly well. It has the look of Gearbox’s iconic looter shooter, albeit with a touch of cosplay look surrounding some of its key characters.

Eli Roth has certainly nailed the look of Borderlands. It’s grimy, but colourful, and the action is as bombastic as you’d expect from a series that’s biggest appeal is thousands of guns and even more explosions.

However, there is the issue of casting. Cate Blanchett does look awesome as the powerful siren Lilith, but the 54-year-old actress is quite a bit older than the early 30s character fans have grown to love. The same goes for Jamie Lee Curtis as Patricia Tannis who’s over double the character’s actual age. However, we all Stan Jamie Lee Curtis, so we’ll let that slide.

The Borderlands movie’s casting is skewering a bit older, likely so the 51-year-old Eli Roth can work with actors he’s adored his entire career. After all, Blanchett, Curtis, Kevin Hart and Jack Black are all great actors, and this is simply an adaptation of the frenetic FPS games.

Sure, Eli Roth’s Borderlands film won’t be a critically acclaimed video game adaptation like HBO’s The Last of Us. However, it could essentially be the adult equivalent of Illumination’s Super Mario Bros Movie, an alternate take on a beloved property that has its own take on things. Of course, this movie will have a lot more blood, guts, swearing and other explicit content compared to Mario.

Eli Roth’s Borderlands movie is scheduled to release on August 9, 2024.