Borderlands is a science fiction adventure / comedy, based on the video game of the same name.
Borderlands stars Cate Blanchett, best known as Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth (1998), as Lillith, an infamous outlaw leading a rag-tag crew of adventurers on a rescue mission. Scream Queen Jamie Lee Curtis famous for playing (Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978), Deirdre Beaubeirdre in Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022), and Madame Leota in Disney’s The Haunted Mansion (2023) is back as Dr. Patricia Tannis in Borderlands (2024).
With two award-winning axctresses leading the cast as strong women, it might be good. But watch the trailer and judge for yourself.
It’s got weapons, it’s got explosions. It’s got bandits and monsters. It has treasure and damsels in distress. It’s got damsels that cause distress. It’s also got Lilith, infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returning to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas. Yes, it’s set on the world of Pandora, but not the Pandora from James Cameron’s Avatar movies. No relation whatsoever.
Although the video game Borderlands is a first person shooter game with an M rating, Borderlands the film is PG-13.
Legend has it that there’s this massive treasure in some secret vault. And if you go hunting for it, you’d better take any help you can get… because it’s on the weirdest, most dangerous dumpster fire of a world in the universe. God, I hate this planet.
Outlaw Lilith may hate Pandora, but audiences might like it. She gathers a team: Roland, the mercenary, played by Kevin Hart of Die Hart, Fridge in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (1017) and Mouse in Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). Ariana Greenblatt plays Tina Tina, a juvenile demolitionist. You may have seen Greenblatt on Disney +’s Ahsoka series as young Ahsoka, or as Sasha in Barbie (2023). Jamie Lee Curtis plays Dr, Patricia Tannis, a scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity.
A science fiction comedy movie requires a comic relief robot by union rules. Borderlands has Claptrap, a robot voiced by Jack Black, the voice of Po in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, and Bethany in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Florian Munteanu plays Krieg, Tiny Tina’s protector. Munteanu boxes under the name Big Nasty, but is best known to SciFi.Radio fans as Razor Fist in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021).
As important as the actors, who’s behind the camera matters. Eli Roth wrote the story, based on the Gearbox Software video game. Roth directed Borderlands and co-wrote the script with Joe Crombie. Roth directed the fantasy film The House With a Clock in Its Walls (2018). Avi Arad, who was producer of many of the pre-MCU Marvel-based movies, produced Borderlands. He was creator and executive producer of the TV show Mutant X.
Borderlands will be debuting in theaters August 9.
Susan Macdonald is the author of the children's book "R is for Renaissance Faire", as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in "Alternative Truths", "Swords and Sorceress #30", Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, "Cat Tails" "Under Western Stars", and "Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid". Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio's web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions, Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.
