MovieChat Forums > Borderlands (2024) Discussion > Why is this movie so hated? Its not THAT...

Why is this movie so hated? Its not THAT bad.

posted 5 months ago by AndyAce83 (114)
26 replies | jump to latest

I saw it in theater as a fan of the games. I knew it had bad reviews and me and my friends laughed at it. Saying we better have low expectations. And we did.

So when we finished watching it we all agreed, it wasnt that bad. 4 people all agreed; it wasnt that bad.

So let me give a short list of some postive things:

1) Cate Blanchett is a good character actor
- Is she too old for this role? I think: Whatever. They even made fun of it at the start. I got over it.
2) Jayme Lee Curtis is a good actor. Is she too old to play Tannis? To be honest I always thought of Tannis as old. Kind of like Moxxie. But again, it didnt bother me.
3) I thought Kevin Hart would be a lot more annoying. But he dialed it back somewhat.
4) It looked like the games more or less.
5) Claptrap was claptrap
6) The plot was a dumb as the plot of the first game (the plot of the first game was dumb)

I am sure I can find more positives, but I just find it fascinating, but also a bit annoying and ahistorical to say this movie is the WORST game adaptation in history. Worse than Mortal Kombat 2? Worse than Super Mario Bros? Outside Xbox made this the number one worst game-movie .Everyone is hating on it. And it feels... hivemindish. People just say it. I dont think its true.

So if I may also post my video review of the movie here: https://youtu.be/CWSKtn03i3g

Why is this movie so hated? Its not THAT bad.

[–] Pete314 (3120) 5 months ago

No, no, it's not bad. It just makes Battlefield Earth look like a masterpiece... 😏

[–] AndyAce83 (114) 5 months ago

Hyperbole and groupthink.

[–] Burk48917 (11440) 4 months ago

no, that was an accurate assessment.

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

I don't hate or love it. I just won't watch it. The trailers were loud, obnoxious, and they looked gaudy. The music used follows the same trend as all the modern trailers. The costumes look cartoonish like Speed Racer. Most people I know wouldn't waste the time and money to see this in theaters because of the trailer.

As for the lovers and haters, that's just Fandom. For the normies, we weren't willing to lose the money and time on this. BTW, the cast doesn't matter when a trailer was that bad.

[–] AndyAce83 (114) 5 months ago

Again, the movie wasnt that bad and if one is a fan of something doesn't one usually watch ALL the things? The good and the bad?

Ive seen all the resident evil movies even though 6 out of 7 sucked. Also Borderlands original game (especially the ending) was also kind of bad. They even made fun of it in Borderlands 2.

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

"the movie wasnt that bad"

You realize that this phrase means it's still bad right?

No, I won't be wasting my time on it. The trailer was terrible and you're confirming it's was bad, just not the absolute worst.

[–] AndyAce83 (114) 5 months ago

"wasnt that bad", means it wasnt that good. its questioning negativity. But as Ive stated it was okay and okay is good enough.

All 4 who watched it with me said "it was fine". And that is the thing that annoys me. Why a "it was fine" gets hate when so many movies are so much worse.

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

Ah... I still don't care to see it.

[–] AndyAce83 (114) 5 months ago

But you care enough to debate it with me.

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

Don't got your hopes up. I was bored.

[–] LanceDance (1353) 5 months ago

if one is a fan of something doesn't one usually watch ALL the things? The good and the bad?

Not if you have standards, no. The trailer looked terrible, the characters were miscast, and the movie isn't even rated R. That's all we need to know. Fans are under no obligation to waste their time and money on something like this.

[–] 4Freedom (183) 5 months ago

If you were a fan of the games, you would know that these characters behaved nowhere near what they were supposed to. Watching this was painful.

It NEEDED to be rated-R lunacy, a balls to the wall insane symphony of uncensored violence and comedy. It was boring instead.

[–] AndyAce83 (114) 5 months ago

I dont agree. They actors did an okay job.

As for the violence. That is what is most weird. I talk about it in the video I made too. Elon Roth is famous for his violence. Who did he make a PG-13? It seems there were production reasons. It was originally meant to be more violent.

I dont feel the need to defend this movie all that much but I just find it annoying to watch people hate on something in a hivemind like way.

I feel the need to go against the grain sometimes. We have now this flood of people arguing against "woke" movies.

Was this movie woke? I would say no. In fact I think it far LESS woke than the sequel games (Borderlands 3 and Wonderlands have lots of wokeness). Then if people dont like woke, shouldnt they watch a mid movie (it was average, not bad) to support non-woke movies?

[–] Kowalski (77019) 5 months ago

IT WAS PRETTY BAD.

[–] AndyAce83 (114) 5 months ago

Worse than Super Mario Bros (1993)?
Worse than Resident Evil - Welcome to Racoon City?
Worse than Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)?
Worse than Alone in the Dark (2005)?

That is the thing I am arguing against. The unreasonable negativity. It was OKAY. Not bad, not good. Okay. And in my opinion good is extremely rare now. Most are downright sh... And so this was refreshingly non toxic.

[–] calvinice (12) 3 months ago

Here with you.

I was told that the last Hellboy was bad.... and it was bad.

But Borderlands, without being particularly good, accomplishes its goal of entertaining.

By the way, Jack Black as Claptrap was the best!

[–] AndyAce83 (114) 3 months ago

Yeah. Claptrap was fine :-)

[–] tanayayt (24) 3 days ago

yeah I dont understand too, why so much hate. the casting is ok, the plot is ok, claptrap is funny as it is. even the costumes and atmosphere are quite faithful to the game. of course it's not the best movie, but if people are always expecting AAA movies all the time, perhaps they will just get disappointment all the time.
fun fact: I can sit and watch borderlands till the end, while I can barely watch oppenheimer for 15 min

[–] cattntaw (404) 3 days ago

but did you have attachment to the game?

i also liked the movie even thought the casting was way off to the game on important characters. but i never played it all the way through. i think i remember playing some of the demo but that's it. people had big complaints about casting for that reason

the big complaints i think are from not sticking to source material. it's like the old 2000's game movies where they just used the gaming IP to do standard Hollywood movies changing way too much

also once florence pugh released the twins i was able to perk up long enough to finish oppenheimer and it ended up prettty good by the end

[–] Ace_Spade (9615) 3 days ago

By "the twins" do you mean Fat Man and Little Boy? Was Florence Pugh the bombardier?

[–] cattntaw (404) 3 days ago

😂.. no 🍐🍐

[–] AndyAce83 (114) a day ago

I have an attachment to the games. Played them all. And I think its midd. And midd is okay. They say this movie is "the WORST GAME MOVIE EVER", right. And its they hyperbole etc that annoys me.

I have seen Super Mario bros (1993), Ive seen Mortal Kombat 2 (1997) and many more game movies FAR worse than Borderlands. That is my point.

I dont operate with an "on/off" ratings system, where either a movie is "WORST EVER" or "BEST MOVIE EVER".

And adding the plusses and minuses and the current zeitgeist were movies can be so much worse and politicised I liked it.

It wasnt OFFENSIVLY bad. And it looked like Bordlerands. A bit cheap version of it.

[–] cattntaw (404) 15 hours ago

did the way over aged actors bother you any?

[–] AndyAce83 (114) 7 minutes ago

No, they made fun of it in the first scene with Lilith and then I was done with it.

I always saw Tannis was old anyways. But the casting could have been better.

Again, the movie isnt great. Its just not that bad either. Especially in 202X.

[–] tanayayt (24) 17 hours ago

I only played the first game and some of its DLCs. quite enjoyed it actually, and as far as I can remember the game itself doesnt have complicated story/plot, like "the last of us". probably it's true what people complains, like not all borderlands characters/elements are incorporated into the movie, not too gory and even complaining blanchett and curtis are too old, but as a movie I think the movie is ok whether you have attachment or not to the game. 100% agreed with the OP's opinion

[–] cattntaw (404) 15 hours ago

yeah man i liked it overall and didnt mind that much cate blanchet since overall i had fun BUT if she had been a hot 20 year old like the original, and jamie lee curtis also ... i would have even enjoyed it more. straight up