“Borderlands”: Ultra-cool Blanchett on the trash planet

There's the “Guardians of the Galaxy”, we even have a double “Suicide Squad” and soon the “Thunderbolts” are coming (not to mention the glorious space seven in Zack Snyder's failed “Rebel Moon”). So do we really need another wild bunch of eccentrics, hunters of fortune and freaks fighting their way through an inhospitable environment to complete a profitable mission? Eli Roth in any case sends in his Video game film adaptation “Borderlands” brings together numerous stars in an action-heavy fantasy adventure that you should definitely give a chance.

An idiosyncratic team

Cate Blanchett plays a brilliant one Bounty hunterwho is supposed to track down the missing daughter of a powerful man on her home planet. She can complete this job quite quickly, but that's just where the adventure really begins because her client is obviously playing the wrong game. And so she becomes part of one entire teams from right idiosyncratic characters: There is the ex-soldier Roland (Kevin Hart), the hardened scientist Patrica Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis) and, above all, the young explosives expert Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) and her bodyguard Krieg (Florian Munteanu).

“Star Wars”, “Dune” or “The Fifth Element”?

As soon as one spoken by Jack Black robot called CL4P-TP aka. Claptrap comes into play, you might think you've landed in one of the many “Star Wars” spin-offs. And there us as a setting As the desert planet Pandora awaits, you immediately feel torn between “Avatar” and “Dune” (to make matters worse, there's also a sandworm-like creature). But actually “Borderlands” is most strongly influenced by Luc Besson and his “The Fifth Element” – not only Lilith's fiery red hair color indicates this, but above all the main motif of the stone-like artifacts and a human trigger, with the help of which a chamber full of aliens is created. Technology can be activated.

Movie or video game?

The Shooter game series “Borderlands” was released in 2009 and is one of the best-selling video game series of all time. This game is about defeating monsters, combat robots and other enemies, collecting experience points and, above all, more weapons. Therefore, the film heroes have to overcome new difficulties on the littered trash planet, explore unknown terrain, gymnastics across a river of acid, eliminate countless opponents and solve a few puzzles. Finally, the film also has a surprise in store that aims to give one of the main characters special powers.

Casual Blanchett and fun Black

The only thing that's really special about this cast is Cate Blanchett – you would hardly have expected her to be so professional combat-ready nonchalance to move through an action blockbuster. After this film, Marvel and DC should actually have a battle for the actress, because her Hela role in “Thor” wasn’t nearly enough.

The second memorable character is not a human at all, but the robot Claptrap, who never cares about one good point is embarrassed. He then gets a bonus scene in the credits, but unfortunately his big appearance doesn't come to fruition as the running list of names mercilessly pushes him out of the picture. One really memorable entry But he delivered it much earlier anyway, when, after a wild exchange of fire in which he became a target, he excreted countless cartridge cases of all sizes through an opening in his back like a torrent.

Failing stars

Kevin Hart and Jamie Lee Curtis, on the other hand, don't leave any lasting impressions, and Ariana Greenblatt, as a cheeky girl who can't stress enough about being “something special”, is absolutely right – she's particularly annoying here. The faceless muscle mountain Krieg can't really score any points either and just becomes a tired imitation of Dave Bautista's portrayal of Drax. While Edgar Ramírez as Villain Altas one of those that is unfortunately becoming more and more common Interchangeable villain characters and does not gain your own profile.

“Borderlands” turns out to be a very mixed result, with countless set pieces from other films thrown together. But for the sake of an ultra-cool Cate Blanchett, Roth's foray into the fantasy genre is definitely worth seeing – and the tiny robot chattering away in Jack Black's original voice is also really fun.

3 out of 5 monster urine showers