The Borderlands movie tried to split the difference between a PG-13 rating and original story appealing to a more general audience. But they were not interested

  • Gerudo@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    The second I saw Kevin Hart, I was done. I’m just not a fan.

    • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I don’t dislike Kevin Hart when he’s appropriate for the role. But Roland is not a role that Kevin Hart should play. Unless he was going to perform differently than every other role I’ve seen him in, he’s not the right fit.

      • BigPotato@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        He did perform it differently and it lacks everything that makes Kevin Hart a decent watch.

        But, honestly, not the worst part of the movie.

          • BigPotato@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            Imagine a neapolitan ice cream. You’ve got three flavors, strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate. So you dig in and find out that it’s dyed shit. Pink shit, white shit, and… Brown shit. It’s all shit, right?

            Kidding, the script and directing was the worst. Each individual actor could not be the worst because the writing and directing were all of them. All three flavors of shit.

  • RonnyZittledong@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    It was obvious from the casting and trailer that they were more interested in ticking boxes than actually making a good movie

    • frickineh@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I was talking to my mom about that last night. She’s never played the games, but I showed her a couple of pictures of Roland and Lilith and then told her who they cast and even she said, “what the fuck?” Kevin Hart is terrible in pretty much everything, but casting him as Roland made it immediately clear that no one involved in this movie cared at all about the games. And I love Cate Blanchett but she’s also about 20 years too old to play Lilith.

      I just can’t figure out why they thought anyone who didn’t love the games would care about the movie, but that seemed to be the audience they tried to attract.

    • Dunstabzugshaubitze@feddit.org
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      1 month ago

      and maybe don’t butcher every shot of the movie thats based on a franchise known for somewhat krass humour and mowing through countless hordes of enemies by trying to make it pg-13.

          • shalafi@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            Can’t say I loved it, but I’ve watched it many times. Doom guy from the git go, so maybe I’m being extra forgiving.

            My only complaint, maybe huge, maybe petty, was making the monsters from freaky DNA experiments rather than literal demons from Hell.

            You got mythical demons, you got magic, you got skeletons with shoulder-mounted rocket launchers, obese guys with chaingun arms, flying babies with hornet tails, imps popping up everywhere, all the fun stuff.

            Now the bestiary is limited and they have to make a pass at explaining who got changed into what. Instead, we could have had demonic hordes piling out of the portal.

            But hey, at least we got a first-person shooter scene vs. a Death Knight. That’s worth the price of admission!

    • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I don’t think that’s the problem, though. It was just made by people who clearly don’t give a shit and were just trying to cash in on the fact that there are actually some not terrible movie and TV show adaptations of games being made lately.

      The Last of Us came out 11 years ago and became a critically-acclaimed TV show. And Sonic and Mario are ancient by video game standards yet made some good movies. Those IPs are still getting new installments which keep them relevant, but so is Borderlands, with Borderlands 3 only turning 5 next month.

      But I think the other part of it too, is that Borderlands basically stopped being relevant years ago. It’s built on some “you had to be there” Millennial humor that people don’t really find funny or original anymore. It’s a series that peaked in high school and thought it was too cool to care about long-term goals. When it turns into a movie and tries to stand on story alone, without the unique art style or passable gunplay that serve as the games’ few remaining charms, what substance is there?

      • CaptPretentious@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        For borderlands though I’d say it was at its peak popularity with borderlands 2. None of the games after that really made a mark. And the characters are using is directly lifted from that game. And the gameplay loop is basically just a looter shooter with humor. Any serviceable story. In the very least handsome Jack was done well. Using this much of borderlands 2, would have been better when borderlands 2 was still a bigger game. Or just putting in a borderlands setting but with all new characters. And I still need better casting and better writing.

        Sonic has been around forever, has had numerous games, TV shows, various other media (toys, shirts, etc.). And the movie used some elements from the games but then hard code itself to the game.

        And last of us, is a heavily story-based game. The story that pulls elements that have existed and pop culture for a long time. I mean to be blunt it’s just another zombie story.

    • Annoyed_🦀 🏅@monyet.cc
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      1 month ago

      It’s not even timing issue, they can’t even tell the story faithfully or have accurate detail. Reading the plot makes me scratch my head. Why is Tina’s parent someone from Atlas? Why is Krieg even here? Where’s Mordecai and Brick? It’s a horrible fanfic, that’s why it failed.

  • ApollosArrow@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I don’t know how people running these projects aren’t ever fired. It’s an endless dance of lemons.

    • Angry_Autist (he/him)@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Wait till you hear how much of hollywood runs on nepotism and backroom favors. There are shit directors pumping out tons of movies and living the high life because they have a list of kids their co-workers have abused.

      • ApollosArrow@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Which is very unfortunate. It’s not too disimilar from CEOs that jump from company to company with the intent of tanking the place, getting their paycheck and then rinse and repeating.

  • p5yk0t1km1r4ge@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    No excuse for this bullshit. They blantantly did everything THEY wanted, not what the FANS wanted. Awful cast, awful character portrayels, sterile corporate “rehash” of the story. This ain’t it chief. Shame on pritchford for giving this abomination the green light; not surprised he did, though. This is unacceptable, not when we have FALLOUT and LAST OF US kicking as much ass as they are. Fuck you Eli.

  • wjrii@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    So while it’s unlikely based on those box office numbers, has anybody actually seen this thing?

    • jedibob5@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      A friend of mine who hasn’t played Borderlands went to see it. According to him, it’s not even “so bad it’s good,” it’s just flat and boring.

    • li10@feddit.uk
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      1 month ago

      I saw someone say it’s not the worst movie they’ve ever seen, it’s average to kinda good…

      That being said, it seemed as though they wanted to like it, which kinda cemented to me that it’s actually that bad 😂

    • emax_gomax@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I did, lol. From the trailers it looked so bad it could be good, you know in that awful cheesy way that some movies are. In the end it wasn’t that bad. If you strip away the borderlands wrapper it was a decent comedy sci-fi film. Not gonna win any awards but solid 5/10. Really this should’ve just done it’s own thing, to me it just looked like an excuse for the actors to make money and cosplay XD.

  • some_designer_dude@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I see “Jack Black” and know enough to save my money. Dude is poison. Seems like a nice guy, but has the comedy stylings of a low rent party clown.

    • BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      I remember watching school of rock and thinking: i like jack black. But pretty much everything else i’ve seen is extremely unfunny. I have no idea why people like him this much. How many good movies was he in? I don’t even think school of rock held up well, but i don’t want to rewatch it. A lot of people liked when he was on japanese tv shows or commercials, i just see a guy who does everything for a dollar. Which is fine, but not something likable.