Borderlands
The Borderlands Movie is yet another hollow corporate imitation of a gaming IP that mischaracterizes beloved heroes, brazenly throws out the names of classic locations with little regard for how they're represented, and delivers little for newcomers to the series.
My expectations for this movie were very low. As soon as we started learning details of this movie, I could tell what it was going to be. The casting ranged from Fine (Jamie Lee Curtis pre-zionist awakening) to genuinely appalling (Kevin Hart as Roland).
From Hart alone there was a distrust placed in me. There is no world where a faithfully written Roland would be the right fit for an actor like Kevin Hart. I don't even especially hate his performances, but he is a comedy actor through and through. I am genuinely unsure he's ever taken a serious role, which is unsurprising considering he got his start doing standup.
A fairly serious (especially for Borderlands standards!) character like Roland to be played by a guy who is usually cast as the comic relief is not a good first impression of the film. It immediately turned my expectations for the film from "It could be a fun action adventure film" to "This is going to be hollywood slop."
I'll be honest though, while the initial trailers didn't look great by any means, I thought that maybe... JUST MAYBE, this film could be a bit of fun for 90 mins. Which really, is all a Borderlands movie needed to be. Looking back though, I have no idea why I thought this, perhaps now seeing the movie I can see the trailer for what it really is.
and Still somehow managed to impress me with how shite it was.
For some context with my relationship with the series. I grew up playing the fuck out of Borderlands 2, and a bit of Borderlands 1. Even as I've outgrown and fallen out of love for the series, the characters and world still hold a special place in my heart.
I never got around to playing Borderlands 3, but I saw footage from the game and it never especially took my interest. I'm not sure if it's just nostalgia blinding my perception, or if the writing really did get that much worse. But, from what I saw, it really did seem to lose a lot of the charm found in BL2.