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Borderlands Blu-ray delivers truly amazing video and audio in this fan-pleasing Blu-ray release
Lilith, an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas. Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team – Roland, a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina, a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg, Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis, the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap, a persistently wiseass robot. These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.
For more about Borderlands and the Borderlands Blu-ray release, see Borderlands Blu-ray Review published by Jeffrey Kauffman on October 26, 2024 where this Blu-ray release scored 3.0 out of 5.
Variety just published an article detailing a perhaps surprisingly unbroken run of unmitigated box office disasters released by Lionsgate over the past
several
months, and though that old adage states "there's no such thing as bad publicity", it probably stung the creative folks behind Borderlands
just a bit
that their film was singled out in the article with both a still from the movie as well as that all important "star billing" (i.e., the film is mentioned first in
the article's list of Lionsgate's flops). Borderlands is a big, colorful, flashy and often extremely noisy film, and for those who are
content to
coast on a series of baroque visuals, cartoonish characters and an almost overwhelming sound design, it may well suffice perfectly well for an hour
and half's entertainment. Those wanting an actual story, not to mention the arrival of a perceived "tentpole" for an assumed franchise
(something that's kind of hilariously hinted at in some of the supplements, probably produced before the film's abysmal theatrical exhibition
performance), might want to keep looking.
For those who, like myself, are unacquainted with the video game version of this film, the good news is you don't have to have any knowledge of
the
game, its setting(s), or its characters to follow the narrative here. Whether or not that ends up mattering much is probably a question up for
debate,
but
the basic through line here involves bounty hunter Lilith (Cate Blanchett), who has been tasked with finding a strange girl named Tiny Tina (Ariana
Greenblatt). Tina's Elon Musk-esque father, Deukalian Atlas (Edgar Ramírez), suggests Tina has been kidnapped by a rogue soldier in Atlas'
mercenary group the Crimson Lance. That AWOL operative is a guy named Roland Greaves (Kevin Hart), but as things progress, the truth may be
somewhat more
ambiguous
(if, frankly, never very surprising).
A background of supposed contextual history is briefly offered in some opening narration, which includes a
mysterious stronghold called The Vault, located on the planet Pandora (not that one, unless there has been some pretty serious deforestation courtesy of Unobtanium mining, and, yes, that's a joke).
That of course ends up playing
into
things as Lilith is forced to team up not just with Tina and Roland, but her
estranged foster mother Patricia Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), Tina's mutant (and largely mute) "psycho" (an actual class of character in the
story) protector Krieg (Florian Munteanu)
and a cheeky droid named Claptrap (voiced by Jack Black) in order to figure out why Tina is so sought after and what exactly all of that has to do
with
The Vault.
The actual on screen story may not be as involving as some of the evident backstage drama during the shoot and then in whatever happened in
post. Depending on which source is cited, Eli Roth was either too busy or wasn't actually asked to do retakes, but in terms of EPKs produced before
any "creative differences" may or may not have arisen, one of Roth's now ironic statements in a supplement on this disc is that he wanted to "make
[Borderlands] appeal to fans and to newcomers", and probably ended up not pleasing either group in the process. There's also some lip
service in some of the supplements about wanting to provide backstory for Lilith in particular, but the film is kind of hilariously already stuffed with
"Daddy issues" vis a vis Tiny Tina, so when it turns out Lilith has Mommy issues, the lunatic world of this story starts to
become positively Freudian.
While the film obviously didn't connect with the ticket buying populace, it may find new life in home theater environments, if only because the
production design, while undeniably derivative, is often quite a bit of fun. That includes what kind of comically may be things which supposedly
suffice for meaningful character information
like Lilith's
orange hair, but which at least give the look of Borderlands some undeniable allure.
Borderlands is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Captured with Arri
Alexas and finished with a 4K DI, this is a stellar looking presentation, no matter what one may think of the actual film. While I will cut to the
chase and suggest those with appropriate setups opt for Lionsgate's 4K UHD version of the film, those with "only" 1080 equipment are still going to get
an eyeful with this very appealing looking transfer. Generally speaking, detail levels are excellent throughout and the palette is really beautifully
suffused and one of the film's strongest assets. The film is of course stuffed to the veritable gills with CGI, but most of that material is actually
surprisingly sharp looking. Practical items like costumes and sets typically offer superb fine detail levels. Close-ups offer admirable detail levels on
faces and other features. As mentioned above, the palette
is one of the film's undeniable assets, with standout bits like Lilith's bright orange hair providing quite a bit of pop. Certain scenes which are either
graded or lit toward certain hues also offer considerable vibrancy (probably enhanced in the 4K UHD outing), including
the very early scene bathed in red where Tiny Tina is "rescued" (?) by Roland, or, later, when the team is in a quasi-sewer and things are bathed in a
kind of sickly yellow green color. Despite these stylistic quirks, detail levels remain perhaps unexpectedly consistently strong throughout. A very
light dusting of digital grain is probably more discernable in the 4K version than in this 1080 version.
Borderlands features a pretty bombastic Dolby Atmos track, one that takes full advantage not just of "traditional" surround channel
engagement, but clear emanations from the Atmos speakers, as in the scene where Tiny Tina rains explosions down on Lilith. The track is consistently
alive with side and rear channel placement of all sorts of ambient environmental effects, and the interstitial action scenes offer some powerful bursts of
LFE. Things are "turned up to 11" quite often throughout the story, meaning perceptions of dynamic range may ultimately seem somewhat limited,
though there are some at least relatively quieter dialogue scenes. All spoken material, whether dialogue or narration, is presented cleanly
and clearly. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are available.
Borderlands: From Game to Screen (HD; 5:20) offers several talking heads including Eli Roth discussing the
adaptation.
Meet the Team (HD; 4:29) introduces several of the principal characters, with an emphasis on Lilith.
All Aboard the Death Choochoo (HD; 5:10) documents some stunt material.
Bringing Borderlands to the Screen (HD; 5:29) perhaps ironically lionizes Eli Roth.
Badonkadonk Time (HD; 5:11) focuses on weaponry.
Fashion and Action on Pandora (HD; 7:37) highlights translating the game design into the film.
High Tech Hellscapes (HD; 9:17) looks at VFX and production design.
Lionsgate sent their 4K UHD release for purposes of this review, but it looks like this standalone 1080 release includes DVD and digital copies, and
has
packaging featuring a slipcover.
Maybe due to the fact that advance word was so negative about this film, or perhaps also because I have never played the video game
version and so had absolutely no frame of reference, my "expectations bar" was properly suitably lowered so that I actually was reasonably entertained
by Borderlands. Is it some underappreciated masterpiece unduly rejected by critics and audiences? Hardly. But neither is it a complete,
unmitigated disaster in my opinion. The story is, yes, derivative and pretty predictable, but there are some fun characters and the production design
and cinematography give the film an engaging look. Technical merits are first rate and the supplements rather enjoyable, for anyone who may be
considering making a purchase.
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