Cate Blanchett in Borderlands (Lionsgate)

Video game movies and shows have certainly been enjoying a rare hot streak over the last few years. The Last of Us won several Emmys. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was the second highest-grossing movie of 2023 until Barbie topped it. Even Prime Video’s recent Fallout series proved you could turn the absurdity of the franchise’s post-apocalyptic culture and endless side quest distractions into an engaging character drama. But then there are films like Borderlands, which remind us that Hollywood still hasn’t nailed the formula for making all video game adaptations work.

The nicest way to describe Borderlands is aggressively average. It certainly tries to capture the look of Gearbox Software’s gonzo shooter franchise, and if you squint hard enough, elements of the original game’s plot are there. But it’s all stitched onto a clear attempt to mimic the Guardians of the Galaxy formula, mixed in with a bunch of tropes the audience has seen in so many other movies that did it much better. If you guess where this story is going, chances are it’ll happen.

It doesn’t help that the first act runs us through its lore with one too many voice-over monologues. According to bounty hunter Lilith (Cate Blanchett), the galaxy was once inhabited by an alien race called Eridians, whose technology would go on to influence most of humanity. Their most treasured tech was supposedly locked in a vault on the planet Pandora—not to be confused with Avatar’s Pandora—making it extremely valuable to ambitious vault hunters and the all-powerful evil mogul Atlas (Edgar Ramírez).

A former native of Pandora, Lilith has no desire whatsoever to go back home, preferring instead to hunt down ruffians and criminals throughout the galaxy. At least until Atlas becomes Lilith’s new client, insisting she track down his daughter Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) and bring her home. So, it’s off to Pandora’s wastelands to confront its rabid inhabitants (the Psychos) and oddball aesthetics. Of course, she finds Tiny Tina—donning a pair of bunny ears and developing a love for stuffed animals stuffed with explosives—as well as a motley crew of misfits. There’s Roland (Kevin Hart), the former soldier who broke Tiny Tina out; Kreig (Florian Munteanu), a masked Psycho who doubles as Tina’s hulking protector alongside Roland; Claptrap (Jack Black), an indestructible droid with a voice box that never shuts up; and Dr. Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), a xenoarchaeologist with knowledge of the vault and Lilith’s old life on Pandora. And yes, they have to team up to gather the keys necessary to open the vault, stop Atlas’ plans to obtain what’s hidden inside, and maybe bond along the way.

Much of the plot revolves around a video game-y MacGuffin hunt for these keys across Pandora, broken up by a shoot-’em-up or fisticuffs brawl in this weird and violent world. But director Eli Roth, known for going all out with blood and gore in films like Hostel and Thanksgiving, seems restrained in his depiction of the franchise’s trademark violence. The PG-13 action never does anything that inspiring despite the presence of cool-looking weaponry, and in a year when the aforementioned Fallout series and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga came out, post-apocalyptic comparisons are largely inevitable. It doesn’t help that Borderlands prioritizes the MacGuffin hunt and exposition dumps over any organic worldbuilding. There’s certainly effort put into depicting Pandora’s strange locations—a shady bar or a homicidal underground lair—but you don’t get to immerse yourself in them enough to spark a sense of curiosity.

Some of the cast understand just what kind of weird Borderland is asking for and roll with it. The majority of laughs go to Black, who translates Claptrap’s fast-talking, overly sarcastic (and yes, deliberately insufferable) attitude quite well from the games, including its sense of crude, dark humor. Greenblatt and Munteanu are having a bit of fun as the pint-sized anarchist/Chosen One and her protectively violent brother figure, and Blanchett’s cool demeanor gives Lilith an intrigue that keeps her just likable/badass enough to not lose interest. But they’re following a plot that hits all the “found family” beats without earning the sincerity of those bonds. The third act’s pacing doesn’t help either, mixing an obvious plot twist and awkward CGI to close the vault hunt in a manner that leaves you more confused about the villain’s endgame. Or even just the contents of the vault itself.

Adaptations of gaming’s endless library aren’t going anywhere. Netflix’s fall release of Arcane season two remains highly anticipated, as does the next season of The Last of Us following its recent HBO teaser. Sadly, Borderlands, despite the occasional flash of cool costume design or amusing Claptrap remark, doesn’t clear that good adaptation bar. In this case, it might be best to just replay the games themselves.