According to Lionsgate, the official review of the film is:
Two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett is collaborating with Kevin Hart on director Eli Roth’s Borderlands. Lilith (Blanchett), a notorious outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful SOB, Atlas (Ramirez). Lilith enters into an alliance with an unexpected team – Roland (Hart), a former mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina (Greenblatt), a wild teenager from before teens; Krieg (Munteanu), Tina’s muscular, rhetorically defiant protector; Tannis (Curtis), the scientist with a slight grasp on common sense; and Claptrap (black), a persistent philosophical robot.
These unlikely heroes must fight alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who can hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe may be in their hands – but they will fight for something more: each other. Based on the game from Gearbox and 2K, one of the bestselling video game franchises of all time, welcome to Borderlands.
The plot seems to deviate from the games in places, because Atlas was never properly seen in the games. During the events of Borderlands 2, Atlas is controlled by Hyperion and its CEO Handsome Jack, and in Borderlands 3, Atlas passes to Rhys, one of the protagonists of Tales From the Borderlands.
The Atlas Corporation was prominent in Borderlands 3, and its headquarters on the planet Promethea was an important place in the game. So there may be some overlap between the film and the most recent Borderlands game out there.
The cast for the Borderlands film, directed by Eli Roth, includes Blanchett as Lilith, Hart as Roland, Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Jamie Lee Curtis as Dr. Aunt, Jack Black as the voice of Claptrap, and more.
The screenplay is written by Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin, who is also working on HBO’s live-action adaptation of The Last of Us starring Pedro Pascal as Joel.
Edgar Ramirez will play Atlas. Credit: Lionsgate
Borderlands is one of several video game adaptations in the works, whether for film or television. A Mortal Kombat live-action film will premiere on HBO Max later this month, while an Uncharted live-action film starring Tom Holland as a young Nathan Drake will be filmed. Time will tell which of these video game adaptations will eventually make the successful leap to the silver screen.
MattTM Kim is IGN’s news editor.