Lionsgate has announced that a Borderlands movie is in the works. So far, it seems that the only information about the plot of the upcoming film is that the characters, Lilith and Roland for certain, played by Cate Blanchett and Kevin Hart, will be searching for some sort of alien technology. Apparently, they will need to get ahead of a private corporation who is also on the hunt for this artifact. It seems that Lilith is going to be the main protagonist of the film.
A script has been written by Craig Mazin, known for HBO’s Chernobyl, and Eli Roth is directing. Eli Roth is known to put comedic aspects in his typically otherwise horror focused films, so Kevin Hart, although a surprising choice to some, does seem like he would be a good fit for the role. Although, it is intended to be a more serious role than what Hart is used to. Even still, it seems that he and Blanchett would be an endearing pair if nothing else.
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Of the big names already attached to the Borderlands movie, Roth seems the most grateful to be involved. Perhaps because of the four of them, Roth has the most to prove in a big-budget project such as this one. He has directed a number of horror films, a few of which have gained some notoriety, but he seems to be most well-known from a small acting role in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, as Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz.
Roth’s directing debut was with Cabin Fever (2002). The film, which was also written by Roth, is a unique take on the cabin in woods horror trope. The teenagers looking for a relaxing vacation in the woods are forced to fight off a deadly disease they contract from an infected person, as opposed to a monster or murderer that might typically appear in a film of this type. Visually, Cabin Fever appears to be similar aesthetically to the setting of Borderlands.
Following that, Roth made the film Hostel (2005). This film was one of the first few that would eventually popularize the genre now known as torture porn. Also written by Roth, the film takes on an interesting concept of a fear that does seem almost plausible. That a group of fabulously wealthy people might pay extraordinary amounts of money to torture and murder strangers, seeking a thrill that they can’t get from anything else. The violence present in Hostel suggests that Roth would have no trouble portraying the sort of violence that could come from a film based on Borderlands.
Roth continued to make various horror films after these two, all of them doing reasonably, up until he made The Green Inferno (2013). The Green Inferno is deeply controversial as a result of its intensely problematic portrayal of indigenous people. The indigenous tribe in The Green Inferno is not based on any specific real tribe, but rather a conglomeration of stereotypical ideas collected by Roth. Some of the actors playing the indigenous people are even wearing blackface.
It seems that even Roth was disappointed by The Green Inferno, as since its release, he has not made another horror film. His next piece was a thriller, Knock Knock (2015), starring Keanu Reeves. Following that, he made Death Wish (2018), an action movie starring Bruce Willis, and most recently, The House with a Clock in its Walls (2018), both based on novels.
The House with a Clock in its Walls is a sharp turn from all of Roth’s previous work, as it is a children’s movie about a boy learning how to perform magic. These two newest movies are higher rated than all of Roth’s previous ones, but this is likely a result of bigger budgets and more marketable actors than anything else. It is clear that in these newer films, Roth’s heart is not in them as much as it was when he was doing R-rated horror. Borderlands, however, will likely be a film where he can finally join horror, violence, and gore together in a big-budget project.
The setting of Borderlands is a combination of action, thriller, drama, and even includes fantastical elements. From Roth’s work, it is clear to see that he is capable of executing various films with these elements individually, so he should have no trouble combining them all into one movie. Borderlands is a first-person shooter RPG known for its gore and intense violence, and Roth is no stranger to either. Even The House with a Clock in its Walls manages to find a way to feature a gun, but it is his only film to not feature intense violence. Unless of course, one considers the implications of the couch/dog hybrid being shredded to just fabric and stuffing.
Borderlands is a very successful game. The most recent version, Borderlands 3, sold five million units in the first week that it was released, so the upcoming Borderlands movie will certainly draw an audience. It is supposed to be R-rated, and the setting of the Mad-Max style wasteland filled with guns, monsters, aliens, and magic, is an important aspect of the game. These elements do all seem to be mirrored in Roth’s existing films to some extent. It will be interesting to see how he can portray the highly stylistic nature of the game in a live-action film.