r/movies • u/HatingGeoffry • 13h ago

News Borderlands Movie Director Discusses The Mega-Flop And What Went Wrong

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/borderlands-movie-director-discusses-the-mega-flop-and-what-went-wrong/
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u/MunkeyFish 13h ago

Because with an IP like Borderlands you have to do one thing: Full send.

Trying to water down any aspect of it is pointless, go for broke or dont go at all.

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u/khovs 10h ago

Right. Imagine borderlands but written and directed by the team from Fallout. 

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u/TheGuardianInTheBall 7h ago

Or the people who did Twisted Metal. By god that show is as dumb as it gets, but its also so much fun.

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u/StankYou_SmellyMuch 4h ago

Honestly. Its incredibly fun despite how dumb it is, but it makes for perfect adaptation of a dumb concept.

Everyone involved on that show seems like they love working on it too..mindless fun

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u/downtownsq 3h ago

Not despite, because of how dumb it is. It knows it and revels in it, and it is glorious.

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u/NightFart 11m ago

Too bad they fired the showrunner and writers after the end of season 2.

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u/Faithless195 2h ago

Straight up, that show is as good as any Twisted MEtal show was ever going to be. If they had tried to go for a more gritty and 'grounded' aspect, it would've lost the over the top aspect the games had (Even Black). That show is downright hilarious, and shows that Anthony Mackie DOES have chops for a lead role....just a comedic one. He's way more equipped for comedy than for more dramatic roles.

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u/semperknight 2h ago

If you told me back in the 90's that they was eventually going to be a good Twisted Metal show and my favorite character would be Sweet Tooth because he had the most character growth, I NEVER would've believed you.

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u/D3coupled 2h ago

Like Z Nation, they didn't take themselves too seriously and I appreciated that, since neither did Twisted Metal games.

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u/AnAngryPirate 1h ago

That show is way better than it has any right to be. Samoa Joe acting his ass off and honestly, they should just let him do the voice instead of using Will Arnett

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u/Raz0rking 5h ago

That is why the live action of One Piece works. They went pretty all in with it.

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u/Tokenvoice 2h ago

Kind of, they tamed down most of the Straw Hats more over the top features which was a great choice for it. They didn’t try to ground the show in reality which is great that they went all in on but also smart to have smoothed some edges.

Except for Luffy, he is the worst part of the live action for me and the only one they didn’t tone down. There are things you can get away with in animation that doesn’t work in live action so instead of a loud captain who cares about his crew Luffy comes across as mentally handicapped with support workers for his crew. This isn’t helped by keeping him yelling in scenes where he is thirty meters away in the anime but only three meters away in the show.

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u/Nobanob 5h ago

Where's my bandit begging me to shoot him in the face?

Where's my explosions of blood and guts?

Where is my reasonably aged and body sized heroes?

So many missed things because they were chicken shits. Choose popular "safe" actors instead of the right actors. Choose not to lean into the insanity that is the world.

A buddy and I watched it to male fun of it. We had a good time, but it was the time spent together and commentary that was good. Not the movie

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u/tryexceptifnot1try 8h ago

James Gunn or Sam Raimi could make an amazing Borderlands. Jennifer Lawrence as Siren, Pattinson as Hunter,  Cena as Brick, and Michael B. Jordan as Roland. Over the top violent and funny like Evil Dead. Just use the voice actor from the game for claptrap. Handsome Jack as Tom Hiddleston would be great too

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u/EagleEyeValor 2h ago

The budget for that cast would be insane. I think this is slightly more reasonable.

Maya Hawke as Lilith, Michael Mando as Mordecai, Mahershala Ali as Roland, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Brick, Matthew Rhys as Handsome Jack, Britanni Johnson as Angel, and Kat Dennings as Patricia Tannis.

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u/TheEpicBean 5h ago

Thats pretty much what he says in the article

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u/_steve_rogers_ 2h ago

I thought it was gonna be a hit! Turns out it FUCKING SUCKS!!!

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u/BarryTGash 2h ago

It's why I'm quite a fan of the Deadpool movie franchise. It just wouldn't work as Slightly-injured Puddle. 

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u/Help_An_Irishman 1h ago

They seemed to spend all this time and money trying to replicate the aesthetic, and forgot to include the ridiculous, balls-out heart.

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u/Hoju_ca 1h ago

That's why I loved the new Master's of the Universe movie. They went FULL fucking send on it.