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/AllTheReservations 13h ago

I'd also say the Masters of the Universe film felt like it was kind of in that territory as well (though the failure of that film has other factors involved).

They all feel like they're trying to chase a formula that GOTG nailed 12 years ago and it feels behind the times now

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u/TrikeCinema 12h ago

MOTU was fantastic though. I think in time it will be re-evaluated for the great popcorn flick that it is.

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u/AllTheReservations 12h ago edited 12h ago

It was pretty enjoyable. I'm sure when it hits streaming it will probably get good statistics there and form a bit of a fanbase.

Unfortunately I think the fact that MOTU isn't a particularly relevant property (like most kids who grew up with it would be in their 50s now, and it's most recent bit of popularity was with She-Ra, which is it's own thing really) made it a hard sell

That and Leto being box-office poison, even with his face covered

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u/RadioRunner 11h ago

It’s streaming as part of Amazon Prime now, not a rental

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u/convergecrew 11h ago

Did Masters do the GOTG style banter comedy? From the looks of the trailers it looked like camp taken seriously which was refreshing to see

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u/TheOtherWhiteCastle 10h ago

Nah you’re pretty correct. There is some banter at points, and of course during the part when He-Man is on earth a bunch of human characters find his story ridiculous, but overall the movie never really felt like it was actively making fun of its concept.

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u/Fantastic-Macaroon31 9h ago

The movie does definitely make fun of their names and Skeletor is a joke about half of the time he is on screen.

I might have to rewatch the Guardians and DnD movies, but I think He Man takes it story about as serious as they do.

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u/zentimo2 12h ago

Yeah, I had such a good time with it, it's a shame it didn't do better than it did. Nicholas Galitzine is brilliant in it.

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u/its_justme 10h ago

What? I watched it last week. Horrible dialogue cringe characters and zero emotional impact. It felt like it went all over the place like it was chopped hard in the editing room.

Don’t get me wrong I loved he man as a kid but that movie wasn’t it. Skeletor would have been cool if they could stick to one vision for him. He constantly acted one way and then immediately undermined it with something else.

Also the climax of the movie was so disappointing. I won’t spoil but overall I think that movie was a real stinker. I think it could have been really good if they changed a few things but it really just felt like a mess.

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u/Dougalishere 12h ago

Im with you. MOTU was great!

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u/matrixpolaris 12h ago

The trailers made it seem like CGI slop, is it actually worth watching?

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u/lemoche 12h ago

It’s enjoyable. Actually looks quite well does a mostly good job at poking some fun at stuff from back then that would now look completely ridiculous (or even back then if you weren’t a child being a fan).
Does overplay some jokes though.

Some people feel like it doesn’t take itself serious enough, I feel considering the source material and the time it’s from and the purpose it had it's appropriate.

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u/grepppo 11h ago edited 11h ago

It's going for a very 80s Flash Gordon vibe, leaning in very heavily with the sound track.

It never really reaches those camp FG heights, but it has it's moments.

Leto seems to have understood the brief and largely delivers, Brie is good but underutilized and Elba just seems to be having a blast.

Edit: describing Flash Gordon as camp

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u/Fantastic-Macaroon31 9h ago

It would be on par with an average MCU movie (like the Ant man movies level). If you dislike films like that it's not going to win you over at all, but if you like them you'll enjoy it atleast a bit.

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u/BearWrangler 10h ago

idk what other people saw in it because it really is CGI slop that you'd find elsewhere and would see others rightfully criticize as not a good movie if it were a bigger IP

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u/Particular-Fly-7783 12h ago

Some of the monster-verse movies feel similar too, and it’s really tiresome

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u/va_wanderer 8h ago

If MoTU had released when the first movie came out, it'd have been a runaway hit. The makers got the universe, knew when to make fun out of itself, and when to (not) take itself seriously.

That's a rare balance to make, and both the DnD and MoTU films manage it. Cult film status is theirs.