this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2024
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[–] [email protected] 90 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Popular media + all star leading cast = extremely likely to be a failed adaptation. I'm sure there are a few exceptions, but an ensemble cast of a half dozen top actors is a sign that they cared more about names. This kind of movie with that kind of cast is just begging for studio interference to create a bland experience that tries to appeal to everyone.

[–] frigidaphelion 29 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Please dont refer to kevin hart as a top actor lol he is awful

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 months ago

I also genuinely do not understand the appeal. But I also don’t understand the appeal of reaction videos on YouTube or network cop dramas, and they are also profoundly popular with stupid people.

[–] RizzRustbolt 4 points 4 months ago

Yahya Abdul-Mateen was right there!

[–] Donkter 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Because: (Popular media + all star leading cast)*(Fraction of budget and time given to the writing and pre/post production teams)

[–] hate2bme 66 points 4 months ago (4 children)

The thing I don't understand at all is why use Jack Black for Claptrap? I love the guy but they could have just used the voice actor from the game.

[–] [email protected] 77 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The even advertise the movie with Jack Black here in Germany although in the german dub it’s someone else.

[–] graymess 34 points 4 months ago

That's actually really funny.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Why use Chris Pratt for Mario 🤷‍♂️.

[–] TheRealKuni 19 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I felt the same until I saw the movie. I actually think Chris Pratt did a fine job.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I kind of agree that Chris Pratt was not the worst Mario voice actor choice.

However, knowing that the actual voice of Mario is a good and upstanding guy and would have been glad to do it ruined the whole thing for me. Why not let the man have his time in the limelight? What's wrong with nintendo?

Actually, don't answer that there's a lot of fucking things wrong with Nintendo. We don't need to rehash all of their flaws right now.

[–] fan0m 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I’m fine not hearing OG Mario voice for an entire move. It’s just too over the top for extended dialog.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago

He's a voice actor, he could easily tone it down while retaining the underlying voice.

[–] bisby 27 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Well, he would have. If they paid their bills.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago (2 children)

They clearly went all in on name recognition.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I had heard the movie was bad so I did not read any of the reviews before watching it and I did not know Jack Black was in it until the credit scene started rolling.

They used enough modulations and filters on his voice to where you can only barely tell that it's Jack Black.

[–] zyberteq 6 points 4 months ago

I actually thought Jack Black did a good job with claptrap. He was just as annoying, which is praise in this case.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

It's what I'm glad Super Mario wasn't.

[–] Tarquinn2049 51 points 4 months ago (3 children)

I hope they know it's not because we didn't want a borderlands movie. It could have been good, but they didn't choose that path.

[–] CitizenKong 26 points 4 months ago

Oh, if you can be sure of one thing it's that execs will draw the completely wrong conclusions from this.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Same with Warcraft, Eragon, Valerian, the new Lara Croft. Sometimes I wonder if engaging with the source material hurts screenwriters or why they avoid it so much.

[–] Tarquinn2049 12 points 4 months ago (2 children)

The Warcraft movie was actually really good, not sure why it did poorly in the States. Everywhere else in the world loved it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

I actually am in the rest of the world, but I found it only okay. There were good scenes and epic set-pieces but I felt the story was a bit lacking.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Just looked it up, and wow you're right. Only made $47 million in the US? Seemed to be unusually overseas-heavy.

From Wikipedia:

Variety reported that the film was generating only moderate interest among U.S. moviegoers, which could possibly hurt its box office performance stateside, with poor reviews and competition from the aforementioned films and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (released the week prior) also affecting its performance.

[–] steeznson 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I have a really hard time imagining a good Borderlands movie. It would basically need to be a different franchise like Mad Max.

[–] redhorsejacket 13 points 4 months ago

Right? Like I see folks in this thread and elsewhere echoing some of the typical things you hear when Hollywood botches an adaptation. Things like "it would be better if it was faithful to the source material" and other sentiments like that.

However, in this case, the one aspect of the games that is easily translateable to film (the writing) seems to have aged the absolute worst. Self-referential Internet humor was a bold, unique aesthetic in 2009, but it's been largely played out the 15 years since the og game released, or at least Borderlands' take on that style of humor has gotten stale. Maybe the writing was better outside of 2 and Tiny Tina's (the entries I played the most), but I sort of doubt it.

I would not want to be tasked with adapting Borderlands. Stick close to the source material, get flamed for writing something juvenile. Diverge from the source material, get accused of not capturing the spirit of the franchise. It's an impossible situation.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 4 months ago

Lots of people are going to lose lots of money on Borderlands

Not me lol.

But good for them. To make a movie is a big investment and a big bet. To make a videogame adaptation while pissing on the source material while also a bad movie, they deserve this much.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Lionsgate is not nearly as big as Universal, Paramount, or Disney and is not as well equipped to handle such a big loss.

Tiniest violins are playing for them right now

[–] [email protected] -4 points 4 months ago (3 children)

A market dominated by very few super corporations, a new smaller company tries to break through and break the oligopoly, but hey, they made a bad decision on a particular product, let's make fun of them, surely the market is better without those busybodies, Disney would have done better

[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 months ago

Their business decisions aren't any of my concern.

[–] Hellinabucket 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Lionsgates roots go back to 1962, while that's more recent than Disney or Warner, I hardly think it classifies them as new.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Hey? according to wikipedia it was founded in 1997, anyway that's not the main part of my point

[–] Delphia 5 points 4 months ago

As much as I dont like that this is the case, you are correct.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 4 months ago

Maybe try making a good movie and people will like it.

[–] Volkditty 30 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 27 points 4 months ago
[–] madcaesar 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The minute I saw it was PG-13 I knew it would be pure shite. Then I saw Kevin Heart is in it and I knew it was would be a flaming piece of shite.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Their first mistake was not making it R-rated. Their second mistake was making it live action and not animated (in the style of the games).

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago

Third was the piss filter.

[–] slazer2au 12 points 4 months ago

Oh nooo. Just means more debt is available to offset future taxable income.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Tbh though, the horrible reviews make me want to see it. Before it came out, I was meh about it. I never played the regular borderlands games much, though I lobe tiny tina's wonderlands. So it was something I would have watched if it was on, but nothing I'd put effort into.

Now though, it's at the point where if it's that bad, I want to see the train wreck.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I strongly advise against seeing this movie, not even as a hate-watch. It's not the kind of "good" bad, it's just "boring" bad.

Honestly it's not even worth pirating.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I've said this before but I got a free ticket to watch it so I watched it.

The only movie I've ever seen that was worse than that was The adventures of Pluto Nash, and The adventures of Pluto Nash taught me how to recognize what a bad movie was.

I have posted a full review a while ago here so if you want to read that just scroll through my history and it's not that far down, I'm not going to repost a 500 word article here.

[–] TexasDrunk 7 points 4 months ago

I once got a free ticket to see some movie about a drunk cop or something trying to outsmart teenagers. I still have no idea what it was. I asked for my money back at the end.

[–] jordanlund 3 points 4 months ago

I enjoyed the first two games and am curious.

It can't be worse than the Pre-Sequel, right?

BL 3 was just... there. It wasn't BAD it just... "Of all the Borderlands games, 3 was one of them!"