Cate Blanchett is going full action star in the new trailer for Borderlands, as the leader of a ragtag team in search of a “massive treasure” on the desolate Mad Max-esque planet of Pandora. (Wait a minute. Pandora is already an alien planet in another franchise. Guess we’ll just go with it.) Blanchett plays Lilith. Along the way, she recruits the mercenary Roland played by Kevin Hart, teen explosives expert Tiny Tina played by Ariana Greenblatt (you’ve seen her before, playing young Gamora in Avengers: Endgame), Tina’s muscle-bound guardian Krieg (Florian Munteanu), scientist Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), and the chatty robot Claptrap, voiced by Jack Black.
There is also a storyline that involves finding the missing daughter of a powerful figure named Atlas, played by Edgar Ramirez. Is she the “treasure”? Probably.
Gina Gershon is also part of the cast, although she doesn’t appear in the trailer.
Horror-meister Eli Roth directed the film, based on a screenplay he co-wrote with Joe Crombie. This isn’t Roth’s first foray outside of the straight-up gore he normally puts out. He directed the criminally underrated 2018 family film The House with a Clock in its Walls, which also featured Jack Black. But Borderlands seems to strike a balance between horror and comedy, and that seems perfectly suited for Roth. (Reshoots were done under Deadpool‘s Tim Miller.)
You can watch the trailer below:
Clearly, Lionsgate is aiming at the Guardians of the Galaxy audience. Hell, they even used an E.L.O. song in the trailer!
But this cast is stacked! Jamie Lee Curtis has won an Academy Award, and Cate Blanchett has won TWO! And Kevin Hart and Jack Black are major draws at the box office. The game franchise has sold over 77 million copies, so there is a built-in audience.
Borderlands is still a ways off. It doesn’t open until August 9. Are you looking forward to this adaptation
