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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.