Summary
Despite its impressive ensemble cast, theBorderlandsmovie is missing many of the most recognizable and compelling characters from theBorderlandsvideo games. While some fans believe this was by choice —Borderlands' missing characters set up a sequel, in some ways — director Eli Roth’s decision topull from all the installments in the franchise and craft a new story around the bounty hunter Lilith(Cate Blanchett) resulted in massive alterations. Instead of centering on the first game’s Vault Hunter squad, the movie sees corporate magnate Atlas (Edgar Ramírez) hiring Lilith to rescue his daughter, Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt).
Not only does theBorderlandsmovie change Tina’s backstory, but it introduces Lilith’s Siren powers as a kind of riff on her class in the game. The planet Pandora still takes center stage, as does the cryptic Vault. Atlas believes that Tina, who shares genetic material with Pandora’s original inhabitants, is the key to unlockingBorderlands' Vault and what’s inside. Realizing Atlas' selfish motivations, Lilith abandons her original mission and teams up withBorderlands' cast of characters, including the mercenary Roland (Kevin Hart) and the “psycho” bandit Krieg (Florian Munteanu) to protect Tina. Still,some belovedBorderlandspersonalities are missing.
10Handsome Jack
One of the most glaring omissions is Handsome Jack, the main antagonist ofBorderlands 2. In the games' canon,Handsome Jack takes over the Hyperion corporation and declares himself the dictator of Pandora. He manages this by leveraging his fake clout, claiming that he alone found the Vault and vanquished the monstrous creature, The Destroyer, that resided within it. Between his ego and his ruthlessness, Handsome Jack is a detriment to Pandora. Even though the series' most compelling villain was cut, Atlas seems to be a Handsome Jack stand-in.
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9Brick
There’s no denying thatBorderlandsmissing characters make a sequel more likely, especially since one of those missing characters is Brick. A Berserker class character in Borderlands, Brick also appears as a non-playable character (NPC) in most of the other franchise installments. Needless to say,Brick is a constant presence throughout the series, and it’s strange that he was cut from theBorderlandsmovie. In addition to being one of the four Vault Hunters in the first game, Brick was a founding member of the Crimson Raiders. Clearly, the film gave his role as the crew’s tank to Krieg.
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8Mordecai
The fourth Vault Hunter to join Lilith, Roland, and Brick on their quest in the originalBorderlandswas Mordecai, a Hunter class character who relies on his precise marksmanship and falconry as a means of dealing damage. Like Brick, Mordecai is a fan-favorite character who appears in other games as a supporting character. It’s possible that Roth andthe team behind the adaptation wanted to save Brick and Mordecai’s introduction for a future installmentin the series. However, the plannedBorderlands' cinematic universedoesn’t seem like a good gamble after the first movie’s dismal box office performance.
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7Gaige
Gaige DiMartino, a Mechromancer class character, was added toBorderlands 2as a part of the post-launch DLC, but that doesn’t make her any less memorable. If anything, the Tiny Tina featured in the Borderlands movie seems more akin to Gaige — at least personality-wise. A high school student with a penchant for livestreams, Gaige is most interested in the history of Pandora, from the Vaults to Eridium. In her own words, the Pandora of yesteryear was “the most awesomely awesome time period in history.” That said,the movie probably didn’t want to feature both Gaige and Tina.
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6Guardian Angel
Guardian Angel — who also goes by just Angel in some instances — was first introduced in the originalBorderlands, in which she watches over the Vault Hunters during their quest. It’s later revealed thatAngel is the daughter of Handsome Jack as well as a Siren with the ability to Phaseshift. In essence, Angel can pass herself off as an AI being by phasing into technology. Admittedly, introducing Angel’s backstory might have been too much for the first movie, but it’s a shame thatBorderlandstossed away Angel and Handsome Jack’s plot for the Atlas-Tina connection.
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5Pain & Terror
Originally, Penn Jillette was going to have a cameo role in Eli Roth’sBorderlands, playing a preacher who would oversee a wedding. Sadly, thecameo from theBorderlandsvoice actor, who plays Pain, was cut from the final film. While that’s a shame in its own right, it’s also a bummer that Pain and Terror didn’t appear in the Borderlands movie. InBorderlands 3,Pain and Terror are bandits who become enthralled by the Calypso Twins' talk of family. After joining the Children of the Vault cult, Pain and Terror find themselves among other bloodshed-loving comrades.
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4Janey Springs
A supporting character inBorderlands: The Pre-SequelandTales from the Borderlands, Janey Springs is a fan-favorite junk dealer. One ofBorderlands' openly queer characters, Janey runs Springs' Emporium O Stuff on Elpis and, in her spare time, writes children’s books about the chaos unfolding all around her. There’s no denying that Eli Roth’s movie features a good number of supporting characters with one-off scenes — and Janey would have been another of those figures. Still, withBorderlands' dismal (and rare) Rotten Tomatoes score,Janey Springs might not ever see the silver screen.
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3Dr. Zed
Many gamers believe thatDr. Zed is one of the strangestBorderlandscharacters— and that’s saying something. The only human resident in Fyrestone to encounter the first game’s Vault Hunters, Zed becomes the series' traveling doctor. Despite maintaining the medical vendors set up around Pandora — and using his free time to chop up corpses in the infirmary —Dr. Zed is truly bizarre because, canonically, he lost his medical licensefor reasons unknown. It’s hard to know if Zed was ever a doctor at all, but, nonetheless, a cameo would have been fun in theBorderlandsmovie.
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2Mr. Torgue
The muscular, explosion-loving Mister Torgue High-Five Flexington, also known as Mr. Torgue, appears as an NPC inMr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage— DLC forBorderlands 2. The founder of the weapon manufacturer, Torgue, the character’s role at the company is a PR stunt; he’s merely the face of the company, having sold his weaponry designs. Again, it’s possible theBorderlandsmovie’s castof colorful characters was just too large to accommodate more eccentric, one-off personalities, butmissing out on a live-action Mr. Torgue (and his grandmother) definitely stings.
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1Lady Aurelia Hammerlock
Although Charles Babalola appears as Sir Hammerlock in theBorderlandsmovie, his sister, Lady Aurelia Hammerlock, doesn’t join the cinematic fray. A playable Baroness class character inBorderlands: The Pre-Sequel,Aurelia isone of the Vault Hunters who’s responsible for aiding Handsome Jack as he rises to power. In the third installment of theBorderlandsgames, Aurelia Hammerlock serves as a sub-antagonist. Again, between a crowded playing field and the movie’s decision to trade Handsome Jack for Atlas, Aurelia just didn’t fit the narrative ofBorderlands.
Borderlandsis now playing in theaters.
Borderlands
Based on the video game franchise, Borderlands is a sci-fi action-comedy film that follows Cate Blanchett as Lilith, a treasure hunter who returns to her home planet, Pandora, to find a tycoon’s missing daughter. Together with a group of unlikely allies, such as a soldier, a teenaged demolitions expert, a wise-cracking robot, and an eccentric scientist, the group will work together to save the girl - all while learning to deal with each other’s unyielding quirks.
