The ongoing decade has seen video game-oriented media going through a major revival, and with the genre being a hot favorite among viewers nowadays, every major studio and director want to get a piece of the potential success by taking on a popular IP. However, as is the case with most pop culture genres nowadays, overcrowding of content ultimately leads to saturation, and the cinematic adaptation of Borderlands is one such example. Director Eli Roth most definitely should have refused the offer to direct a big-budget movie adaptation of the looter-shooter game and stuck to his territory of horror and splatter movies—because after seeing the movie for the first time, even the most avid fans of the game series will acknowledge that this cookie-cutter entry deserves every bit of harsh criticism it has gotten since its release. Right from characterization to plot structure, the production reeks of laziness and solely depends on making some A-lister actors dress up in funky costumes to convey that it is indeed a video game adaptation—no wonder the end result was panned universally by gamers and critics alike.Â
Spoilers Ahead
Eridian Heritage and a Heist Crew
Eons ago, the world where the events of Borderlands take place was ruled by a technologically advanced, ancient alien race known as the Eridians, whose mystical artefacts, gears of war, were used as the foundation of an advanced human civilization millennia later. Eridians ceased to exist long ago, but their most significant creations were stashed in a vault on a planet called Pandora, to obtain which various greedy corporations, warmongering Psycho (insane bandits) clans, and treasure seekers ravaged the planet in the ensuing years—but the vault remained hidden forever. According to a prophecy, only a chosen one, the daughter of Eridia, will be able to access the vault and bring the planet to its former glory.Â
In a desperate effort to get his hands on the long-lost Eridian heritage, eccentric corporate tycoon Deukalian Atlas has managed to create a clone child from seemingly Eridian DNA, Tiny Tina, who is seemingly the key to finding and accessing the vault. The beginning of the movie shows Tina held captive in a fortified satellite prison, and Roland, a rogue member of Atlas’ private militia, Crimson Lance, abducts her in order to search for the vault on Pandora. Tina, who was destined to be used as a means to attain Atlas’ objective, willingly joins Roland, and they are accompanied by another prisoner, a psycho named Krieg, who becomes a guardian figure to the kid. To find his ‘daughter,’ Atlas recruits a highly proficient bounty hunter, Lilith, a native of Pandora. Lilith is initially hesitant to take up the job, as later it is revealed that the painful memory of getting separated from her mother made her unwilling to ever return to her home planet. However, a lucrative offer from Atlas eventually convinces her to venture to the barren wasteland of a planet, and while searching for clues, she comes across a droid named Claptrap, which mysteriously awakens after sensing Lilith’s presence by responding to its pre-ordained command.
With Claptrap’s help, Lilith is able to find Tina, but to her surprise, the kid wants to stay with Roland and starts attacking Lilith with her explosive Kaboom Bunnjes. Lilith engages in a battle with Krieg as well, and all of a sudden, Captain Knoxx of the Crimson Lance arrives at the location by tailing Lilith in order to capture Tina. Total chaos ensues until Roland arrives and, taking Tina, Krieg, and Lilith along with him, manages to escape the Crimson Lance army. Lilith later learns about the key objective of Atlas regarding Tina and the fact that there is no paternal feeling involved, as Atlas is using Tina as a tool to unlock the vault. Lilith decides to join Roland and his crew in their pursuit of the vault; as the way her last interaction with the Crimson Lance transpired, Atlas will consider her as collateral anyway.
Was Lilith Able to Make Amends With Her Past?
To locate the vault, three mystical keys are required to be assigned in sync, one of which is already in Roland’s possession. To find the other two, Roland decides to approach the vault expert, a crazed scientist who gave him the idea of abducting Tina in the first place. To reach the scientist, Roland takes the crew to Mad Moxxi, a renowned fixer of Pandora who was a close acquaintance of Lilith’s mother, and recognizing Lilith, Moxxi tries to reassure her regarding her mother’s feelings for her. However, Lilith had a rather estranged relationship with her late mother, due to the fact she had apparently abandoned her in search of the vault, and she quickly rebuffs Moxxi’s attempt to comfort her by bringing up past wounds.
Moxxi shares the location of the scientist, and much to Lilith’s surprise and annoyance, the scientist, Patricia Tannis, turns out to be another of her mother’s close friends whom she had entrusted with Lilith’s safety. Tannis had abandoned Lilith by sending her to tradesfolk, which, according to her, was Lilith’s mother’s wish. Lilith’s mother believed that the Eridian goddess, Firehawk, the protector deity of Pandora, would once again return to the planet to restore peace, and believing her arrival to be connected with the vault, she had spent her lifetime in its research, neglecting her own daughter in the process. Tannis’ presence infuriates Lilith, who tries to break up the band, but knowing Knoxx and her army are lurking about in search of Tina, Lilith decides to stay anyway. Following Tannis’ guidance, the crew manages to get the second piece of the vault key from the Bloodshot outpost filled with maniac, murderous Psychos—but in order to ensure the crew’s escape, Roland stays behind, taking on a horde of Psychos in the process.
Combining two keys, Tannis and Lilith learn about the possible location of the vault from a Firehawk insignia, which confirms that Lilith’s mother’s research was indeed in the right direction. Tannis reveals to Lilith that the third part of the key is Tina herself and wonders whether activation of the vault will result in the kid’s sacrifice. Later, Lilith, who has fully committed herself to the crew’s cause at this point, decides to destroy the beacon that was handed to her by Atlas, but through a drone projection, Atlas communicates with her, notifying her that the deal is still active and that unless she complies with his command, he will kill Tina and the entire vault hunter crew. Tina overhears part of the conversation and, considering Lilith to be a turncoat, incapacitates her by bombing her and leaves with the rest of the crew. Upon waking up, Lilith sees a holographic projection of her mother as Claptrap accidentally unlocks a recorded memory hidden in its system by scanning a Firehawk insignia. Lilith feels at peace after realizing that her mother never intended to abandon her and regretted their separation till the very end. The assurance that she was loved by her mother gives Lilith much solace, and she sets out to reach Tina and the crew in time. Lilith’s mother had programmed Claptrap to assist her whenever she returns to the planet in the future.
What Was Inside the Vault?
Tina, Krieg, and Tannis reach the specified location where the vault is supposed to be, but find out that Tina isn’t the chosen one after all, as her presence doesn’t affect or trigger any change. Moreover, they find themselves surrounded by Atlas and his Crimson Lance, and Roland, who had survived the Bloodshot outpost, arrives just in time to join his crew. Atlas orders his militia to kill the crew, and motivated by her newfound morality, Captain Knoxx intervenes—only to get obliterated as a result. Lilith arrives at the location at last and reveals that it is she who is the final piece of the key, the daughter of Eridia, which is why her mother wanted her to stay away from the planet so that other vault hunters don’t get to exploit her.
In exchange for the crew’s freedom, Lilith steps up to access and unlock the vault, and while doing so, accesses ancient Eridian powers, which turns her into a reincarnation of Firehawk. Using her newfound powers, Lilith lays waste to Crimson Lance, but soon enough, Atlas takes a hold of Tina and forces Lilith to allow him entry to the vault by threatening her with the kid’s life. As Lilith, Tina, and Atlas enter the vault through a portal, unknown relics of knowledge, advanced weaponry, and unidentified futuristic mechanisms are seen stashed in the gigantic, mysterious hall. Being one of Eridian ancestry, this is Lilith’s domain, and she manages to easily overpower Atlas to rescue Tina. From the dark depths of the vault, the Destroyer, a lovecraftian cephalopod-like Behemoth, emerges, and ensnaring Atlas in its tentacles, apparently kills him.
Lilith and Tina join Krieg, Roland, Tannis, and Claptrap outside, and later on, they are seen celebrating their victory. Whether Lilith fulfills the prophecy and, as Eridia’s daughter, takes on the responsibility of healing Pandora, that remains to be seen—but hopefully the upcoming installment that explores that plotpoint fares better than this one did.
