Lately, it seems like every video game is getting a movie adaptation. Two that seem to be on everyone’s mind are the Resident Evil reboot, and the upcoming Borderlands movie. Resident Evil is directed by Johannes Roberts of 47 Meters Down and The Strangers: Prey at Night, both of which were small-scale horror films. 47 Meters Down is a shark movie, which admittedly doesn’t seem hugely promising, but a lot of fans think that with the nature of 47 Meters Down being a creature feature, it showcases how Roberts would likely be successful at portraying the zombies and other various monsters present from the video game. From these two films, he also appears to be adept at creating tense situations.
The story is supposed to be based on the plot of the first two Resident Evil games and is set in 1998, which is closer to the year that the first game first came out. The film was originally supposed to be written by Greg Russo, who also wrote the script for the upcoming Mortal Kombat film. However, he left the project in 2018, and at that point, Roberts started reworking the script. Roberts stated that he was writing it to be a truer homage to the games than the original Resident Evil films were.
The first Resident Evil film from 2002 is genuinely is a decent movie. However, the many following sequels seemed to be less and less watchable and less and less like the game as they came out. In this new film, Roberts apparently wants to move away from the plot of the 2002 movie. He also has the benefit of seeing where the other Resident Evil movies started to go off the rails and subsequently can avoid doing what they did. Although, this new film does still have the same production company as all the other Resident Evil films did.
Among the cast is Kaya Scodelario as Claire Redfield, Robbie Amell as Chris Redfield, Avan Jogia as Leon S. Kennedy, Hannah John-Kamen as Jill Valentine, Tom Hopper as Albert Wesker, and Neal McDonough as William Birkin. None of the actors are huge names, but they all have some good work on their resumes, and at the very least, seem to bear some visual resemblance to the characters that they are playing. Resident Evil is supposed to be released in September of this year, and all in all, fans don’t seem to really have much issue with what has been announced about the film so far.
The upcoming Borderlands movie, however, is almost the complete opposite. Among the cast is Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Kevin Hart as Roland, Jaime Lee Curtis as Dr Tannis, and Jack Black as Claptrap. Many fans seem to take issue with the first two of these casting choices in particular. However, Cate Blanchett is a very talented actor, who has been in a number of highly acclaimed films, from The Lord of the Rings series to Thor: Ragnarok.
Fans dislike the choice of Kevin Hart as Roland because Roland is supposed to be such a serious character. The argument does exist that if the movie is going to based on the first Borderlands game (which it does appear to be), that it could make sense, as Roland was a slightly less serious character in that iteration of the game. Fans still seem to fear that the final film will be too comedic either way.
What is interesting about the production of the Borderlands film is that so much money is being thrown at it. Video game movies are usually not expected to be very good, but after the success of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, they seem to be being made almost in excess. Some think that the Borderlands movie might just be a cash-grab trying to coast off of Sonic the Hedgehog, but Borderlands was being discussed back in 2018, before Sonic the Hedgehog even came out. Even now, the Borderlands movie is still only in pre-production.
The film is using so many big actors, and the members of the main cast that have been announced so far are made up almost entirely of household names. Craig Maizin of Chernobyl is writing it, and Eli Roth is directing it. What is odd about the reception for the Borderlands film is that, from all these talented people working on it, and from all the money behind it, it seems to have so much potential, yet fans of Borderlands seem to have all already collectively agreed that they hate the film.
Video game movies rarely live up to the video games that they’re based on, just like movies based on books never live up to the books that they are based on. But filmmakers still try, and even if they can’t live up to the source material, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the films are always objectively bad. As the release dates for Resident Evil and Borderlands get closer and closer, it is impossible to say definitively which of the two films will be better, as both have positive and negative aspects in their productions. All that is certain is that prior to their releases, Resident Evil seems to be much better received by its fans, but who knows what the public opinion will be once both of the movies are released.
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