The ‘Borderlands’ Trailer Delivers A Badass Cate Blanchett And Reigning Video-Game Movie King Jack Black As The Robot Mascot

It’s an understatement to say that Borderlands has been a long time coming (since the initial 2015 announcement of Eli Roth as director) as a big-screen movie adaptation. However, gamers just experienced a year where multiple adaptations — The Last Of Us, Five Nights At Freddy’s, Super Mario Bros. — lived up to or exceeded expectations, so perhaps the timing could not be better.

Well, what of this trailer? Looks like sheer chaos, obviously, as it should. Shark Fanboy Roth co-authored the screenplay with Joe Crombie, and the Cabin Fever director previously told IGN that the movie (and any followups) would adhere to its own canon separate from the canon of the games. The star-studded cast is led by Roth veteran Cate Blanchett (The House With A Clock In Its Walls), who portrays the outlaw Lilith, returning to Pandora, but she’s not happy about it, with a motley crew of fellow vault hunters.

The film also stars Jamie Lee Curtis (as Dr. Patricia Tennis), Kevin Hart (as Roland), Ariana Greenblatt (as Tiny Tina), Gina Gershon (as Mad Moxxi), and video-game adaptation king Jack Black (as Claptrap, although Norman Reedus could come for that “king” title eventually, officially in movie form), who cannot quit these game-to-big-screen transformations.

This is also as good a place as any to mention that The Last Of Us and Chernobyl showrunner Craig Mazin was reportedly once attached to the script but has since denied being involved, and he also totally did not [waves] save Game of Thrones from putting out a “complete piece of sh*t” pilot.

Oh, look at Claptrap, y’all.

Borderlands arrives in theaters on August 9, 2024.