Kevin Hart to star in Borderlands movie, which… yeah, that actually makes sense
Aux Features Kevin Hart
Back in May, when we first heard that Cate Blanchett was attached to star in Eli Roth’s adaptation of the Borderlands video game, we were a bit confused. Blanchett has done some dumb bullshit, sure, but the Borderlands games are on a totally different level of dumb bullshit that fully embraces how dumb the bullshit is in a way that doesn’t really match Blanchett’s usual energy. By contrast, the latest addition to the Borderlands cast makes total sense: According to Variety, Kevin Hart is joining Blanchett in Borderlands as Roland, the somewhat boring soldier archetype you could play as in the first game. He could drop a little turret and you could direct your stat points to improve the turret’s damage or reduce its cooldown time… but those are video game things that might not be relevant in a movie.
Now, Roland isn’t the most fun character in Borderlands, personality-wise, but Hart is the kind of guy who should be in this movie no matter what. He could play any of this characters, scream some jokes about shooting robots or whatever, and it would’ve felt perfectly appropriate for the general vibe of Borderlands. With Roland and Lilith (Blanchett’s character) now cast, that leaves a big dude named Brick and a sniper named Mordecai as the only remaining members of the original game’s core team, though there is the matter of a certain little robot named Claptrap that needs to be addressed.
Claptrap is sort of the mascot of the series, but he’s also very annoying, and his original voice actor didn’t return for the most recent game in the series for reasons that are far, far, far too messy to get into now that we’re three paragraphs into this news story. It’ll be interesting to see if Roth gets a famous person to come in and do the voice.
28 Comments
Everything I hear about this movie seems skewed just off center from what it feels should be the case. I fully expect this film to be disappointing in just about every way….but I love this franchise, and will still likely watch it while struggling to find some positives in it.
Um Roland is like a military guy. Is this going to be animated? Because Kevin Hart would be much better as the voice of claptrap.
Roland’s character gets a bit more fleshed out in the sequels, but then he dies so idk if this is going to follow the games or what. Also, I have no desire to see this film
If you read the blurp from Eli Roth, you’d know that this is supposed to be more of a serious role for Hart and a departure from his usual emploi.So in actuality you could say this casting doesn’t make sense because they’re casting a comedic actor whose entire schtick is all about fast-talking in a role that doesn’t seem suited to his particular talents.Also Blanchett’s playing Lilith, and she’s pretty much in line with her roles in action fare from Indy 4 or Thor: Ragnarok – she has a temper and snarks a bunch. The shock comes more from the fact that they got Cate Blanchett into a motherfuckin’ Borderlands movie by Eli Roth.
As far as I’m concerned, Cate Blanchett has earned the right to be in whatever the hell she wants.
Oh I agree, I’m just shocked a Borderlands movie by Eli Roth got, like, proper Big Names.
Yeah. I wouldn’t say I’m excited about this movie (I’ve only played the first Borderlands game, and I couldn’t tell you anything about the story beyond “what if Mad Max was a loot shooter”), but I’m interested based on the talent involved. Roth kind of sucks but he’s at least not boring.
Well, he got some goodwill from The House with a Cock in its Balls.
What do you want to pet he read for Clap-trap but Hart was like, “I want to play Roland” and no one wanted to tell him no
I’d like to pet a bunny.
..maybe Cate Blanchett plays Borderlands or something? I could also see anyone occasionally wanting to be in some frothy action adventure fare where they maybe get to do a couple of the less dangerous stunts.
So obivously, Bautista as Brick. He’s as much Brick as Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool. Don’t care that the character is white in the game and Bautista is Greek – Filipino. It’s him.And, speaking of Deadpool, Bill Skarsgård is Mordecai. As Zeitgeist in Deadpool 2 he even resembles Mordecai, at least to me, to a huge degree.If not Bill though, maybe Doug Jones. I’m thinking of lanky people to play Mordecai.
Isn’t Hart a bit on the diminutive side to be playing Roland, especially against Blanchette? Eh, that’s probably fine, although even aside from height it will be a big departure from his usual annoying sidekick gig. I am very curious to see who they cast as Mordecai.
They’re going to do a Tom Cruise and give him lifts and elevated platforms to make him as tall or taller than everyone else.Mordi was my guy. The way the casting is going, I fully expect them to use Pedro Pascal or Benicio Del Toro for Mord and John Cena for Brick. I swear though, if they fucking kill Bloodwing…
About Bloodwing …Have you played Borderlands 2? (I also think Diego Luna could do a good Mordecai)
yeah I’ve played 2. I know the fate of Bloodwing. I just don’t want an Old Yeller vibe to a BL movie.
That makes sense (I didn’t want to have to be the one to break it to you about Bloodwing). Given the casting news, I really have no idea what kind of vibe they are going for.
This casting? More like Ian Gomez for Mordy and Pete Davidson for Brick. Claptrap voiced by Jack Black. Tiny Tina played by Amy Schumer. Nick Nolte as Scooter.
The casting doesn’t make any sense at all, Roland is the most serious of the crew and fairly big, Hart is the opposite of all that. Brick is the dumb funny one, it would be annoying to have two of those in the movie. The entire project seems dumb.
It’s supposed to be a serious role for Hart, Barsanti just didn’t read the article where Roth explains that.
I think Hart has more of the range (and size, for that matter) to play Clap-Trap.
So, this casting sounds like the producers are determined to pursue at least the median level of mediocrity consistent with a video game adaptation.That braying idiot as Roland? Fuck off. Lance Reddick isn’t too old.
Oh man, Lance Reddick as Roland would be fucking amazing.
Lance Reddick would also be slightly closer in age.Which brings me to my biggest confusion.Blanchett is beautiful, not saying she isn’t. But she does *look* like a beautiful *middle-aged* woman. And Lilith is… what, maybe 20s?Neither casting makes sense.
Actually, now that I think about it, the perfect Roland casting would be Will Smith.He’s got that gruff action movie soldier vibe down, but with plenty of range to play well against a more comedic tone.
It kinda feels like all the casting director knows about Borderlands is the concept art.
I read that yesterday and my brain went Kevin James. My brain is stupid.
Guys. Borderlands as a game is just fine, but lets not pretend the characters are, like… characters. Lilith, Roland, et al are not rich detailed people with compelling stories begging to be told. They’re nobody. They barely have personalities and what’s there is broad archetypal cliches. If this movie is not faithful to the text of the games, it will not matter at all, and it will not be the reason the movie sucks. They can do literally anything they want with these characters, slap the names on, and call it a day, because good god, who cares?It’s going to be a bad movie, but this is not why.(Now, if we’re talking Telltale’s Tales from the Borderlands, that’s a whole different story. I’d watch that.)