4 Ways The Borderlands Movie Changes The Franchises Lore

Highlights

Borderlands movie stays true to game with action, characters, and colors, but changes key lore elements.
Characters like Krieg and Claptrap replace Mordecai and Brick, adding twists to familiar storylines.
New character Deukalian Atlas and changes to Tiny Tina and Lilith’s backstories bring fresh perspectives.

As a long-time fan of the Borderlands franchise, I must say that the adaptations of Roland and Tiny Tina’s characters in this movie are quite intriguing, to put it mildly! It seems that screenwriters have delved into the lore of these games more deeply than I ever did during my countless hours of looting and shooting.

From Super Mario Bros. in 1993 to Sonic the Hedgehog in 2020, there have been a lot of video game movies. A criticism that often comes up is that the movies are nothing like the games. Is that the case with the latest game-to-movie adaptation aka Borderlands? It’s a hard question to answer because on the surface it looks exactly what a Borderlands movie should be.

In the proposed film adaptation of Borderlands, there’s an abundance of psychopathic characters, intense action sequences involving firearms, iconic personalities, and vibrant visuals reminiscent of cel-shaded art. Despite many aspects that the movie gets right, it does alter certain elements. These modifications aren’t inherently negative; instead, let’s delve into the most significant narrative changes, with spoilers ahead for those who wish to avoid them.

4 The Vault Hunters

The Movie Changes The First Protagonists

4 Ways The Borderlands Movie Changes The Franchises Lore

In the first Borderlands game, players could pick among four unique characters, each representing a common class found in looter shooters. Characters like Lilith and Roland were strong candidates for the movie adaptation since they were part of the original quartet. Unfortunately, Mordecai and Brick, the other two characters, didn’t make it into the film. Instead, three new characters have been introduced to replace them, some fitting, while others seem a bit confusing. One such replacement is Krieg, who appears in the movie as a Psycho – essentially a resident of the wasteland that plunders resources from others.

In the second game, Krieg becomes a playable character, though this requires additional downloadable content. His appearance and his makeshift axe-like weapon are fitting for a Psychopath like him in the film. However, what sets Krieg apart from other Psychos is his unique characteristic: an inner monologue that contrasts with his outer persona, adding humor to his destructive behavior in Borderlands 2. This intriguing aspect of his character is less prominent in the movie version.

Instead of adding more team members, we’ve opted for a robotic replacement named Claptrap in our game. Claptrap has been present in all games, but it was only playable in the spinoff titled Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. In the movie, Claptrap doesn’t contribute much as an attacker, but it continues its signature quirk of saying humorous things like a robot. We’ll delve deeper into the third character at a later time.

3 Deukalian Atlas Is A New Character

And The Dad Of Tiny Tina?

The crux of the plot revolves around the fifth major character, Tiny Tina. In the games, she gets introduced to Borderlands 2 as an NPC. She’s wild about explosives and dresses like a rabbit. While the movie doesn’t go as hard on her unhinged nature, the actress, Ariana Greenblatt, looks the part. The bigger twist is that Tiny Tina is the daughter of the Atlas CEO in the movie, Deukalian Atlas, who is a new character.

In a galaxy-spanning scenario, Roland is employed by The Crimson Lance with the mission to rescue a prisoner, who coincidentally shares her cell with Krieg. However, for unspecified reasons, Roland decides to desert his position, liberating both Krieg and Tiny Tina in the process. This event sets them on the run, which deviates from their initial roles within the games. The motive behind Roland’s departure from The Crimson Lance and subsequent transformation into a Vault Hunter remains a mystery when we first encounter him in the original game.

This change in the movie is a good adaptation. Tiny Tina’s changes are a bit more wild because it’s said that she is a clone. Deukalian Atlas thought she was an ancestor of the Eridians, the alien race who made the Vaults, so he cloned her repeatedly hoping to create a new Siren to open the Vault on Pandora. In the games, Tiny Tina is experimented on too, but it’s by Handsome Jack, the villain of Borderlands 2. Handsome Jack also experiments on Tiny Tina’s real parents who die in the process.

2 Dr. Tannis Helped Raise Lilith

Lilith Is Also A Bounty Hunter

In the film, Lilith’s persona undergoes a significant transformation; she’s no longer just a character but a galactic bounty hunter, always on the hunt for wealth or facing potential peril. Her demeanor is also sharper and wittier, reminiscent of characters from 80s action movies who frequently delivered humorous one-liners. In contrast, Lilith is more restrained in video games, although her character evolves and becomes more assertive once she transitions into an NPC (Non-Player Character) in the later stages of the games.

As a gamer, I’ve noticed another intriguing twist: Dr. Tannis temporarily raised Lilith, only to pass her on to traders whom she believed would protect her from us, the Vault Hunters. In the movie, they share a unique past that wasn’t present in the games. Yet, Dr. Tannis remains much like her game counterpart when it comes to her character tone. For her, knowledge takes precedence over social niceties, resulting in some rather unconventional interactions.

In the movie, Lilith is unaware that she possesses magical abilities or is a Siren, which is something clearly established in Borderlands. This detail is significant because it gives players the option to pick one of the four starting characters. The allure of fire magic in a sci-fi shooter game can be quite enticing to many players, and this is likely one of the main reasons why Sirens in the sequels have also gained popularity.

1 General Knox Has A Daughter

Janina Gavankar Moves From Star Wars To Borderlands

In contrast to its subsequent installments, Borderlands didn’t introduce playable characters through its DLC packs; however, one exceptional DLC was “The Secret Armory of General Knoxx“, which presented an opportunity for players to confront the villain from The Crimson Lance, General Knoxx. Although General Knoxx himself doesn’t appear in the movie, it does introduce a new character – Commander Knoxx, who is none other than his daughter and shares connections with Roland.

It’s unclear if Roland had a romantic relationship with the other person, but they share some kind of past. Regrettably, Commander Knoxx perishes dramatically in the film – to put it simply, he is obliterated. The character is portrayed by Janina Gavankar, who might be familiar to video game enthusiasts as Iden Versio from the Star Wars Battlefront 2 campaign or more recently, Agent Estevez, in Alan Wake 2. She’s had roles in numerous geeky productions, but her appearance here is particularly notable.

2024-08-15 10:35