Borderlands Movie Trailer Upsets Fans for Changing One Character Way Too Much

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Borderlands

Highlights

Fans note one major downside in the Borderlands movie trailer - Tiny Tina's portrayal may not meet fan expectations.
While the trailer looks great, fans are concerned about Tiny Tina's character aura in the live-action adaptation.
Fans are skeptical, as the cartoonish and over-the-top nature of Tiny Tina may be difficult to capture in a live-action film.

The Borderlands movie trailer has finally dropped and given fans a look at the upcoming live-action adaptation of the popular video game franchise. However, viewers have already noted one change they’re not keen on.

The Borderlands franchise has some of the wackiest and most interesting characters ever seen in any creative medium. One prominent example is Tiny Tina, a young girl orphaned by human trafficking and inhumane weapons testing who exhibits a loud and outlandish personality that bursts forth in a similar vein to the explosives she’s so fond of. The Borderlands franchise boasts a stellar Metacritic score record in addition to these amazing characters, making it unsurprising that a live-action adaptation was in the works.

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While the film is now close to release and has long since filled out its cast, including finding its live-action version of Borderlands' Tiny Tina, fans just got their hands on the first full trailer. While there are certainly some ups, there’s already one major issue concerning the film. Reddit user MarvelsGrantMan136 would embed the trailer on a post in the site’s r/movies subreddit, eliciting several responses from longtime fans and potential viewers. The consensus from both camps seems to be that the trailer looked great, but they wouldn’t be getting their hopes up. However, one more complaint is on the minds of those who played the game: Tiny Tina doesn’t seem as fun.

While the character fits the archetype and acts the part in the trailer, most fans aren’t satisfied with the aura the character gives off. This is one of the many problems director Eli Roth needed to avoid with Borderlands, but the initial impression has fallen short of fan expectations. While some found it hard to explain the issue, one fan summarized, “I think it was a combination of dialogue and body language. She had batshit insane facial expressions (the eyes specifically) that really sold the unhinged over-the-top dialogue and characterization for me. Eyes like that just don’t exist in real life.”

Tina is one of the game’s fan-favorite characters, so much so that she has her own game entry in the franchise titled Tiny Tina’s Wonderland, a unique and solid entry rumored to have a sequel in development alongside the next mainline Borderlands game. She’s also a character who amassed this attention primarily as an NPC, with her personality at the forefront and unhindered by gameplay concerns and large swaths of silence. As such, it was inevitable that fans would pay extra attention to her portrayal and judge it more harshly than other characters in the film. That being said, expectations need to be managed, as even those making the complaints were quick to admit that her cartoonish persona and actions would be nigh impossible to do justice in live action. The filmmakers made their peace with that long ago, and it will be interesting to see what they do to make up for it.

The actual release date for the movie is still some time away, and no one knows what they’re getting until it's here, but it is pretty clear that the Borderlands movie needs to copy another franchise to avoid failure. While the Borderlands movie trailer looks to take steps in the right direction as far as that is concerned visually, how well the story goes along with it will be proven at the box office.

Borderlands is set to be released theatrically on August 9, 2024, via Lionsgate Films.

Borderlands

Borderlands is an action RPG first-person shooter created by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games. The series is commonly called a looter shooter set in a space Western style, where players can select from multiple classes that can level up and acquire new skills. The franchise has quickly become one of the best-selling franchises and produced spin-offs like Tales from the Borderlands as well as a film adaptation being developed by Lionsgate.