Borderlands Movie Trailer Retains the Games’ Divisive Sense of Humor

Lionsgate has finally released the first trailer for Eli Roth’s Borderlands movie nearly 10 years after the project was announced. While the preview is relatively light on plot details, it certainly emphasizes the “edgy” style of humor that has helped make the Borderlands game franchise so notable and sometimes divisive. 

The Borderlands franchise has only grown since the original Borderlands game was launched way back in 2009, but the series has remained remarkably consistent during that time. Most of the Borderlands games feature a group of treasure hunters navigating cel-shaded wasteland environments, a ton of loot to collect, and an emphasis on comedy. Said comedy includes everything from pop culture parodies and social satire to those timeless fart jokes. Imagine a Mad Max-like episode of Rick and Morty, and you probably won’t be too far off.

While the new Borderlands trailer doesn’t feature all of the franchise’s hallmarks (it’s not animated, and studios haven’t found yet found a way to make us grind for loot by watching their movies), the series’ distinct humor is certainly accounted for. From Claptrap “pooping” lead and our heroes driving through a gully of urine, it’s clear that Eli Roth and co-writer Joe Crombie have embraced the Borderlands style of humor. 

However, not everyone is fond of that aspect of the gaming franchise. While humor is inherently hit or miss for most, Borderlands’ humor has long been one of the series’ most notably divisive qualities.

Why? Well, much like the aforementioned Rick and Morty, some find Borderlands’ style of high-minded, low-brow humor to be more juvenile than clever. It’s the kind of game that regularly tosses out phrases like “Bonerfarts” and “Butt Stallion” and gets either a big laugh or a mighty groan. Others simply feel that the series has gotten a little less funny over the years, while some became fatigued by the games’ nearly constant onslaught of jokes.

It’s that last criticism that may end up having the biggest impact on the success of the Borderlands movie. If this trailer is a fairly accurate indication of the final film, then it seems like we can expect that movie to at least try to retain the game’s jokes-per-minute pace. If that is the case…well it’s going to be interesting to see if Borderlands can overcome the many challenges of its lengthy production and use that humor to successfully translate at least one of the most notable aspects of its source material to the big screen.

Boderlands enters theaters on Aug. 9, 2024.