An Unwanted Taste of Nostalgia
The reception towards the Borderlands movie has been overwhelmingly negative, evoking a sense of nostalgia for the days when video game adaptations were outright terrible rather than half-hearted attempts. In essence, people despise it; to put it bluntly, they loathe it. Words such as “soulless,” “hateful,” and “confusing” are frequently associated with the film. The only good news is that a single positive review managed to raise its Rotten Tomatoes score from 0% to 3%. Hence, it is a bit of a mess.
Issues with Production Credits
Matters have worsened, as it turns out the film did not even acknowledge the contribution of key production staff behind one of Borderlands’ main characters. Robbie Reid, known as “Robbie Reid the Rigger,” mentioned he worked for five consecutive months to rig the Claptrap model for the film. This important task, essentially giving the CG model a skeleton for animators to manipulate, received no credit. Claptrap is arguably the most recognizable character from Borderlands.
Industry-Wide Problem
Reid expressed his frustration on social media, stating, “Three years ago, I rigged the CG of Claptrap for the Borderlands movie. I worked with him for five consecutive months. Neither I nor the artist who designed him received any credit for the film.” This was the first time such a thing happened to Reid, which he found particularly upsetting considering it broke his record for the last film he worked on in a studio. According to IMDb, the movie credits eight riggers from various fields, yet Reid’s name is absent from the list.
Conclusion
The movie faced criticism not only for its content but also for its oversight in acknowledging significant contributions. Reid speculated that the oversight might have occurred because he and the artist left their old studio in 2021, and “the film took a long time to be released.” It’s an all-too-common issue within the industry, not the fault of any single individual. Despite its star-studded cast, including Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Cate Blanchett, the Borderlands movie has not resonated well with audiences or critics.
