Video game adaptations, while not quite as popular as comic book movies, are becoming increasingly common. Everything from Super Mario Bros. to Tomb Raider has been adapted at one time or another, and while few of the films get universal praise in the way your average MCU movie does, we have seen recent success stories with movies like Sonic the Hedgehog and Rampage putting up solid box office numbers. Rampage was Dwayne Johnson's second entry into video game remakes following Doom, and now his buddy Kevin Hart is set to star in his own video game movie. Because Hart is officially on board the adaptation of the Borderlands series.
Kevin Hart will play the character of Roland, according to THR. Roland is a soldier on the planet Pandora (not that one) who, assuming the movie is following a similar plot to the original game is going in search of a legendary vault said to contain vast riches. Hart will star alongside Cate Blanchett who is already signed to play the character of Lilith, the Siren. Both Roland and Lilith are playable characters in the original Borderlands game, which would seem to indicate that we'll get casting announcements for the characters of Brick, the Berserker and Mordecai the Hunter at some point.
Assuming that the character of Roland is being played similarly to what we see in the Borderlands game, then it will likely be a bit more serious part for Kevin Hart then we're used to seeing from him. Roland is a pretty by-the-numbers soldier who doesn't actually make many jokes, or ever crack a smile. Having said that, humor is a big part of the Borderlands series on the whole and so the casting of the actor/comedian isn't that far out of left field. However, most of the comedy comes from side characters, like the robot Claptrap or the mechanic Scooter, who was voiced in the games by Mike Newman, who was also a writer on the first game.
The other thing a Borderlands movie will need is solid action. The game franchise is a first-person-shooter with an emphasis on collecting loot. Whatever weapons you have, there's always something new to find along your path; and one assumes that, one way or another, this element will make its way into the movie.
The Borderlands film is being directed by Eli Roth and it's based on a script written by Craig Mazin of Chernobyl fame. With the addition of Cate Blanchett and Kevin Hart we already have more top tier names attached to the Borderlands movie then we're used to seeing for films based on video games. Maybe all this talent, combined with whoever is yet to be named, will be enough to make the Borderlands movie the first video game movie to achieve both box office and critical success.
