The Borderlands video games are rude, crude, and lewd. The mainline games in the series are all rated M, suitable for mature audiences of 17 or over (18 or over in the UK). However, the upcoming movie has received a PG-13 rating from the Movie Picture Association, perplexing fans.
According to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, Borderlands 3 earns its M rating because it contains “Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language” and it’s impossible to argue with that – fans of the series will know that the crass, irreverent jokes, mature storylines, and yes, gory violence, are baked into the franchise’s DNA.
As one Reddit commenter put it, the Borderlands games are “40% shooting, 30% loot and 30% comedy.” Borderlands could be considered an antidote to the usual extremely serious themes and atmosphere in most first-person shooters. No Call of Duty game would have a recording of the main villain saying “Jimmy, please make a note: I’m strangling Mister Moorin for bringing up my wife,” and expect it to land.
According to the MPA’s Film Ratings website, the Borderlands movie is “rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, language and some suggestive material.” The trailer, which received mixed reactions, does portray this. However, most fans assumed this was a ‘tip of the iceberg’ situation, where the grossest jokes, sexiest outfits, and biggest guns were being saved for the movie, but that no longer seems to be the case.
In a Reddit thread discussing the newly assigned rating, there is much disappointment. “They tried to make a movie for everybody that is actually for nobody, tale old as time,” says the top-rated comment. In response to that, another user chimes in with “Exactly. The movie looks like a perfect example of a product made by a committee.”
The thread contains a lot of discussion about the film’s troubled production, with one person saying “Yeah, the film’s production history wasn’t going so well, but this looks like the biggest sign that the whole thing will be a stinker.”
People are also disappointed that they were initially excited when Eli Roth, who is famous for gory horror movies like Hostel, was set to helm the adaptation, expecting that he would be able to capture the ultraviolent tone of the games. However, Roth was fired from the movie in January 2023, with Tim Miller, who had some success with Deadpool, coming in to replace him for reshoots.
All we can do now is wait for the Borderland movie to release on August 9 to see whether it will be the fun, silly romp it could be, or a letdown.
Featured image credit: Lionsgate
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