I've wandered through the digital wastelands and silver screen adaptations, finding beauty in the most unexpected places. The year 2025 has brought a renaissance of video game adaptations, yet the journey here was paved with both triumphs and spectacular failures. As I reflect on this peculiar landscape where sometimes even mediocre films manage to outshine their worst game counterparts, I'm reminded that art finds a way to surprise us, come hell or high water.

The relationship between games and their cinematic offspring has always been complicated – like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, as the old saying goes. Yet sometimes, when a beloved franchise produces a truly terrible game, even a middling movie adaptation can feel like Shakespeare by comparison.

Borderlands: From Mobile Disaster to Cinematic Guilty Pleasure

Last year's Borderlands film, directed by horror maestro Eli Roth, became something of a cult phenomenon despite bombing at the box office. Critics tore it apart like skags on fresh meat, but I found myself enjoying every minute of this colorful chaos.

The film's 10% Rotten Tomatoes score might make you think twice, but trust me when I say it's leagues better than 2012's mobile abomination Borderlands Legends or the narrative misfire that was 2022's New Tales from the Borderlands.

What made the film work for me?

• Jack Black's pitch-perfect Claptrap performance (the man is a national treasure)

• Cate Blanchett bringing unexpected gravitas as Lilith

• Ariana Greenblatt capturing Tiny Tina's manic energy

• A visual aesthetic that screamed "Mad Max on psychedelics