In the past, if a movie was based on a video game, it was generally a safe bet that it would be terrible.

However, as game narratives have become more sophisticated and the visual language of both media has merged through CGI, the quality of game adaptations has improved significantly.

Sadly, Eli Roth’s Borderlands, based on the cult sci-fi shooter series, is a return to the bad old days of inferior fare.

True to its source material, Borderlands follows a ragtag group of misfits on a mission to the planet Pandora. Unlike the lush world of the same name from Avatar, this is a harsh wasteland left to decay after the fall of the highly advanced Eridian civilization.

The myth says that somewhere on the planet there is a mysterious Eridian “chamber” containing an unknown power that thousands of “exterminators” have so far been unable to find and open with the help of “keys”.

This world is home to rebellious teenager Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), renegade soldier Roland (Kevin Hart), and “Psycho” Krieg (Florian Munteanu), a trio apparently on the run from Tina’s intergalactic oligarch “father” Atlas (Edgar Ramirez), who will spare no expense to get her back, nor to find the treasure trove he believes will give him control of the universe.

Atlas hires the hard-boiled bounty hunter Lilith (Cate Blanchett) – who discovers that her mission has much more to offer when she tracks down her prey. They are also joined by the talkative robot Claptrap (Jack Black) and the reluctant group matriarch Dr. Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis).

As you would expect from a computer game series, they roam the landscape and defeat various enemies, especially Atlas’ minions led by Commander Knoxx (Janina Gavankar).

First, the good stuff. It’s nice to look at – colorful and cartoonish, but with a hint of sleaze. Roth’s references to other, better films are heavy-handed, but entertaining. Film fans will spot scenes that nod to everything from Star Wars and Indiana Jones to Mad Max and The Fifth Element. Although it’s supposed to be a clone of Guardians of the Galaxy.

The cast is great, too. Kevin Hart is sincere rather than annoying. Greenblatt is pleasantly quirky as Tina and Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis are, well, Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis.

What disappoints them is a script so leaden you could line a church roof with it. Horror specialists Roth and Joe Crombie are credited as screenwriters, but looking at it, I’m sure Basil Exposition from the Austin Powers films did an uncredited edit. There’s actually a moment where we stop and read a “mining manual written by a bureaucrat” that tells us all where we’re going next. Roth’s direction even offers its own spoilers – with big moments of action or danger roughly hinted at before they happen.

Black’s robot also has to be one of the most annoying characters ever put on screen – the annoying electronic child of Jar-Jar Binks and Scrappy Do with a dash of Clippy, the annoying assistant from Microsoft Word. In the game, he’s clearly a way of giving the player information and tasks. On screen, you wish there was an off button so Dad wouldn’t be making jokes and explaining the plot in every scene.

That’s a hint at the problem with Borderlands, and why it’s a throwback to a time before games like The Last of Us and Fallout showed us that video game spin-offs could offer depth and narrative. It’s something of a box-ticking exercise, translating the game’s lore to the screen without trying to craft a story that’s engaging or whose twists aren’t entirely predictable.

Fans of the series can still enjoy it because it visually captures the iconic nature of the game. However, if you’re not a huge fan, avoid it because not half as much attention was paid to other things. The audience and the excellent cast deserve better.