The Borderlands film lands in cinemas today, and with preview screenings done and dusted and social media embargoes lifted (full, written reviews are still to come), the early impressions are… not great.
The overall sentiment around the film, which was helmed by director Eli Roth and stars Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Gina Gershiwn, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black, is that it wastes any potential in its source material, exacerbating the more unlikeable parts of the Borderlands franchise and otherwise making a missed attempt at the Guardians of the Galaxy formula.
Josh Barton of Barton Reviews was particularly scathing, writing, “Borderlands is not only one of the worst films of the year, it might just be the most annoying too! Full of tame action and performances that just scream here for the money. Feels like Eli Roth made this fifteen years ago and has only just released it because so many better films have done this kind of story so much better recently.”
Darren Movie Review was a touch kinder, saying, “Borderlands is a baffling video game adaptation. There is potential for great world building, but it never happens due to a rushed and dull screenplay; the set design is impressive but the film looks cheap due to poor CGI. Cate Blanchett, Ariana Greenblatt and Jack Black are all great, even if their characters are underdeveloped and the majority of the jokes fall flat; and while the video game carries a M rating, the film carries a PG-13 rating and you can tell it forced Eli Roth into an uncomfortable space as he tried to create a fun and bizarre space adventure. Not bad, but utterly forgettable.”
No punches pulled in Awesome Friday writer Matthew Simpson’s assessment, who wrote, “Oh hey I can tell you I’ve seen Borderlands now and that it’s really bad. I really wanted to like it, but an uninspired plot + several phoned in performances + being stuck in a weird place where it looks both expensive and cheap a the same time make it a huge misfire.”
GameSpot and Giant Bomb’s Tom Caswell’s thoughts are better presented in their original format:
Can *finally* give my thoughts on the Borderlands movie, a film I’ve been dying to tell everyone how cancerously unfunny it is.
An absolute dull and trite experience that makes gaming movies from the 2000s look like masterpieces.
This was my face the whole time in the theater: pic.twitter.com/LXuZ1I3KTm
— Tom Caswell (@GreatBriTom) August 7, 2024
Freelance critic, Sean Patrick Kelly, had nicer things to say about the film, reporting that it has “an exceptional level of detail for those who have played the video games,” but like many others noted that the comparisons to Guardians of the Galaxy are going to be inescapable and unkind to Borderlands.
Some early impressions have been fairly glowing, like Tessa Smith, who called the film fun and only wished it went all-in on a more mature rating and tone, otherwise saying “The 3 leading ladies give the best performances they can with what they are given and the action is FUN (even if the CGI isn’t great). Costumes & sets look incredible!”
