THE Borderlands the film is not impressing critics with its early reviews. This could be seen as a bad sign for how the film will be received by the wider audience heading into the weekend.
Shortly before the widespread diffusion of BorderlandsThe film debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with the rare and unlucky score of 0%. No critic has yet given the film a positive review, and while that number could increase to some extent with more critics chiming in, it seems unlikely that the video game adaptation will be able to emerge from its rotten state. There's always the possibility that audiences will appreciate the film more, as there's sometimes a big divide between viewers and critics. Either way, it's not a great start for Borderlands.
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“It took us back to an era when studios used to make these things with all the grace and acuity of a drunk person trying to order a chicken nugget at 3am,” said Independent reviewer Clarisse Loughrey of the film, giving Borderlands a rating of 1 out of 5.
AwardsWatch critic Alistair Ryder said in a review: “Borderlands it's the worst kind of bad movie; the kind devoid of any unusual quirks that might catapult it into a second life as a cult classic, resulting unbearable and overly long at its rapid 102 minutes due to its sheer lack of originality.
Borderlands
It's the worst kind of bad movie.
“An hour or more of noise and lame jokes with no tension or sense of purpose, Borderlands would be Exhibit Z in the argument that video games don't translate well to cinema… if recent efforts like The Last of Us OR Fall had not proven otherwise,” observed Original Cin critic Jim Slotek.
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Hinting that even big fans of the video game won't be satisfied, Discussing Film critic Andrew J. Salazar said, “Sure, there are plenty of Easter eggs and visual references to the video games, but fans deserve a lot better than whatever director Eli Roth is trying to do with Borderlands. This is the curse of video game movies at its worst..”
Is the video game curse back?
For a period of many years, video game movies had a bad reputation, seen as “cursed” due to the way they often struggled with audiences. This has changed in recent years with movies like Sonic the Hedgehog AND The movie Super Mario Bros. becoming huge hits with great praise from the public. The reception at Borderlands is more reminiscent of the early years of video game adaptations, harking back to the era of titles like street fighter, Mortal Kombat: Annihilationand the original live-action Super Mario Bros. movie.
Directed by Eli Roth, Borderlands is directly inspired by the video game franchise, which follows a group of misfits who band together to try to locate the daughter of the most powerful man in the universe. The cast includes names such as Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Ariana Greenblatt, Edgar Ramirez, Florian Munteanu, Gina Gershon and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Borderlands will be released in theaters on August 9, 2024.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
Borderlands
A film based on the popular video game set on the fictional, abandoned planet of Pandora, where people are searching for a mysterious relic.
- Director
- Eli Roth
- Release date
- August 9, 2024
- Launch
- Ariana Greenblatt, Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, Edgar Ramirez, Olivier Richters, Jamie Lee Curtis
- Writers
- Eli Roth, Joe Crombie
- Main genre
- Science fiction