The First ‘Borderlands’ Reviews Are … Concerning, To Say the Least

Given the concerns about Borderlands’ casting choices and departure from the source material, many anticipated the movie would receive mixed reviews. However, the first reviews are even worse than expected.

Borderlands is the first live-action movie based on the popular video game series of the same name. Rather than serving as a direct adaptation of one or more of the video games, the movie tells an original story featuring some characters and plot points from the game franchise. It follows Lilith (Cate Blanchett), a bounty hunter who joins forces with a team of misfits to find a missing girl on the planet of Pandora.

As mentioned above, concerns about the movie arose early, given director Eli Roth’s plans to go the original story route. Additionally, some of the casting choices raised eyebrows, such as significantly aging up Lilith with the casting of Blanchett and choosing comedian Kevin Hart to portray the highly skilled, hardened soldier Roland. Still, the trailer looked fun, and fans of the video games were trying to keep an open mind about the movie. However, now the critics have spoken and officially panned Borderlands.

What are critics saying about Borderlands?

Borderlands debuted with a sad 0% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 23 reviews. However, a sole “Fresh” review from Beyond the Trailer‘s Grace Randolph recently elevated the score to 4%.

While Randolph stated the film would appeal to “Blanchett fans,” she mentioned she’s not confident it will appeal to anyone else. That sentiment is a common theme throughout reviews. Most pinpoint Blanchett’s performance as an “ass-kicking action star” as one of the few bright points of the movie but lament the fact that Borderlands is a terrible medium for her performance.

Although Roth pushed back against claims of similarities between Borderlands and Guardians of the Galaxy, numerous reviews accuse the video game adaptation of trying too hard to be like the latter. Inverse’s Jake Kleinman writes, “It’s just a shame it all adds up to Guardians of the Galaxy with worse jokes,” while Empire Magazine‘s Dan Jolin states, “Borderlands so wants to be Guardians Of The Galaxy… But it doesn’t come close.” The Independent notes how the movie’s lead team tries to mimic the “quirky” and eccentric nature of the Guardians of the Galaxy team. However, instead of carefully crafting an underdog dynamic, the characters just repeatedly declare themselves “deranged” and partake in juvenile jokes and tactics involving defecation and urine.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that the characters are all “one-dimensional” and “cartoonish,” making it difficult to become invested in them or for the “found family” aspect to elicit any real emotion. Meanwhile, the outlet describes Roth’s storytelling as “anxious,” making the whole movie feel rushed and underdeveloped. Plotwise, Borderlands is “a cut-rate Guardians of the Galaxy grafted onto Mad Max territory with a smidgen of Star Wars.” It seems the movie will never get past the Guardians of the Galaxy comparisons, with IGN adding, “Roth’s interpretation is like a preschooler’s Guardians of the Galaxy coloring book.”

Aside from acknowledging Blanchett’s strong performance and the movie’s semi-successful creation of a CGI post-apocalyptic setting, critics have highlighted a few other strong points from Borderlands. 

Meanwhile, the movie seems to suffer from poor pacing, lack of character development, and a plot that pulls too many clichés and offers viewers a dull, one-dimensional version of the Borderlands universe. It remains to be seen what audiences will think of the movie. There are times when the critics and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes can boast big disparities, which has even happened with other video game adaptations like Uncharted. However, when the critic’s score is sitting barely above 0%, even a larger-than-average difference in audience score would still land it a Rotten rating.