Highlights
- The Borderlands movie is out now, and it’s not being well-received by critics.
- At the time of writing, it has a shockingly low
zero
percent on Rotten Tomatoes. - Critics have called the film “unfunny,” “mindless,” and “an abysmal waste.”
The movie Borderlands is off to a terrible start. First impressions from yesterday called it “unfunny” and “visually repulsive,” but now that the film is in theaters, things are only getting worse. The Rotten Tomatoes page is live, and the film has opened with the lowest possible rating – zero percent. At the time of writing, every single critic loathes this film.
Original Cin describes the film as “over an hour of noise and lame jokes” that “would be Exhibit Z in the argument that video games don’t translate well to cinema” if it weren’t for more recent adaptations like The Last of Us and Fallout.
Related
Let’s be honest: The “Borderlands Cinematic Universe” will not be created
We are long past the point where anyone would have wanted this
IGN gave it just 3 out of 10, calling it an “abysmal waste of a beloved franchise.” VG247 went even lower, giving it just one star and calling the film a “mindless, creatively bankrupt crime.” It’s safe to say that Borderlands won’t make the waves Randy Pitchford hoped it would.
Borderlands couldn’t have come at a worse time
Many of these reviews make the impression that Borderlands feels out of place in the modern adaptation landscape. Fallout was a huge success for Amazon Prime and Bethesda, receiving rave reviews upon release and even earning 17 Emmy nominations this year. HBO and Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us was also a critical darling, turning video game adaptations into prestige TV adaptations, a far cry from the disappointing whoopee cushion that is Lionsgate’s Borderlands.
Many draw comparisons to Guardians of the Galaxy, but without the heart or charm that made James Gunn’s trilogy so endearing. “Directed by Eli Roth, this film felt like I was watching Guardians without the work that went into making it funny, memorable, dramatic intrigue, and most of all, interesting,” writes We Live Entertainment.
JoBlo’s Movie Network says it’s “to Guardians of the Galaxy & Fury Road what Solarbabies is to The Road Warrior,” a damning comparison. However, a quick look at social media sites like Twitter and Reddit shows that people are excited that another bad video game movie is on the horizon, as if they’re nostalgic about the Uwe Boll era. The film is out now, so we can see for ourselves if it’s as bad as the critics say.
