Lionsgate Borderland will be released in theaters on August 9, but the critics’ embargo for the film was broken on Thursday and the first reactions from critics have been devastating.
The film by Eli Roth is a live-action adaptation of the popular video game series by Gearbox Software. It is set on the planet Pandora and tells the story of a gang of outlaws. The main roles are played by Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Ariana Greenblatt and Jamie Lee Curtis, while Jack Black lends his voice to a funny robot.
Since Thursday evening, review aggregator websites have been posting scathing reviews for BorderlandOn Rotten Tomatoes, the film only received 6 percent from 45 reviews. Fortunately, the audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes is much higher at 51 percent so far. On Metacritic, the critics’ rating was 29 based on 23 reviews and it didn’t look any better on Letterboxd, where users Borderland a score of 2.1/5.
Below you will find key excerpts from some of the most significant early reviews.
In his negative criticism of The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney writes that “the great mystery (with Borderland) is how such a loud film was able to land the star-studded cast it did without much fanfare.” David focuses on what went wrong with the film, highlighting major changes during production. “To be fair, the project that Blanchett and other big names signed on to may have looked a little different considering how many screenwriters it went through. The most notable of these belonged to Craig Mazin, a co-creator and co-writer of The Last of Uswho reportedly decided to remove his name from the project. Screenwriting credits were ultimately given to Roth and newcomer Joe Crombie, with speculation that the latter is a pseudonym.”
In a zero-star review in New York PostJohnny Oleksinski writes that Borderland is a serious misstep for an actress of Cate Blanchett’s caliber. “If I were the two-time Oscar winner, I would hire an elite team to work around the clock to remove every mention of the film from the Internet. The film is so embarrassing,” writes Oleksinski. The critic was not at all moved by this and wrote that “everything about Borderland is appalling: the acting, the script, the direction, the design.”
Jake Kleinman writes for Reversewas equally scathing about Borderland. “Motivations don’t matter much, characters are paper-thin, and the plot moves at the speed of a gamer quickly clicking through dialogue to get to the next level,” Kleinman writes. He adds: “On the other hand, it’s impossible to cast Cate Blanchett as the star of an action epic without it being at least a little fun to watch; and in an age of CGI trash, Borderland gets points for creating a lively post-apocalyptic setting. It’s just a shame that all of this Guardians of the Galaxy with worse jokes.”
In his review for The Daily Beastan angry Nick Schager titles his article: “Cate Blanchett, what are you doing?” After a series of great video game adaptations, Schager is confident that the series with Borderland. “Gearbox Software’s games were light on plot and heavy on action, and Roth doubles down on that formula with monotonous results,” writes Schager. “It lacks the emotional depth, narrative creativity and witty humor of James Gunn’s beloved (Guardians of the Galaxy), Roth’s major project is only driven by borrowed ideas and a bland implementation, which leads to a spectacular crash.”
Writing in The New York TimesAmy Nicholson begins her review with questions about the co-author of Borderlandsuggesting that the film’s disaster was largely due to production problems. Nicholson is reluctant to condemn the film in any detail, but was nonetheless disappointed. “You can see the jokes, but most of them aren’t convincing. If you squint, there is some nice design work,” Nicholson writes, adding that Blanchett was one of the few highlights: “The two-time Oscar winner puts up with the nonsense by acting like a warrior on a cheesy propaganda poster.”
In a review that was described as mixed, RichDan Jolin writes that the film is compared to Guardians of the Galaxybut captures “some” of the magic of the MCU trilogy. Overall, however, the script doesn’t work. “Roth and co-writer Joe Crombie have neither Gunn’s wit nor his wisdom. The witty lines are stale (“I’m programmed for humor, so I’m going to process this as witty banter,” chirps the annoyingly cheeky robot voiced by Jack Black), the search for emotional resonance seems overdone (Blanchett’s Lilith has problems with her mother, you know), and the group dynamics are out of whack.”
In another mixed review ColliderTaylor Gates felt Borderland had some positive aspects, including the performances of Ariana Greenblatt, Jack Black and Jamie Lee Curtis, but ultimately the flaws drag the film down.”Borderland is an action-adventure film at its core, and certainly delivers on its promises in that regard. The action — particularly the hand-to-hand combat and the more acrobatic fight choreography — is a blast,” writes Gates. “The film also suffers from pacing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice when a film runs well under two hours — which doesn’t seem to be the case with most films these days — but the speed with which the plot threads are resolved feels rushed rather than efficient, the breakneck pace sacrificing clarity and much-needed tension and stakes.”
Despite a score of 2/5, The GuardianJesse Hassenger felt Borderland was a disaster. Hassenger praised Blanchett for her attempt to rise above the material. “Blanchett, in glittery clothes and with bright red hair, deserves credit for not shying away from a task so far beneath her. Instead of rolling her eyes like Dakota Johnson, she tries to muddle through – not entirely successfully, in part because the material starts to stutter before the halfway point.” Unfortunately, Hassenger feels that the film doesn’t really know what it is: “With its childish humor, its fast pace and its shaky handling of adult feelings, Borderland In the end it is more like a children’s film that is too violent for children to actually watch.”
