'Borderlands' Bombs with the Critics

         On August 9, 2024, Lionsgate released 'Borderlands', which is the highly anticipated film adaption of the video game franchise of the same name. Unfortunately, the wait may have been for naught as the film has received predominantly negative reviews, holding rotten at 7% on Rotten Tomatoes, alongside a Critics Consensus that reads, "Glitching out in every department, Borderlands is balderdash." In the film a bounty hunter returning to her home planet for a mission reluctantly creates a team in order to save the universe. The ensemble cast includes Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Black, Florian Munteanu, and Edgar Ramírez. But what did the critics say?

        Donald Clarke of Irish Times notes, "Console junkies will find themselves involuntarily hammering an imagined X button in the hope of getting back to the gameplay. No good. You’re stuck with this wacko BS." Adding, "When Blanchett actually says “I’m getting too old for this shit” it doesn’t play like a gag at the expense of all the superannuated action stars who have said it before her. Unfortunately, the longer the thing goes on the less it ceases to be good honest rubbish and the more it expects us to care about the stupid, stupid plot."

        Carla Hay of Culture Mix says, "Borderlands" should be called Bored and Bland to describe this slipshod movie adaptation of the video game. It's just a mishmash of mindless action scenes, annoying characters, and shameless ripoffs of Star Wars and Mad Max movies."

       Tatiana Hullender of Screen Rant was more impressed, stating, "Borderlands rushes through too many plot points for its own good, but it's saved by its likable cast and willingness to lean into video game moments." Continuing, "In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Jamie Lee Curtis explained that Cate Blanchett was the number one reason she agreed to be in Borderlands, and the proof is in the final product. From her opening narration to the final sequence of triumph, Blanchett commands the screen and demands my respect and attention. There have been instances where a respected actor can turn out to be too good for the popcorn movie they're in, accidentally weighing down the work instead of elevating it, but that is far from being the case here."

       Benjamin Lee of Guardian writes, "Blanchett, outfitted in sparkly gear and a swoop of bright red hair, deserves credit for not shrinking from a task so far beneath her." Adding, "With its juvenile humor, fast pace and shaky handle on grownup feelings, Borderlands winds up resembling nothing so much as a children’s film that’s too violent for children to actually watch. It’s not the severity of the violence so much as the aesthetic drabness; strange, really, that gorehound Roth bungles a few horror-tinged sequences into a hail of machine-gun fire. (Blame the PG-13 if you must, but CG blood wouldn’t improve matters.) If the recent Dune movies are self-serious Star Wars, and Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon series are bozo-level Dune, then Borderlands is Rebel Moon dumbed further down until it hits a dead end. There can be something freeing about a shameless genre ripoff, whether game-based or not; just look at Resident Evil, Pitch Black or The Fast and the Furious. (Maybe Vin Diesel is the secret sauce.) Borderlands doesn’t seem to quite realize that there’s an art to the steal."

Photo by Felipe Bustillo on Unsplash