Borderlands
Lionsgate | Release Date: August 9, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
26
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
16
Negative:
19
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
50
PolygonSusana PoloAug 9, 2024
Borderlands is the one kind of movie that’s the hardest to get excited about: the kind that lands in the middle space between a project with its own strong identity, and a compromised adaptation trying to play to the masses. It’s tough to live in the borderlands. Read full review
50
ColliderTaylor GatesAug 7, 2024
Borderlands is a fun ride, but a bloated cast and breakneck pacing don’t allow it to reach its full potential. Read full review
42
IndieWireAlison ForemanAug 7, 2024
If granted permission to bring his signature sadism to these infamously batshit characters, Roth could have delivered his “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Instead, restricted by standards that seem equally unlikely to please preteens, he was left holding a bomb. Read full review
40
Film ThreatBenjamin FranzAug 30, 2024
I can only recommend this film for die-hard Eli Roth fangirls or people who want to see what a bad film looks like. If that’s you, Borderlands is for you. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredCharlotte SimmonsAug 12, 2024
One of the best video game movies ever is buried far, far, far beneath this foul, foul, foul thing. Read full review
40
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiAug 8, 2024
All the edges have been sanded down so it can be safe and mainstream, but they went too far and there’s almost nothing left. It’s technically a movie based on 'Borderlands.' Not much else. Read full review
40
NMEJames MottramAug 8, 2024
But as the film lurches into the final third, there’s little emotional sustenance to keep you going. Just one yawn-worthy twist and some dud CGI. Avoid. Read full review
40
The GuardianJesse HassengerAug 8, 2024
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. Read full review
40
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeAug 8, 2024
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. 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. Read full review
40
Screen DailyTim GriersonAug 8, 2024
It’s fleetingly amusing to watch Blanchett flex her wit and grace amidst this motley crew of outsiders and reprobates. But Lilith so easily outclasses everything around her that Borderlands is that rare would-be blockbuster where you wish the main character could get her own standalone feature, just so she can escape this meagre adventure. Read full review
40
EmpireDan JolinAug 8, 2024
A botched Guardians wannabe that isn’t half as fun as you’d hope from the punky sci-fi promise of its video-game source material and the presence of Blanchett at the top of the cast list. Read full review
40
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonAug 8, 2024
You can see the jokes, but most of them don’t land. Still, there is some neat design work if you squint. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyAug 8, 2024
There are snatches of crude enjoyment to be had, if you venture in with basement-level expectations, and manage to ignore some dire third act CGI. Roth’s fetish for gloating nastiness in his other work makes it hard to decry the mutilation of whatever his original vision might have been. For once, he’s at the receiving end of a rusty blade, instead of wielding it Read full review
40
SlashfilmBill BriaAug 7, 2024
Borderlands makes a point of not being different enough to upset the fanbase, but it's also not unique enough to win over new audiences, either. It's a movie for everyone and no one, a film so unwilling to make a splash that it barely makes a peep. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter DebrugeAug 7, 2024
Marketed to look like a cross between “Suicide Squad” and a Zack Snyder movie, director Eli Roth’s tamer-than-expected take on “Borderlands” doesn’t have half the attitude or style its cyberpunk ad campaign might suggest. Read full review
40
Total FilmNeil SmithAug 7, 2024
The Gearbox title gamers loved has spawned a frenetic and disorderly shambles they’re likelier to loathe. Claptrap? You said it. Read full review
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