If “The Last of Us” (96% & 8.7/10) and “Fallout” (94% & 8.0/10) represent just how great game-to-screen adaptations can be, this week’s “Borderlands” appears to do the exact opposite.
The embargo on reviews for the Eli Roth-directed adaptation was lifted this morning and with 24 reviews counted, the film has achieved a very rare feat on critics aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes – a perfect 0% score (with an average 3.3/10 rating).
On Metacritic, it currently holds a 32/100 score – which makes it the fifth worst-reviewed film of the 298 released so far this year in the site’s database.
There, the film is being beaten to the worst title only by “Madame Web” (26), the “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey” sequel (27), Chris Pine’s “Poolman” (29) and “The Garfield Movie” (31). Here’s a sampling of review quotes:
“In her chameleonic career, Cate Blanchett has donned many guises — but never before has she had the chance to be a gun-toting, ass-kicking action star. Sadly, Borderlands is an unworthy vehicle for her swaggering performance.” – Tim Grierson, Screen
“Is Borderlands the worst film of the year? It’s definitely in contention — so laughably bad, in fact, that it feels like being catapulted back to a time when video game adaptations were a byword for mediocrity.” – Vicky Jessop, London Evening Standard
“When done right, such biting self-parody can serve to excuse tired storytelling. Alas, Borderlands arrives so close on the heels of Deadpool & Wolverine that it feels like a belly flop to that film’s cannonball.” – Peter DeBruge, Variety
“The definitive worst film of Roth’s career and another strike against AAA games brought to the big screen.” – Allison Foreman, Indiewire
“Since the characters remain one-dimensional — not much more than cartoonish gamer avatars — we’re never terribly invested in their survival, or their quest to get to the vault first.” – David Rooney, THR
“Borderlands is the worst kind of bad movie; the type devoid of any offbeat quirks that could propel it to a second life as a cult classic, feeling insufferable and overlong at a brisk 102 minutes because of its sheer lack of originality.” – Allstair Ryder, AwardsWatch
“It’s impressive how Roth can elicit the poor quality of 2000s video game adaptation energy yet somehow forget the discernable sense of fun or style that made even those terrible movies stand out.” – Giovanni Lago, Next Best Picture
“It’s just disappointing that the source material has so much more to offer in terms of its layered characters and complicated themes of trauma and survival that the film seems either uninterested in or incapable of tapping into.” – Taylor Gates, Collider
The poor results were not unexpected with the $120 million budgeted film shot over three years ago and running into a few hiccups along the way. The film is tipped to only gross around $10-13 million for its opening weekend from Friday.
