Borderlands Reviews Are Out & No One’s Dancing

The Borderlands film adaptation helmed by Eli Roth still has one day before it lands in theatres but reviews have come out, and it’s not scoring well.

There was some hope — despite trailers raising even more questions on how the adaptation would play out — remaining among fans of the Gearbox gaming franchise that the Borderlands film adaptation would embrace the zany spirit that made the games so popular. But now that reviews are out, it appears critics have condemned the film. CGMagazine’s review from Shakyl Lambert scored the film an abysmal 2 out of 10 and claims even the A-list group of actors didn’t help the issue. He states “Cate Blanchett is one of the best actresses of our time, but you couldn’t tell here with the way she phones it in as Lilith, a character whose personality in the film can be reduced to “active disinterest.”

Other critics have also blasted the film, with Metacritic sporting a very low 32% out of 18 reviews, with only a single positive review. Rotten Tomatoes paints an even worse picture, with an astoundingly low 3% out of 30 critical reviews (also with only one positive review). Borderlands, even when compared with other video game film adaptations still doesn’t do much better. The poorly received Super Mario Bros. live-action film from 1993, received a higher score, sporting a 35% among critics on the Metacritic website. The universally (by fans and critics alike) condemned Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (which came out in 2009) still holds a worse critical score of 17%.

While critical reviews are still coming out for Borderlands , the film releases globally in theatres tomorrow August 9. Until then, fans can join the conversation over on the official Borderlands Reddit, where fans have taken to discuss the critical reception thus far.