The first reviews are out for Borderlands, and they paint a sad picture. Could this be the worst video game movie ever made?
Borderlands is set to become the worst reviewed video game movie of all time. The genre is cursed, this time fatally.
Worse Than The Far Cry Movie
At the time of writing, Borderlands currently sits at 29 out of 100 on Metacritic, which puts it between Hitman: Agent 47 (2015) and Silent Hill (2006). Borderlands is the 11th worst video game movie of all time on Metacritic, but we think it might go even lower.
And what about Rotten Tomatoes? Well, right now, the Tomatometer from the critics says 6 %. And from reading them, it sounds like the movie is as barren as the wasteland itself.
What Went Wrong?
As the reviews made clear. EVERYTHING! The story is about Lilith (Cate Blanchett), who is trying to find the missing daughter of Atlas to open one of the famous Vaults of Pandora. And to do so, she needs to gather a crew of misfits to help.
Like the game itself, the films plot isn't the strongest, but what makes the game so fantastic are the characters and the ugly but funny world. And that is what the movie doesn't have.
As IGN says:
Eli Roth is no James Gunn, and this film has none of the lovable lunatics, awe-striking sci-fi visuals, and out-of-this-world storytelling of Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy.
And what is Borderlands without the lunatics? Just an empty desert.
Another big factor is the cast. Cate Blanchett, two-time Oscar winner; Jami Lee Curtis, one Oscar; James Black and Kevin Hart, also act for a living. How can they mess this up? Maybe this was just not their roles. Critics say, this was a big miscast. For a film about a group of funny misfits, this sounds terrible.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see how the film works out for ourselves.
What do you think? Are you still excited about the Borderlands movie, or has the hype cooled off after those reviews?