
With the long-awaited Borderlands movie arriving in cinemas later this week, a few first impressions have begun hitting the web and social media over the past few hours, and unfortunately the majority of them appear to be negative.
The most critical of these impressions are describing the film as a "disaster" and even the "worst movie of the year", with reviewers taking to social media to share their early thoughts ahead of the full review embargo lifting on Thursday:
Now, we should reiterate that the full review embargo for Borderlands doesn't lift until Thursday, so we're bound to see more positive impressions show up as well, but this early reaction suggests the film will be far from a critical darling.
That's not to say there aren't any positive impressions already - here are a couple to balance things out:
You'll be able to judge the movie for yourself when it releases later this week, and if it ends up putting you in a Borderlands gaming mood, you'll be glad to know that the franchise is currently having a huge sale on the Xbox Store!
Will you be watching the Borderlands movie regardless of the reviews? Tell us in the comments below.
Comments 32
Not surprising. My hopes fell as soon as the first reveal trailer was shown.
@Tyrant_T103 Kevin Hart as Roland was enough to know this was going to be horribly miscast.
I'm still optimistic it will be enjoyable to watch. For me critics don't really seem to grade movies, games, books, etc on sheer entertainment value enough. There are so many of each that were labeled "bad" or "trash" by critics that I had a fun time with. Maybe don't expect a masterpiece of modern cinema here but it can still be fun to watch. Sometimes those 6's or 7's end up being my favorite games, movies, etc.
Words like screenplay, set design, script, emotion,etc are not really what I expect high marks on from a videogame adaption.
I also find it hilarious that the same critics that reviewed movies like Schindler's list are also tasked with putting a review score on movies like borderlands, assassins creed, street fighter, etc.
Didn't even like the games that much, doubt the movie would interest me.
I could never understand why Tiny Tina became such a focus. I always found her obnoxious.
A movie like this was always going to live/die by how funny it was and the special effects. Seems to be about right in where it landed. The budget for this was never going to be Disney kind of money….
It's Borderlands it's never going to be a deep or heartfelt movie. If it manages stupid & immature then it's a good Borderlands movie because that's what the games are and it's that that makes them fun, imo
There is nothing wrong with a movie just being fun to watch & giving you a couple of three laughs along the way.
I will have to wait till this hits a streaming service to find out as I don't do cinemas anymore.
What a movie based on a video game didn't live up to the hype? Like that as never happened before. Anyone remember Street Fighter, Doom, Super Mario Bros? Seriously did they think Borderlands would have been the one? Just look at the games themselves.
To be fair you could tell it's trash by the trailers so not sure this is surprising anyone
And in other news water is wet
Hardly anyone thought this was going to be good it's taken forever after reshoots
Me myself didn't get excited soon as I saw the reveal trailer and casting and I'm a big borderlands gamer
@WhiteRabbit judging by the names I've been called on Facebook for daring to say this film looks crap, I'd say yes 😂😂
@WhiteRabbit I know right? But on the plus side, I learned that because I think this film looks crap, I am in fact a (checks notes) "sad g*mp". 🤷🤣
Id say it's ok people are too harsh nowadays it will be serviceable even if it's not 100% like the games!
So basically, this is Borderlands, then?
So then it's a perfect 1-1 representation of the games, Borderlands fans rejoice 🎉
The casting already told me this was gonna suck hard
Good to hear! keep screwing up media for the “modern audience”. they never learn
If you say something is OK or alright then you don't get clicks so you have to say that what you are reviewing is the best thing since sliced bread or the worst thing since you ate that turd sandwich. The internet deals only in extremes.
I'll just rewatch the Guardians of the Galaxy films for the 200th time, thank you very much.
Randy Pitchford's Borderlands. Sigh.
I don't care WHAT reviewers are saying. This is easily one of my most anticipated movies of the year, and I CANNOT wait to go see it. I love the Borederlands franchise, and every trailer I've seen looks like there is a lot from the games actually moved onto the screen. I also absolutely love trash, b-rate, bad sci-fi movies, so if this falls into that category I will STILL love it. Very much looking forward to this one!
One simple twist will make fans enjoy it more.
It's an in universe film butchering the events of the first two games.m being watched by the game characters
If Borderlands is the worst movie they've seen all year then they clearly haven't seen My Spy: The Eternal City!
Saw the trailer at a cinema and Cate Blanchett's character made me cringe hard. Jamie Lee Curtis turned One Piece down for this too.
I had no idea this was a thing. I would have thought that borderlands would have been a terrible movie because the plot is a bit drunk. Sounds like that didn’t change. I wonder how fans will take it.
Also I can never guess what roles Cate Blanchette will take on… love that about her.
@WhiteRabbit if it means I'd have to stop saying the Borderlands film looks crap, I'll keep my gimpiness at its current mood 👍
@Highlar I genuinely didn't expect anyone to have a positive comment about this film. I hope this film is a 10/10 for you, for good or bad reasons.
You had to know with Kevin and Jack it was going to be a disaster. The trailer felt like a cheap grab at gamers to try and land a new franchise.
@Moby Jack Black as Clap Trap is probably the only thing about this movie that made sense to me. Kevin Hart makes absolutely no sense as Roland, that casting alone told me all I needed to know about this movie.
The entire cast appears to have been the first misstep; Kevin Hart as Roland for one. Roland tall and lean, Hart not! Roland was a dry character, Hart plays him for laughs. They needed a younger actress for Tiny Tina too, and whilst Jack Black was not an immediate red flag for me, I never understood why they did not simply go with the original voice actor for Claptrap. After all, he cannot be seen, just heard. Finally they went for an O.A.P. to play Lilith! I mean, Blanchette is at least 20 years too old for the role, and probably nearer 30.
It's all well and good trying to get big names in the roles, but you need to get the casting right in the first place. A cast of unknowns, but of the right ages and appearance, and played as they are in the games would possibly have at least made the fans of the games a lot happier, but they went for big names instead, and this is the result. They have tried to make a comedy from a series of games in which the only truly comedic character is Claptrap. Yes there is humour, but the games are not comedies. Hopefully this film will die quietly, and in a few years we will get a better representation of the games on the big screen, just please, not with this cast...
So the best bit of the movie is the actual geriatric they cast as their female lead? Got it.
Borderlands has been dead since the sacrilegious boxart of the 3rd game. Any series that goes out of its way to attack Christians without also attacking Jews, Muslims, and atheists isn't even worth the effort it takes to scrape it from the bottom of my shoe.
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