Even die-hard Borderlands fans are having trouble finding the good in the game franchise’s first movie adaptation.
Initially announced in 2020, Lionsgate Films’ Borderlands adaptation finally hit theaters around the world on August 9, 2024. The long gestation period didn’t guarantee the project any big wins, however.
Borderlands’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes stalled out at 0 percent shortly after the first reviews went live. As of writing, the rating sits at a meager 6 percent based on 72 critic reviews. Meanwhile, the audience score has barely cracked a 50 percent rating.
Critics slammed the film for failing to match the franchise’s wild and wacky antics, which were traded in for a boring action-comedy. Early impressions from fans of the games tend to agree with this line of thinking, too.
Borderlands fan and Reddit user Tonicpunch went as far as critiquing the film for not even feeling like the source material. They likened it to a bland action movie, one with “generic guns” and Borderlands branding “pasted on top.”
To the Redditor, some of the film’s worst offenses relate to how it portrays the main cast. “The characters do not have the personality they have in the games,” having already lamented that Tiny Tina lacks the energy of someone who’s usually wild and untethered from reality. She’s instead cast as a run-of-the-mill bomb expert.
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Claptrap’s characterization similarly misses the mark, thanks to “badly written jokes” that feel out of place. Apparently, Jack Black’s casting hardly helps since his portrayal seems at odds with the game series.
Kevin Hart’s casting as Roland has received the most complaints from critics and fans. Tonicpunch blasts Hart’s “wisecracking” approach, which gives too much energy to a stoic soldier figure like Roland.
Borderlands content creator Joltzdude questioned the film’s PG-13 rating, arguing that the absence of the series’ trademark gore represented a “missed opportunity.”
The YouTuber also expressed disappointment in the fan service elements, which felt “forced” more often than not. According to Joltzdude, random NPC and map names get tossed around for the fun of it. And while some famous locations like Caustic Caverns do appear, they pale in comparison to their gaming counterparts.
After a series of hits with the likes of The Last of Us, Twisted Metal, and Fallout, Borderlands has revived the bad video game adaptation.
