---
title: "Borderlands"
year: 2024
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/borderlands"
fi1m_score: 32
critics_score: 29
critics_reviews: 24
published: "2026-09-16T15:34:43.975287+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-16T15:34:56.060082+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Borderlands (2024)

Directed by Eli Roth · 1h 41m · MPA PG-13 · Action, Science Fiction, Comedy

**Fi1m score: 32** · Critics 29 from 24 reviews

*In a sentence:* Cate Blanchett gives the gunfire rather more attention than anyone gave the jokes

> Eli Roth’s *Borderlands* wastes an energetic Cate Blanchett on muddled shootouts and jokes that scarcely register. There is colour in the costumes, but little pleasure in spending 101 minutes with this underwritten company.

## Synopsis

Bounty hunter Lilith (Cate Blanchett) moves through a science-fiction wasteland, using her guns while the people around her try to explain what is happening. Her story brings together Roland (Kevin Hart), Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) and Krieg (Florian Munteanu), alongside Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Claptrap (voiced by Jack Black). The opening introduces the setting and its inhabitants through exposition, with Lilith at the centre of an adventure that moves between frequent gunfights and the exchanges of its assembled characters.

## Review

*Borderlands* wants the easy pleasure of a science-fiction adventure in which an ill-matched group argues its way through danger. Eli Roth directs as though keeping everyone busy will make them interesting, but the shooting and wisecracks do not conceal how little there is to care about. It is a poor action comedy, with an energetic Cate Blanchett badly let down by the material. The opening exposition gets us off to a weary start.

The screenplay by Eli Roth and Joe Crombie has difficulty making its explanations clear, then expects us to invest in people it has barely established. Information arrives without giving the characters enough purpose, and the jokes do little to distinguish them from one another. Exposition can be painless when somebody has a reason to resist what they are being told. Here it feels like preliminary work that the finished film should have done for us.

Cate Blanchett at least makes Lilith’s readiness to fire a gun seem like a choice somebody has made. Her commitment to the action gives the film occasional energy, and there is pleasure in watching a performer take such unpromising material seriously. Kevin Hart, as Roland, and Jack Black, voicing Claptrap, fare worse with characters that give their comic abilities little use. Ariana Greenblatt has energy as Tiny Tina, but too much of the comedy depends on loudness. The cast cannot make the group feel close simply by being kept together.

Evan Henke and Julian Clarke’s editing makes the shootouts particularly wearing. The cuts do not give us a secure sense of where anyone is in relation to anyone else, so the danger is difficult to judge. We were bored by the fighting because we kept having to work out what was happening before we could care about it. An action comedy should not make keeping track of its action such a chore.

Rogier Stoffers’s cinematography does offer colour, and it would be unfair to call every image lifeless. Yet the busy frames rarely give the eye a useful place to settle, a problem compounded by the clutter of Andrew Menzies’s production design. Daniel Orlandi’s costumes provide some welcome playfulness, even when the characters wearing them do not. There are things here worth looking at. Too often they are competing for attention inside a scene that already has trouble making itself understood.

Steve Jablonsky’s music does not make these thinly written encounters any more involving. A score has limited means of rescuing a scene when nobody in it has been given anything interesting to want or say. Against the ordinary standards of an ensemble science-fiction comedy, the shortfall is plain: the squabbling should be funny, and the growing attachment should make the danger matter. Here we spend too much time waiting for either to happen.

Even at 101 minutes, the film drags between its brief bursts of energy. The performers need space to build relationships, and repeated gunfire keeps taking it away. Bright costumes and a willing lead are meagre compensation for an evening spent trying to find a reason to care about the rest of the company. If Cate Blanchett is the attraction, choose something that gives her more to do.

*Fi1m score 32, published 16 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics find Borderlands a bland, incoherent adaptation that loses the games’ unruly humour without finding much of its own. The reviews repeatedly fault stale jokes, generic plotting and action that offers little excitement or clarity. Praise centres on Cate Blanchett, whose commitment and charisma give several critics something to enjoy amid the muddle. A smaller number also credit the colourful visuals and costumes, though complaints about poor effects and wasted performers are more common.

The disagreement concerns how much entertainment survives, rather than whether the film succeeds: none of the 24 reviews is positive. Film Stories finds disposable fun in the cast and visuals, while Polygon enjoys the lively action and costumes despite weak storytelling and emotional stakes. Both stop at mixed verdicts. Even Blanchett divides opinion: The Guardian finds her miscast and disengaged, rejecting the chief consolation identified by several other reviews.

### Reviews we read (24)

- **The AV Club**, Jarrod Jones (D+): The compromised adaptation is a scuzzy, regressive grind through a visual wasteland that feels like feature-length cutscenes without catharsis or coherence. The critic singles out Cate Blanchett’s committed action performance as a fleeting bright spot amid the tonal mess and reshoots. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/borderlands-review)
- **Empire**, Dan Jolin (2/5): The film is a botched Guardians of the Galaxy wannabe that fails to capture the source material's punky energy or fun, with stale wisecracks, off-balance characters, and sloppy post-production assembly. Blanchett gives it her all as the lead but cannot salvage the clunky, forgettable result. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/borderlands/)
- **Financial Times** (40/100, inferred): The critic sees the film as a strenuously trashy, sweetened video-game adaptation that botches its edgy source material into something mild and doomed at the box office. Blanchett’s unkillable charisma is one of the few faint signs of interest amid the green-screen mess. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/c66b3fc7-c8d3-40a0-a0a2-5ebf3a12fc9c)
- **Radio Times**, Dave Golder (2/5): The critic finds no real spark in this bland video game adaptation that feels lifeless and over-engineered. They single out the contrived anarchy and juvenile humour lacking the wit or heart of comparable films like Guardians of the Galaxy. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/scifi/borderlands-review/)
- **The Telegraph** (2/5): The critic calls the expensive sci-fi action comedy an intergalactic car crash that is zippy but neutered and baffling in almost every respect. Blanchett’s involvement is especially puzzling given the film’s troubled production and lack of freshness. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/cate-blanchett-borderlands-review/)
- **Screen Daily** (30/100, inferred): The review finds it an uninspiring adaptation where Cate Blanchett outguns everything around her. They single out the lack of originality in spectacle or laughs and the sense that the film is an unworthy vehicle for its star. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/borderlands-review/5196075.article)
- **Sight and Sound** (30/100, inferred): The critic calls it a dud computer game adaptation that joins the list of derivative, throwaway entries in the genre. They single out its recycled material and the sense that Roth and the production team added another layer of redundancy without engaging meaningfully with the source. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/borderlands-dud-computer-game-adaptation-from-retromeister-eli-roth)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney (30/100, inferred): The film is a stale and unexciting sci-fi action comedy that wastes its stacked cast in rote, momentum-lacking shootouts and underdeveloped characters. The critic singles out the messy storytelling and shoddy CGI that prevent any real emotional bonds from forming. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/borderlands-review-cate-blanchett-kevin-hart-eli-roth-1235966400/)
- **Variety**, Peter Debruge (30/100, inferred): The critic finds it strange to see Blanchett slumming in a middling video game movie that is predictable and generic. Roth’s tamer-than-expected take lacks attitude or style, depriving audiences of the surprise that makes the source material appealing, resulting in a familiar Guardians of the Galaxy knockoff formula. [Read](https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/borderlands-review-cate-blanchett-eli-roth-1236098894/)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Brian Tallerico (1/4): The critic finds the film an abysmal, ugly, boring, and inept adaptation that fails to capture anything worthwhile from the games. The action sequences are incoherent and there is no memorable comedy or character work. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/borderlands-movie-review-2024)
- **Little White Lies**, Juan Barquin (1/1/1): The review deems it rage-quit worthy video game slop and a joyless slog despite Cate Blanchett. They single out the lifeless opening exposition dump and the overall bare-minimum effort from everyone involved. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/borderlands)
- **The New York Times**, Amy Nicholson (20/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as a cluttered caper based on the video game that throws everything at the screen without coherence. Blanchett's trigger-happy bounty hunter keeps killing characters before they can explain the plot, resulting in a haphazard script full of unanswered questions. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/08/movies/borderlands-review.html)
- **The Times** (20/100, inferred): The critic finds it mesmerisingly inept to watch a great actress like Blanchett flail in an awful action movie with a poor American accent and barked lines. Roth is clueless at sci-fi staging and world-building, resulting in a derivative, pointless mess. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/borderlands-film-review-73msbngmb)
- **Evening Standard**, Vicky Jessop (10/100, inferred): This is an impressively awful video-game adaptation and a strong contender for the worst film of the year, with a nonsensical plot, hackneyed writing, cartoonish third-act twists, and paper-thin characters that waste a strong cast. It borrows shamelessly from better films like Mad Max and Fallout while failing to deliver on its own terms. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/borderlands-review-cate-blanchett-kevin-hart-b1175299.html)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Carlos Aguilar (10/100, inferred): The critic calls the film a game-to-screen misfire that is atrociously uninspired and thoroughly bad. It is an insipid mishmash of trite genre tropes with the worst not-even-trying writing of any theatrically released production that year, feeling like a boring ride through a barren landscape. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-08-09/borderlands-review-eli-roth-cate-blanchett-video-game-jamie-lee-curtis-kevin-hart)
- **The Guardian** (10/100, inferred): The critic deems Eli Roth’s reshoot-plagued film abysmal and incoherent, even by the low standards of video-game adaptations. Particular scorn is reserved for shoddy effects and the shrill, annoying child performance, with Blanchett clearly miscast and disengaged. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/aug/11/borderlands-review-cate-blanchett-stalks-her-way-through-a-disastrous-video-game-adaptation-eli-roth)
- **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (10/100, inferred): The film is a total catastrophe—shredded, incoherent, and abysmally bad due to extensive reshoots and salvage attempts that stripped away personality and logic. The critic singles out the jumbled action scenes and lack of payoff or narrative sense. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/borderlands-review-a-total-catastrophe.html)
- **Film Stories** (50/100, inferred): The critic finds Borderlands a fun but disappointingly uneven video game adaptation that is serviceable and disposable. They single out the talented cast (especially Blanchett) and colourful visuals for praise while noting it fails to capture the games' specific look and tone. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/film-reviews/borderlands-review-eli-roths-guardians-of-the-galaxy)
- **Polygon** (50/100, inferred): The movie is neither particularly good nor bad, succeeding at lively action and fun costumes but failing at narrative cohesion and emotional connection to its characters or stakes. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/review/24216309/borderlands-movie-review-cate-blanchett)
- **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (40/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a colorful but nonsensical mess that fails to engage or launch a franchise despite its high production values. Blanchett's performance as the lead is singled out as the one element that makes the movie watchable and credible. [Read](https://deadline.com/2024/08/borderlands-review-cate-blanchett-rocking-red-wig-livens-up-eli-roths-mess-of-a-video-game-adaptation-1236035363/)
- **/Film**, Bill Bria (4/10): The critic concludes that eye candy visuals and a gun-toting Cate Blanchett cannot bring this video game movie to life. They single out the candy-colored visuals and cast performances for limited praise while criticizing the generic storyline, toothless violence, and lack of jokes or personality. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1638717/borderlands-review-cate-blanchett-cant-bring-video-game-movie-to-life/)
- **Digital Spy**, Laurence Mozafari (30/100, inferred): The film is a bland, middling video-game adaptation that fails to capture the source material's zany energy or humor despite strong visuals and a stacked cast. It wastes talented performers like Kevin Hart and Jack Black on underdeveloped heroic archetypes and feels like a trudge rather than an outrageous romp. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a61819711/borderlands-movie-review/)
- **The Wrap**, William Bibbiani (30/100, inferred): The review deems the adaptation mediocre and uninteresting, a bland mainstream product that sands down all edges until little remains. Blanchett's energetic, larger-than-life action-hero performance is highlighted as the sole entertaining aspect amid the lackluster results. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/borderlands-review-eli-roth-video-game-cate-blanchett/)
- **Paste**, Jacob Oller (2.3/10): The film is a generic, poorly adapted fetch-quest narrative that fails to capture the games' irreverence or style, with miscast actors and cheap production values turning it into a catastrophe. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/videogame-movies/borderlands-review)

## Details

- **Director:** Eli Roth
- **Director:** Eli Roth
- **Screenplay:** Joe Crombie, Eli Roth
- **Cinematography:** Rogier Stoffers
- **Editor:** Evan Henke, Julian Clarke
- **Music:** Steve Jablonsky
- **Production design:** Andrew Menzies
- **Costume design:** Daniel Orlandi
- **Producer:** Avi Arad, Ari Arad, Erik Feig
- **Cast:** Cate Blanchett as Lilith; Kevin Hart as Roland; Edgar Ramírez as Atlas; Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis; Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina; Florian Munteanu as Krieg; Janina Gavankar as Knoxx; Jack Black as Claptrap (voice)
- **Runtime:** 1h 41m
- **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13
- **Release (the US):** 9 August 2024
- **Genres:** Action, Science Fiction, Comedy
- **Budget:** $115 million
- **Box office:** $33 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icnysn53neU

## Where to watch in the US

- Peacock: streaming, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd

*Checked 2026-09-16.*

Also available in: AT, AU, BR, CA, CL, CO, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, IN, IT, JP, LT, MX, NO, NZ, PL, SE, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Fifth Element* (1997): Another unruly space adventure, with clearer action and characters worth the trouble.
- *Tank Girl* (1995): For a wasteland adventure with a less apologetic approach to bad behaviour.
- *Space Sweepers* (2021): A scruffy space crew whose bickering allows some affection to develop.
- *Attack the Block* (2011), Fi1m 84: Combative company, alien trouble and action that keeps its neighbourhood in view. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/attack-the-block.md)
- *The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension* (1984): Stranger science fiction that trusts its peculiar people to hold our attention.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/borderlands