---
title: "Borderlands: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/borderlands/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/borderlands"
critics_score: 29
critics_reviews: 24
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): what the critics said

Critics' score 29 from 24 reviews: 0 positive, 2 mixed, 22 negative.

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.

## The AV Club — Jarrod Jones

Rating D+. 9 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.avclub.com/borderlands-review)

## Empire — Dan Jolin

Rating 2/5. 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/borderlands/)

## Financial Times

Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.ft.com/content/c66b3fc7-c8d3-40a0-a0a2-5ebf3a12fc9c)

## Radio Times — Dave Golder

Rating 2/5. 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/scifi/borderlands-review/)

## The Telegraph

Rating 2/5. 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/cate-blanchett-borderlands-review/)

## Screen Daily

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/borderlands-review/5196075.article)

## Sight and Sound

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/borderlands-dud-computer-game-adaptation-from-retromeister-eli-roth)

## The Hollywood Reporter — David Rooney

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/borderlands-review-cate-blanchett-kevin-hart-eli-roth-1235966400/)

## Variety — Peter Debruge

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/borderlands-review-cate-blanchett-eli-roth-1236098894/)

## RogerEbert.com — Brian Tallerico

Rating 1/4. 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/borderlands-movie-review-2024)

## Little White Lies — Juan Barquin

Rating 1/1/1. 9 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/borderlands)

## The New York Times — Amy Nicholson

Fi1m's normalised score 20/100 (inferred from the text). 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/08/movies/borderlands-review.html)

## The Times

Fi1m's normalised score 20/100 (inferred from the text). 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/borderlands-film-review-73msbngmb)

## Evening Standard — Vicky Jessop

Fi1m's normalised score 10/100 (inferred from the text). 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/borderlands-review-cate-blanchett-kevin-hart-b1175299.html)

## Los Angeles Times — Carlos Aguilar

Fi1m's normalised score 10/100 (inferred from the text). 9 August 2024. 

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 the review](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

Fi1m's normalised score 10/100 (inferred from the text). 11 August 2024. 

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 the review](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

Fi1m's normalised score 10/100 (inferred from the text). 9 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.vulture.com/article/borderlands-review-a-total-catastrophe.html)

## Film Stories

Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://filmstories.co.uk/film-reviews/borderlands-review-eli-roths-guardians-of-the-galaxy)

## Polygon

Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 9 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.polygon.com/review/24216309/borderlands-movie-review-cate-blanchett)

## Deadline — Pete Hammond

Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 9 August 2024. 

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 the review](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

Rating 4/10. 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/1638717/borderlands-review-cate-blanchett-cant-bring-video-game-movie-to-life/)

## Digital Spy — Laurence Mozafari

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a61819711/borderlands-movie-review/)

## The Wrap — William Bibbiani

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 8 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.thewrap.com/borderlands-review-eli-roth-video-game-cate-blanchett/)

## Paste — Jacob Oller

Rating 2.3/10. 9 August 2024. 

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 the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/videogame-movies/borderlands-review)

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