Quick Summary
Borderlands didn’t wow critics on release in cinemas, but now you’ll be able to check it out at home.
It’s getting a streaming release already, arriving on Friday, 30 August.
We can’t speak for everyone, but we spent pretty much a year getting extremely tired of seeing the trailer for Borderlands literally every single time we went to the movies – it was one of those films that seemed like it would never actually come out.
Now that it has, though, it’s become obvious why it took quite a chunk of time to hit cinemas after wrapping up filming. It got lumped with some pretty bad reviews, and that seems to have affected its box office – so much so that it’s already on its way to streaming platforms.
It’s been confirmed that Borderlands will be available to rent or buy digitally from 30 August, at least in the US, where it’ll cost $24.99 to buy and $19.99 to rent.
That’s quite a pricy ask, although it’s also no different to any other movie fresh on the streaming scene – you just might want to read up on Borderlands before committing. After all, it debuted with a feeble 10% score on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, which is damning.
Audiences have been a little kinder, averaging out to a 53% score, although that’s still hardly an indication that it’s in line to become a cult favourite or anything.
Reviewers have focused on the fact that it doesn’t feel particularly like a love letter to the explosive games that it’s based on.
This isn’t purely down to odd casting, but people have made a big deal about a now 55-year-old Cate Blanchett being an peculiar choice to play the Siren Lilith, and the same goes for the diminutive Kevin Hart playing the towering soldier Roland.
Still, it’s clear that there are some fun action scenes and a decent amount of chemistry at times, so if you are a big fan of the game series there’s no reason not to dip your toe in and see what you think of the movie.
Even if it’s just a throwback to the days when videogame adaptations were universally bad instead of fan favourites, that’s still at least a little fun.
