Video game adaptations have always had a bad rap, but in recent memory at least, things seem to be turning a corner. We’ve done well at the box office, if not Astonishinghome movies, e.g. Sonic series, lighting series super mario bros. movies, and Detective Pikachuwhile streaming has brought us a veritable boon of Hitman game adaptations, such as arcane, the last of usand Castlevania. But perhaps like the humor of its source material, Borderlands The movies are back, reminding us with a dull thump how bad things used to be.
Eli Roth’s adaptation of the iconic Gearbox sci-fi shooter series has been flooded with reviews ahead of the film’s release this week. Borderlands As of this writing, it only holds a 3% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes. So, how bad is this movie? As it turns out, the answer is “extreme.”
“The biggest problem with Eli Roth is Borderlands It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just that it’s not interesting enough to be called bad. This is mass-produced food,” William Bibbiani wrote on The Wrap. “All the edges were sanded off to make it safe and mainstream, but they went too far and left almost nothing. Technically, this is a movie based on Borderlands. Nothing else.
“Super stylized style Borderlands The game only replicates it on the most superficial level, and with a PG-13 rating, all the severed body gore, dirty humor, and uniquely insane themes are replaced with mass-market recycled blandness,” IGN’s Matt Matt Donato added. “This is the worst case scenario Borderlands A movie that goes against everything Borderlands represents a series – a tragic failure.
“Conceivably, long-time fans of video games might get more out of it Borderlandsbut I wouldn’t count on it,” concluded The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney. “At one point, Claptrap resumes operational mode after being hit by a heavy weapons attack and says, ‘I blacked out. Did something important happen? It’s not in this movie.
Even amid the vitriolic put-downs and odd stack-ups, and despite an obviously wasted cast — which includes Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Ariana Greenblatt — critics Can agree on one thing except BorderlandsWhat’s noticeably lacking in quality is that at least noted garden chainsaw enthusiast Cate Blanchett has a pleasant time playing the film’s protagonist, psychic bounty hunter Lilith. In fact, the theme of most reviews so far seems to be confusion over Blanchett signing on to the film in the first place.
“Blanchett seems to enjoy strutting around in a tight leather suit with a holster strapped to her hip, ready for a lightning-fast shootout,” Rooney’s review continued. “But the character’s portrayal is weak and cut from the familiar template of the tough, cynical, clinical female action figure. Anyone hoping Blanchett can bring more campy authority Thor: Ragnarok Not getting anything in return.
“Blanchett makes little attempt to make her protagonist a three-dimensional character,” said Nick Schag of The Daily Beast. “While this is sensible (as the script makes such an endeavor impossible), her cool demeanor is painfully unconvincing, as are her faux-saucy quips and threats.”
“Chance [for Blanchett] Channeling her inner Clint Eastwood may also have played a role. Maybe she just wants to play an action hero in a potential franchise film filled with visual effects,” mused David Fear of Rolling Stone. “What we want is a time machine that can take us back to the moment when Ms. Blanchett first picked up the ‘script’ for this evil disaster and begged: Don’t do this.”
Maybe then, not even Blanchett can save us from the dark ages of game adaptations. “Go and play Borderlands shooter. Go watch 6 hours of gameplay footage on YouTube. Take several chlamydia tests in a row. Each of these options is more useful than this and far less painful. Ouch.
Borderlands It opens tomorrow, August 9th.
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