On the planet of Yautja Prime, a runt predator named Dek (played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) wants to prove himself as a true hunter by travelling to the planet of Genna and killing the Kalisk, an apex predator which is seen as unkillable. After crash-landing on the hostile planet and seeing all the various threats he must face to find his prey, he encounters Thia (played by Elle Fanning), a disassembled synthetic humanoid who barely survived an encounter with the Kalisk. She agrees to help lead Dek to the creature in order to hopefully reunite with her synthetic ‘sister’, Tessa (also played by Fanning), who (unbeknownst to the both of them) has actually been reprogrammed by her superiors to track down Dek (as he’s seen as a threat to their plans), leaving this fearsome alien warrior as the only real prey on this planet.
PREDATOR: BADLANDS is efficiently crafted and cleanly executed, providing an engaging flick with solid characters, a pretty memorable environment, wonderfully violent action scenes, and enough investment in the scripting and direction to prove this franchise is in good hands, even if the slight Disney meddling holds it back from its true potential.
Director Dan Trachtenberg has done a pretty good job bringing passion and interest back into a nearly 40-year-old series, with this latest entry feeling very consumer-friendly and palatable, playing on enough franchise-defining qualities to cater to long-time fans and hit on what made this series originally popular, but sprinkling in just enough new ideas to offer a fresh new direction moving forward.
The overall plot in this written by Trachtenberg and screenwriter Patrick Aison is quite well set up, presenting a fairly standard narrative of an underestimated individual proving their worth by facing harsh odds, but when viewed through the lens of this iconic species, it fits very naturally and is elevated through some very solid direction by Trachtenberg.
Any moment without dialogue feels nicely stoic and grounded, which when paired with the quick-to-grasp characters and creatively harsh environment, makes for a clear but connectable viewing experience that doesn’t have much subtlety, but wears its emotions on its sleeve as a trade-off. It’s pretty playful and easy to get invested in thanks to its likeable characters and brisk pacing, and drops in just enough fun titbits of world building to make people want to see what else could come from this new direction
With that said, PREDATOR: BADLANDS feels pretty different from past entries, mainly because it’s under the thumb of Disney, and their apparent involvement does conflict with the film’s intentions. While never to the point of painful, the potential for a dramatic, gritty and even heavy story is constantly weakened by Disney’s ‘’all-ages’’ mentality, which is further promoted thanks to the very kiddish comedy and dialogue.
The character interactions are worded in a very obvious fashion, their dynamics could be interesting, but are dumbed down by not being explored further, and even though the pieces are fine and the general delivery is still fun and engaging, it’s turned what used to be a message-driven gritty action property, into a more appealing space-faring sci-adventure in the vein of Star Wars, which can feel a little jarring.
Letting a Predator be the lead instead of the villain in one of these movies was a great way to shake things up and spark interest with fans, and while these creatures weren’t made to be expressive and sympathetic due to their very creepy insectoid facial features, the mixture of motion capture, VFX work, and a convincing body suit manages to retain that familiarly grotesque look while still providing an expressive and connectable leading character.
Dek isn’t the most complicated role, but his quick-to-grasp goal and mindset make him easy to relate to, and his physicality (which is portrayed very naturally by Schuster-Koloamatangi thanks to his work as a stunt performer) really lends into the primitive hunting aspect of the role and species, so it was a pivot worth taking.
To compensate for the lead’s lack of dialogue, Elle Fanning is the more talkative and emotionally driven of the bunch, and while stuck with dialogue that can lean into overly cheesy territories, her talent as an actress still allows her to form a believable dynamic with Dek. The characters sadly aren’t as interesting as they could’ve been, (even with all the right pieces being available), which is a consequence of Disney’s covering up any sense of dramatic heft, but they still make for memorable leads.
Considering the extensive visual effects work required for this movie, the budget of $105 million (which while reasonable by today’s standards, is still moderately high) makes sense even with the very minimal cast. Thankfully, while none of the visuals are astounding and the parallels to Star Wars are continually felt in some of the creature designs due to being provided by Industrial Light & Magic, this isn’t the case for all the flora and fauna, as the actual planet of Geena is pretty cool as a setting.
Every part of its agriculture and wildlife feels reminiscent of real-world environments yet is still creative enough in its design to feel distinct, whether it’s sentient vines, cacti with paralysing quills, or literal ‘blades’ of grass. It’s fun in a way that doesn’t take away from the effectively edgy portion of this universe and allows for a lot of great environment shots handled by Jeff Cutter.
The action is nicely filmed, contains a lot of high-flying movements and stunts that are elevated by the effects but still feel grounded enough during the close-quarter moments to not feel fake, and even though the movie faced some criticism for its PG-13 rating (making it the first in this franchise not to be R-rated), it still contains a lot of gooey and ‘’gory’’ sequences (the blood just isn’t red, so it somehow isn’t as scary?!).
The musical score by Sarah Schachner and Benjamin Wallfisch can get drowned out on occasion, but is nice when heard, and the inclusion of tribal chanting adds a bit of weight and scale to a familiar sounding orchestration.
PREDATOR: BADLANDS isn’t a game-changer and doesn’t match its more aggressive brethren now that Disney saw the profits that could be gained from it, but the end results are still entertaining, fun and show promise for where this series could go in the future. Trachtenberg has guided this revival with steadiness and continually given people what they wanted while still offering fresh takes, and this film is no different. The direction is lively and has doses of a more grounded approach, Dek and Thia are good leads, the location is fun, there’s some cool action, and the layout of the story is simple yet effective, but the overall silly vibe to the writing and basic direction of the story and characters, holds it back from being a true apex.
