Predator: Badlands divides Predator purists from moviegoers who simply want to enjoy a gonzo space adventure.
I’m a Predator purist to the point where I don’t even watch the serviceable Predator 2. It goes further than I need with the concept. Sweaty, frightened men in the jungle facing the unknown with machineguns is all I want. Plus, Danny Glover’s huge pants scare me.
On the other hand, I enjoyed the Dark Horse Predator comic books as a lad. And, really, that is the best way to describe Predator: Badlands. It fits right in with those stories.
Only the most minimal spoilers will be revealed in this review…
Predator: Badlands
Predator: Badlands is the third film featuring the alien beastie from franchise “savior” Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane) after Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers. I never saw the latter and gave up on the former when it introduced herbs that “cool the blood,” or, as I call it, “hypothermia,” inevitably followed by “death” if the condition is not rectified.
Nevertheless, people seemed to enjoy Prey. It provided a bit of course correction after the mess that was Shane Black’s The Predator.
Patrick Aison (Wayward Pines) and Brian Duffield (Underwater) penned the screenplay for Predator: Badlands. The story is about a runty Predator rampaging about an alien planet to prove himself. Along the way, he befriends a broken synth and an obviously inspired-by Grogu creature. Mayhem ensues.
From a distance, the story works within its parameters. The viewer roots for the Predator (I refuse to call it a Yautja because my neckbeard is not that thick and luxurious). The synth provides comedy relief, along with exposition. Goals exist. Obstacles develop. A threat emerges. So far, so good. Buddy movie in space. Let’s rock.
Predator: Badlands also references both the Predator and Alien franchises. Weyland-Yutani shows up. Homages are made to the first film, which I almost always consider a mistake. Never remind people of a better movie than the one they are watching.
Visually, the CGI is about what is expected these days. Everything looks vaguely foggy to save on rendering. Sonically, the sound design is excellent, however. Nice and crunchy.
Predator: Bad To The Bone Lands
Predator: Badlands is light on characters, so the viewer doesn’t have to expend much mental energy following multiple storylines.
Elle Fanning plays the broken synth, along with a twin version of her model. Such casting nowadays makes one automatically roll their eyes at the thought of the potential girlbossing, but that is not an issue here. The character is not a girl. The character is a synth, so it is no problem that said synth don’t need no man.
Fanning is the weakest part of the performances. She is a bit miscast because she is not all that funny in a sidekick role. She does better with the other half of the synth equation, however. One can better imagine someone like Aubrey Plaza in these roles, though.
Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi portrays the Predator. For my money, Predators have decreased in acting quality since Kevin Peter Hall passed on. Their go-to move since then is squatting, spreading their arms wide and roaring.
To be sure, Dimitrius does plenty of that. Yet, he also manages to bring more to the role via body language and actually speaking the Predator language. His performance sucks the viewer in. Dimitrius makes the Predator a worthy protagonist and handles the action well.
Said action is entertaining in a video game kind of way. The PG-13 rating is not a huge issue in regard to the violence. Plenty of things get killed. It’s just that none of them are human because no humans populate the movie.
Predator: The Good, The Badlands And The Ugly
So far, this review has been mostly positive. It will now delve a bit into the negatives.
The main problem with concepts like the Predator is that they start out awesome and intriguing. Then “expanding, exploring and explaining” the concept comes into play and ruins it. The more you understand, the less awesome Predators become.
This is because the Three Es inevitably end up making the Predators human. So it is with Predator: Badlands. The Predator is no longer a mysterious alien. Everything it does is relatable to the human experience. If the Predator is truly inhuman, then it should be incomprehensible. Even “hunting for sport” is a human concept at the end of the day.
If creators truly wanted to go Lovecraftian with such things, the Predator should hunt for a completely weird reason. For example, maybe it hunts because the act causes a gland to produce a chemical that makes the sex organs in its ears dry up and fall off so it can taste colors and grow a third leg that detaches to become a star worm.
Granted, that’s ridiculous, but the point is that motivation is alien to human experience.
Viewers will experience zero confusion with the motives displayed in Predator: Badlands. Even though they are watching an alien that doesn’t speak human on an alien planet, everything will make perfect sense to them, as if it is happening in their local park after hours.
Predator: Badlands Or Goodlands?
And that’s really the crux of the matter. It doesn’t pay to rate Predator: Badlands as a Predator purist because that train has sailed. The only way to rate Predator: Badlands is as a gonzo space adventure. In that regard, it is generally entertaining…with a caveat.
Predator: Badlands is basically a kid’s film wearing a Predator skin. Whenever it is on the verge of becoming too bad ass, it immediately pulls back and gets cute. This is disappointing because they could have made things hurt a little bit. They didn’t have to go as far as something like Apocalypto, but more edge would have been welcome.
Predator: Badlands is worth taking a shot at, but if you’re out hunting the best Predator film you can find, it’s already stuffed on your movie shelf.
