Movie Review: Predator: Badlands

It’s interesting to see a filmmaker take a gamble by moving a known franchise in a creative new direction. Dan Trachtenberg has been doing just that with the Predator movies, beginning with 2022’s thrilling Prey, through to the animated anthology film Predator: Killer of Killers and now with Predator: Badlands, wherein one of the title alien creatures (known as Yautjas) gets to finally function as an actual character rather than just a silent killing machine. These sorts of reinventions don’t always work, and there are likely to be some die-hard fans of the original film who will say that this one doesn’t, but for my money these recent efforts qualify as genuine successes.

Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is a runt, considered so weak by the clan led by his father (Reuben De Jong, voiced by Schuster-Koloamatangi), that he is slated for termination. His brother Kwei (Mike Homik, voiced by Stefan Grube) believes that he deserves a chance to prove himself via a right-of-passage hunt, and so sends him to “death planet” Genna. Dek aims to defeat a creature known as the Kalisk, that is thought to be unkillable but quickly finds himself in over his head on a planet that is overrun with danger. Luckily, he encounters a damaged droid named Thia (Elle Fanning) who offers to help him track down the beast, though her agenda may not be quite so cut and dry and there appears to be others competing for the same prize.

The flora and fauna on Genna are creatively designed and interesting to explore, but more so than that, everything winds up mattering to the plot in at least some small way, showing just how much thought Trachtenberg and his co-writer Patrick Aison put into their story and this world. They, along with Schuster-Koloamatangi have genuinely managed to make Dek feel like a fully formed character, with a surprisingly emotional arc that will have many viewers surprised by just how much they come to root for a being that has been traditionally shown as a threat.

Fanning’s Thia, manufactured by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation (yes, the same one from the Alien franchise) provides some comic relief and nicely-weaved-in exposition while oozing both charm and mechanical fluids. It’s all the more impressive when contrasted with the very different performance she gives as Thia’s “sister”, Tessa. The cute creature they encounter and name “Bud” (Rohinal Nayaran) feels a bit like an effort to create their own Grogu ala Disney’s popular The Mandalorian, but it works so well that I doubt many will mind.

The main story is certainly a new direction for a Predator movie but doesn’t really break much new ground as far as science fiction adventures go. That said, it’s all assembled and executed with such craft and care that it’s easy to enjoy. There are the usual anticorporate messages that come along with being connected to the Alien universe, but also some unexpectedly sweet themes around self-acceptance and found family. Most importantly though, Predator: Badlands is fun. Filled with visually striking action sequences and clever utilization of its circumstances, it’s an absolute blast of a movie, that is well worth seeing on a big screen. ★★★★