#REVIEW: “PREDATOR: BADLANDS”

Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong

Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is the runt of the Yautja Clan. In order to prove himself as a hunter, he heads to the planet Genna in order to kill the unkillable creature the Kalisk. When he crash lands on the deadly planet, he is clearly out of his element – so he must team up with the synthetic Thia (Elle Fanning) in order to survive and complete his mission.

If you are not steeped in Predator and by extension Alien lore, that plot description likely sounded like a whole lot of nonsense and made-up words. But then PREDATOR: BADLANDS, the sixth feature film in the nearly 40-year-old Franchise (which also includes the animated spinoff Predator: Killer of Killers and the two Alien vs. Predator films which are better left forgotten), does not really care for explanations. After a short prologue that introduces Dek and his motivations, the film blasts off to Genna, throws him neck deep in extremely hostile territory and does not really stop to breathe for the rest of the 107-minute picture. The relentless pacing does allow for some partial development, references to classic iconography and future developments. But for all intents and purposes, this is a CGI-heavy movie where the protagonist is the Predator and he must come of age in battle in order to fulfill his destiny.

Oh and did I mention that the pesky, ass-backwards Weyland-Yutani Corporation are the villains here, and that they are represented by Thia’s synthetic twin sister Tessa (also Fanning) who is also on a mission involving the Kalisk?

As a fan of the Franchise, I was impressed by the world building and simplistic story that thankfully, stays focused enough on what is happening in this Film and not straying too far into the weeds of setting up future installments. Making the Predator the lead character and not having any actual human characters is a fresh and welcome choice on the part of Director/current Franchise architect Dan Trachtenberg. That said, I think the found family angle PREDATOR: BADLANDS adopts and the addition of the cutesy creature referred to as “Bud” made the Film feel a little too teenager and young adult friendly. The machismo and toxicity that permeated through so many of the previous entries is all but removed here. Sure there is still an emphasis on male fragility and some entertaining action set-pieces, but virtually nothing as badass or iconic as Arnold Schwarzenegger calling the Predator an “ugly motherfucker” while soaked in blood, mud and sweat nor Amber Midthunder going one-on-one with the hunter in Trachtenberg’s Prey from only a few years ago.

Maybe I just was not in the right frame of mind for this Sci-Fi action extravaganza. Maybe I just found myself staring at the way Dek and his Yautja Clan looks and not believing for an instant that they were all organically created makeup effects that had not been touched-up by a computer. Maybe I have just outgrown the Franchise. I am not certain which thread to latch onto days after seeing it, because PREDATOR: BADLANDS is an otherwise enjoyable film that is well made and follows the cardinal rule of the only thing being better than having one Elle Fanning performance is having two Elle Fanning performances. So if you are a long-time fan, go in with some skepticism and perhaps you will end up digging it a whole lot more than I did. And if you are new to the whole Predator thing, then this just might be a good kicking off point for exploring the rest of the series.

20^th Century Studios Canada release PREDATOR: BADLANDS in theatres on Friday, November 7, 202