Our savior has arrived in the shape of Dan Trachtenberg. Ever since John McTiernan directed a modestly budgeted Arnold Schwarzenegger action vehicle in the ’80s about a military team hunted and killed by an extraterrestrial, we’ve seen the Predator movies evolve in many ways. Sequels, comics, video games—all with varying degrees of quality, but none of them could “stick around” as long as that original 1987 film. When we got The Predator in 2018, that seemed like the last of this franchise’s theatrical attempts. But after Trachtenberg brought these movies back to critical adoration with his two Hulu movies, Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers, it became time to return to the big screen with Predator: Badlands.
Predator: Badlands is an action-packed, killer entry into this series. I was ready to throw in the towel on this series years ago, but Trachtenberg has breathed new life into this sci-fi action franchise. This movie manages to give you what you wanted and what you didn’t know you wanted from a Predator film. Before I view a new entry into a long-standing franchise, I often go back and try to watch every installment leading up to the new one. This process helps me get a better assessment of the franchise’s DNA, what works and what doesn’t, and analyze how the new movie does the series justice.
What did I discover rewatching the Predator series? This franchise is at its best when we have alluring lead performances and the perfect combination between the suspense/darkness and the pure entertainment value. The first two Predator movies, with Schwarzenegger and Danny Glover, pulled this off quite well. Predators did a decent job. The Predator features a completely forgettable lead and sacrifices all the darkness and drama for humor and quips. Prey has a strong lead, but occasionally leans too much into the dark. Predator: Killer of Killers was an incredible experience, but ends on a cliffhanger.
Predator: Badlands? Well, let’s just say this movie got the balance right.
With each new Predator installment Trachtenberg directs, he finds new things to do with the formula. Prey featured a different time period, but it stuck pretty closely to the “group of human characters hunted by the predator” story. Predator: Killer of Killers was where he really took off, crafting an anthology filled with different types of character dynamics and action. But there’s always been one constant about this series: the Predator is the villain. We have a bunch of human characters and they must all fight the Predators. But Predator: Badlands asks a new question: what if they were the good guy?
Predator: Badlands shakes up the formula considerably, and I adored it for that. We had already seen a hint of what this franchise could be like away from Earth in the 2010 Predators. This movie takes that concept and pushes it even further. No humans in this movie; we follow a young Predator named Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), outcast from his clan, who must team up with an android named Thia (Elle Fanning) to find a creature that will help him restore respect to his name.
What a great time. This is an unlikely pairing, but it leads to an oddly endearing buddy movie. Dek and Thia are a charming double act, with Dek as a grieving, mission-oriented alien and Thia as a smart, bubbly robot. They’re so different from each other, and that makes them work so well. Dek, like all Predators, wants to hunt alone. He’s like Chris Tucker in Rush Hour, steadfast in not having a partner. But a partner arrives for Dek, not in the form of a Chinese martial artist cop, but the top half of a Weyland-Yutani synthetic.
Weyland-Yutani. Ring any bells? Well, since the official trailer dropped, it’s been clear that Thia was manufactured by the same corporation that plays a major role in the Alien series. She’s a synthetic, just like Ash in the original Alien and Bishop in Aliens. Since the Alien franchise is still going strong with Alien: Romulus and the recent TV show Alien: Earth, it’s so cool that the Predator series is still tying itself to it. There are a few more references to the Alien franchise in Predator: Badlands, one of which had me nearly jumping out of my seat. If this is all building up to an eventual Alien vs. Predator reboot, I would welcome it with open arms, particularly if Trachtenberg is behind it. The man’s 3 for 3 already.
I’m very impressed with the special effects in this film, particularly those used to bring Dek to life. Our protagonist is a Predator, so that creates a whole new set of challenges. Predator: Badlands takes the risk of putting these creatures front and center, rather than having them lurk in the shadows and kill when the time is right. The movie fully pulls back the curtain, and because we’ve been trained for decades to fear the villainous Predators, Badlands needs to quickly get us to care about our protagonist. And it succeeds, giving Dek a tragic experience that lingers through the rest of the film.
Dek can’t just look evil or menacing. He naturally has that look, but with a combination of practical and visual effects, Dek becomes a Predator you sympathize with. Props to Schuster-Koloamatangi for a strong performance, and to Fanning, who has a double role in this movie. Now, we’ve seen a lot of double roles in the past year. Jim Carrey, Michael B. Jordan, Robert De Niro, Robert Pattinson, David Corenswet, and Theo James are just a few of the actors who have been part of this strangely persistent ongoing trend. But Fanning holds her own, playing two synthetics with vastly opposing personalities. I never saw them as the same person once.
Another shining element of Predator: Badlands is how the dynamic changes. Usually, we have humans getting picked off one by one by the Predator, who’s more advanced than them. Here, the Predator is a fish out of water on a planet filled with danger. The dynamic is different. He’s no longer on the top of the food chain. The hunter becomes the hunted. That’s a major risk because you may wonder, “why would I want to watch such a badass villain lose all the time?” Well, this is a story of becoming, and while Dek doesn’t start out completely capable, his persistence in his journey allows him to become something quite formidable later in the movie. And trust me, it’s worth the wait.
The movie has excellent action sequences that Trachtenberg helms remarkably. He knows how to avoid making action feel like endless noise. There’s a lot of excitement and drama going on, and some of it is helped by the fact that Thia spends the majority of the movie damaged, missing her two legs. She only has a top half, so Dek must carry her around like Chewbacca carrying C-3PO in The Empire Strikes Back. Situations like this also reward the audience with humor. Not vulgar quippy Shane Black humor; organic humor that arises from the situation, and from Fanning’s unmistakable charm. It’s also noteworthy that this feels like the first Predator movie that doesn’t have any major Easter eggs or callbacks to the other Predator movies (that I noticed). I guess there’s only so many times you can say, “You are one ugly motherf—”, “If it bleeds, we can kill it,” “Get to the chopper,” or “What the hell are you?”
The final act of Predator: Badlands is what cements it as the best installment of the series. This is a bold movie that takes a lot of risks that all pay off. The action is great, and it’s not a movie that makes you miss the R rating the Predator films usually have. PG-13 Predator works perfectly in this movie, and I never wished that anything was bloodier because the film really pushes the violence far. This is a thrilling, all-killer-no-filler Predator movie that manages to be exhilarating and so much fun. It does something very new, and I respected the hell out of it. It’s a very accessible Predator movie that you can watch whether you’re new to this series or if you’ve been watching ever since Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers’s muscular handshake.
SCORE: 8/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 8 equates to “Great.” While there are a few minor issues, this score means that the art succeeds at its goal and leaves a memorable impact.
Disclosure: ComingSoon attended a press screening for our Predator: Badlands review.
