Predator: Badlands

After the franchise was nearly derailed by the disaster that was Shane Black’s 2018 The Predator, the fan-favorite series has made its long-awaited return to the big screen. Dan Trachtenberg, who revitalized the franchise with the excellent survival thriller Prey and co-directed this summer’s entertaining and brutal animated anthology Predator: Killer of Killers, returns to helm the seventh entry in the franchise; his first installment to actually play in theaters. Continuing in his tradition of upending franchise expectations, Trachtenberg delivers yet another badass entry in the Predator franchise.

Courtesy 20th Century Studios

Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is the runt of his ferocious Yautja clan. Shunned by his father, who deems him unworthy of living, Dek’s only champion is his older brother. When his brother is brutally slaughtered by their father, Dek flees to the death planet of Genna to prove himself worthy and kill the supposedly unkillable creature, the Kalisk. As he arrives on Genna, he quickly realizes this is a world in which everything can kill you, and likely wants to. He stumbles upon Thia (Elle Fanning), a severely damaged Weyland-Yutani synthetic who knows the whereabouts of the Kalisk and offers to help him along his journey. As the two embark on their treacherous adventure, Thia’s “sister” Tessa (Fanning) is also searching for her damaged companion as well the whereabouts of the Kalisk and hopes to retrieve the creature for her corporate overlords. In order to survive on this planet and avoid the wrath of Weyland-Yutani’s synthetic minions, the Yautja outcast must learn to lean on his wits and the help of his few allies to make it out alive.

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, Predator: Badlands continues to push the franchise in bold new directions. Making a radical shift in narrative perspective, Badlands makes its Yautja warrior a protagonist audiences quickly come to identify with and care for. If Trachtenberg flipped the expectations of a Predator film with Prey, he flips the idea of a Predator film entirely here. Some might scoff at the concept of a heroic Predator film, but Trachtenberg’s love for the franchise shows in his deep understanding of the world and how precisely he is able to recalibrate the shape of what one of these films can look like. By expanding the universe in clever ways and infusing the classic movie monster with a real deep sense of characterization, the filmmaker pushes the boundaries of what this franchise is able to look like.

There is a real novelty to the material that never feels stale or uninspired. Dek is a great character because he’s not quite the formidable Predator audiences have come to adore and equally fear. He’s an outcast looking to cement himself as a true lone wolf warrior, but finds that may not be his path to glory. Through his relationship with Thia and a cuddly, but dangerous alien creature they meet along the way, Dek has to rely on the help of his allies in order to survive on this planet. Trachtenberg understands the balancing act of the silly with the more grounded emotional stakes. He allows the bombastic spectacle to take center stage without sacrificing the heart of the script, credited to Patrick Aison and Brian Duffield.

Courtesy 20th Century Studios

Predator: Badlands is a richly photographed epic, one that feels tangible despite the sizable amount of visual effects. The melding of practical wire work, in-camera trickery, good ol’ fashioned movie makeup and set design with top-notch vfx is rather impeccable. There’s a live-in quality to the film that even Prey wasn’t fully able to get away with. Dek enters a world inhabited by unique creatures and dangerous wildlife which is brought to life exquisitely. The filmmaking team brings a great deal of originality to the world-building and the specific landscapes of the planet Genna. A standout set piece involves Dek and Thia hunting a creature that frolics through a field of razor wire grass and must figure out to successfully take it down. A particular monster is able to fully regenerate, even when its head is lobbed off. Trachtenberg retains the spirited energy of a Saturday morning cartoon with his heroes travelling through a treacherous alien world that will chew them up and spit them out at a moments notice.

Despite the PG-13 rating, the edges have not been sanded off here. Audiences are quickly subjected to creatures being sliced down the middle with a plasma sword, decapitations, throat slitings, insides being ripped apart and other notable dismemberments. What makes Badlands able to sidestep an R-rating is the fact that there are no actual humans in the film. Blood is either bright green, milky white or orange. Do not let the rating fool you, Predator: Badlands maintains the same sense of brutality found in previous entries. Trachtenberg and cinematographer Jeff Cutter compose a number of striking images that often look like comic panels. A few inspired moments of slow motion feel Snyder-esque, while sequences of Dek taking on larger-than-life creatures feel particularly inspired by John Boorman’s Excalibur.

Trachtenberg doesn’t allow himself to get bogged down in clumsy fan service, making his film stand on its own two feet. The filmmaker finds a breathless sense of fun in marching to the beat of his own drum, getting to indulge in his playful side audiences rarely get to see in this franchise. Much of the dialogue spoken is in Dek’s Yautja language, forcing Trachtenberg to rely on visual storytelling to convey emotion and motivation. As Dek links up with Thia, the film mines some well-placed beats of witty humor without overdoing the comedy. Fanning, in an impressive dual role, finds a grace note of humanity through the gee-whiz attitude of Thia. Dek is played as the straight man to Thia’s more lively character; the Shrek to her Donkey, so to speak.

Courtesy 20th Century Studios

Predator: Badlands is one of the most thoroughly entertaining films of the year. Director Dan Trachtenberg continues to recalibrate the Predator franchise for the better with an epic sci-fi adventure that features plenty of badass imagery and gripping, creative action to please fans and newcomers alike.

Predator: Badlands is now playing in theaters.