A very exceptional sci-fi action packed thriller filled with heart. Predator: Badlands is all of that and more for what is another great and memorable entry into the very storied Predatorfranchise. That for the first time has a Predator as the main character and is set on a futuristic remote planet that is one of the most dangerously compelling planets in movie history. With some also pretty compellingly memorable characters to go with some of the best lead performances you will see on screen this year in Dimitius Schuster-Koloamatangi and Elle Fanning. The brilliance of their respective performances as Dek and Thia being that a lot of it is nonverbal too. Longtime fans of the series sure to be satisfied with the high-tech hunting gear and some of the other familiar situations we have come to expect in it. It is a story that brings a very relatable human aspect to a movie that quite ironically doesn’t have any humans in it too.
The story begins with a Star Wars like introduction about the history of the Yaujta before we are shown the Yaujta on their home planet. That quickly captures the audience’s attention as we see two Yaujtas furiously fighting each other almost to death. Who we learn are brothers trying to strengthen each other. Astheir species of predators are taught to fight with honor and strength and show no signs of weakness or vulnerability. The main character, Dek, is the youngest who is referred to as the “runt” of the group because of his youth and that he is perceived by their father and everyone else to be the weakest. So he istrying to prove himself and be recognized as a warrior that could make their father, who is the chief of his tribe and everyone else proud by showing them his strength and that he is not as weak as they all think he is. After being saved by his brother and narrowly escaping death from their father, Dek, flees to Genna, which is also known as “The Death Planet.” Where he hopes to kill a supposedly invincible predator that no one has ever survived and slain all previous challengers. So that he can bring its head and spine to his father, who says it’s his biggest adversary he is most fearful of as his biggest challenge. Which is why Dek wants to bring this creature known as the Kalisk, back to show his strength and prove to his father and the rest of his clan that he isn’t the weakest of the group. The Yautja clan avery proud group, that if you show any sign weakness you are likely to face exile or worse.
The other main part of “Predator: Badlands” after that is a pure almost full on survival story where Dek is a newcomer in an unfamiliar treacherous, but also beautiful wilderness in which he must learn about all the different terrain, flora and other creatures he must survive to get closer to his goal on this very unfamiliar and deadly planet. Where Dek also quickly learns upon crash landing on Genna that the entire planet wants to kill him and why it so easily earns its name as, “The Death Planet” too.
Once there trying to survive he finds an unexpected ally in Thia, who is an android that is very brilliantly played by Elle Fanning, who gives what would probably be given serious consideration of an awards-nominated performance, if it wasn’t in a “Predator” film. She, like Dek, we come to quickly learn also came to Genna to hunt and capture the very massively near ten meters tall, spiny, bristling, dagger-toothed super-predator known as the Kalisk. Thia also part of an all-android landing party that we are thought to believe killed all or most of their landing party and left her for dead after ripping her in half and leaving her hanging in a tree. She proposes to Dek she will help him find and kill the Kalisk, if he helps her out and to find another android of her almost exact same make and model from their group named, Tessa, who is also played by Fanning and she believes survived. Thia also wants to return to the scene of the massacre so she can not only see if Tessa has survived, but also reattach herself to her missing legs if they are still there.
What ensues from this is what at times is an equal parts strange and wonderful twist on many comic buddy movies. Almost as much as it’s a sci-fi thriller. As Schuster-Koloamatangi and Fanning show an undeniably great perfectly timed comic chemistry together. Fanning as Thia, a tragic, but charming kook, so relentlessly keen and friendly that it brings torture to Dek, who is a pridefully boisterous creature that really hates small talk and like the rest of the Yautja clan takes pride in working alone. Dek at first trying to kill the Kalisk himself before it escapes and then he reluctantly carries Thia’s upper half around like a baby in a baby carriage. Thia continuesly asking him stupid, yet hilariously timed get-to-know you questions like, “What does the chewing? Your outside fangs or your inside teeth?” As he then tires of those questions and the incessant yammering from her, so he then turns Thia around and wears her like a backpack. Those hilariously timed questions ones that quickly connected with me and the rest of the audience in the packed theater, who couldn’t stop laughing too. One of the things that made it even more funny being that as much as Dek wanted to work alone and almost abandon Thia. He knew he couldn’t because she has a way better understanding of the planet than he does and can warn him of impending dangers he otherwise wouldn’t recognize or know without her. Thia even telling Dek at one point, “The only way to survive Genna is to learn it.”
Director Dan Trachtenberg, Dek and the movie taken that advice to heart. As we get a rare glimpse and portrait into what an alien world may actually feel like as a real almost documentary like feel and footage of Earth’s creatures. Trachtenberg’s style of directing really putting as much attention to detail, respectiveness and an often awed appreciation of how different species interact in different ecosystems that is just as important, if not more than the characters that move through them. Whether it be plants that are covered in quivering sacs and can be opened to create a sort of organic napalm that can be deadly and/or dangerously infectious or smaller creatures that can infect you if you don’t avoid them the right way. It helps delve deeper into the world-building that shows how deadly beautiful and unique this planet is.
As is usually the case in Predator movies throughout the years. Tools, are a pretty important part to the story as well. Dek having his own imported gear, he uses with a unique flair you would come to expect from a predator. Though like humans usually do when facing off against Predators in other Predator films, he also uses whatever he can devise at the time that is around him to kill a foe before it can kill him. Thia, even when we first met her in the movie telling Dek, how he can use her as a tool to help capture and kill the Kalisk.
Family and how they can help or stall your beliefs, also play a somewhat big, but not too distractedly big part of the story in the movie too. Both Dek and Thia’s concept of what family and/or a clan is very different from each other. As Dek and the Yajuti are taught to be strong and work on their own with no one else to show their strength and honor. While Thia and her crew are taught to work as a team and take orders from a master computer called, MUTHER, that represents company authority. Thia trying to teach Dek how you can work greater and better in a team and don’t have to always work on your own to achieve something great. Which she emphasis even more after a big-eyed, dog-faced, monkey-like creature, who she names, Bud, eventually joins their duo to help them in their journey. Bud at one point at night before they rest to go out on their journey again in the morning, hilariously copying and imitating every gesture and ritual that Dek does. Just like a child would a mother and/or parent that once again had me and the rest of the packed audience in the theater burst out laughing very hysterically at it.
Overall, Predator: Badlands, to its very great credit. Doesn’t let any one concept. Whether it be family, tool, strength or weakness. Override the plot. Instead letting all those concepts be equal parts to both main characters throughout the film. Showing the different ways one can interpret those concepts and whether they be self-serving or generously. Both Dek and Thia’s ideas and interactions with each other throughout the film expanding their own minds to opening new meanings and possible choices, they otherwise wouldn’t have. Whether it be Dek never questioning his warrior code of working alone and his feelings of empathy being interpreted with weakness. Because that is what he was taught and he realizes after Thia tells him, “I could survive on my own. But why would I want to survive on my own?” How sensible it sounds that instilling trust with one another and working with someone else in a team makes others more willing to give up useful secrets and make your chances of survival working in a team greater than working on your own. We also learn that Thia never thought of Tessa as a sister until Dek mentioned about his brother.
Whether it be the amazing visual effects to the great never in a movie before used dialogue. There is a whole lot more I can recommend on this movie. But it is best to try avoid seeking out any further information on the film until you see it because one of the great pleasures you will have watching it in the theater isnot knowing quite where it will take you, being surprised at the twists and turns it takes you and also being surprised at where the story ultimately goes. With the sound, visual effects, imagery and how it was filmed. It is definitely a movie I very highly recommend seeing in IMAX if you can too. For an experience you can only get not only at just the theater with the whole theater experience, but in IMAX for a film that was definitely made for IMAX. Which is easily one of the best movies I have seen this year and I am sure many others will agree with after seeing, Predator: Badlands.
