PREDATOR: BADLANDS Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Stars: Dimitrius Schuster-Koulomatangi, Elle Fanning, Michael Homik, Reuben de Jong, Cameron Brown, Rohinal Nayaran.
The Predator saga began in 1987 with the sci-fi action thriller that pitted Arnold Schwarzenegger and a special forces team against the Youtja, a technologically advanced extraterrestrial creature in the jungles of Central America. That film was followed by a number of sequels that disappointed, as well as a series of spin-off crossover movies, paying lip service to the fans, that pitted the Youtja against the xenomorph creature from the Alien series of movies to determine which of these creatures was the superior killer. This new instalment in the Predator series works as a stand-alone film that repositions the Youtja predator as the sympathetic protagonist of the film, much in the same way as Terminator 2: Judgment Day repositioned Schwarzenegger’s futuristic killer android as the hero of the franchise.
The film centres around Dek (played by New Zealand actor and stuntman Dimitrius Schuster-Koulomatangi, from Red, White & Brass, etc), a young Youtja warrior who is considered a disappointment by his tyrannical father Njohru (Reuben de Jong), the head of the clan. Njohru tasks Dek’s brother Kwei (New Zealand basketball player Michael Homik, making his film debut here) with killing him. But when Kwei refuses, Njohru kills him instead. Dek sets out to try and impress his father by travelling to Genna, supposedly the most dangerous planet in the universe, where just about everything on the planet can kill you. He plans to kill the deadly and supposedly unkillable alien creature known as the Kalisk and return its corpse as a trophy and earn his father’s respect.
Dek’s craft crash lands on Genna. He stumbles across Thia (Elle Fanning), a dismembered synthetic humanoid from the Weyland-Yutani company (the evil corporation which featured in the Alien franchise). She says that she can lead Dek to the Kalisk. Dek argues that Youtja prefer to hunt alone, but he reluctantly gives in because her knowledge of the deadly planet can help him navigate the potential threats. Because Thia lacks legs, Dek carries her around like a backpack. But the journey is far from easy, and Dek finds himself battling against the forces of the company who capture both him and the Kalisk and imprison them and study them.
The script for Predator: Badlands has been written by Patrick Aison (the tv series Wayward Pines, etc), and director Dan Trachtenberg and Jim Thomas (who both worked on 2022’s Prey). This is Trachtenberg’s third film in the Predator franchise, so he is obviously aware of the lore and the storylines and has a strong understanding of this world. Trachtenberg’s direction clips along at a fair pace throughout without much let up.
This is a film that heavily relies on special effects and CGI to build its alien worlds. Several VFX companies worked to create the dangerous world of Genna, where all the flora and fauna are lethal, which gives the material an artificial quality. The film has been nicely shot by cinematographer Jeff Cutter (who also worked on Prey), and it deserves to be seen on the big screen.
Schuster-Koloamatangi is hidden beneath layers of prosthetics and make-up, but he has a strong physical presence that suits the role. Fanning plays a dual role here – she brings plenty of humour and sass to her role as the overly chatty android Thia who provides some much needed comic relief, but brings a coldness to her role as the formidable Tessa, Thia’s lookalike but ruthless technological sister.
Like Avatar, Predator Badlands has a strong underlying environmental message as the filmmakers are critical of the greedy corporations that set out to exploit planets and their resources for their own purposes. While Predator: Badlands fails to match the excitement of the 1987 original, Trachtenberg and co have delivered plenty of visceral action to kickstart a reboot of the series and breathe new life into the stale franchise.
★★★
