How Predator: Badlands’ Risks Paid Off

Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

The Predator franchise has been on a strong run for the last few years. Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers, both directed by Dan Trachtenberg, were well received by critics and fans. Trachtenberg directs Predator: Badlands, starring Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, about a young Predator named Dek, the runt of his clan, who travels to a planet to hunt a terrifying creature. He teams up with a synthetic named Thia to hunt this unstoppable creature. This is the first time a Predator is the main protagonist, and it's also a PG-13 Predator movie. It’s also the first Predator movie since The Predator to be released in theaters.

The character Dek, played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, works well in this movie. He’s a Predator from Yautja Prime who’s an outcast only respected by his brother. His father considers him weak. He goes to Genna to hunt for a creature called the Kalisk, an unkillable creature. They speak their own language, so all the Predator/Yautja dialogue is through subtitles. It was confusing at first when Dek and his brother spoke to each other at the beginning, and not knowing which Predator was speaking, but outside of that, there was no issue with that aspect. It’s a big risk to make a Predator the protagonist to root for, but Predator: Badlands does it here. It’s understandable why Dek wants his clan’s honor and to prove himself. It feels like a fish out of water story when he comes to this planet called Genna and deals with a lot of peril and dangerous aliens and plants. His character development flows well and feels earned.

Elle Fanning plays two characters in Thia and Tessa, both synthetics from Weyland-Yutani Corporation. Thia is a kinder synthetic who helps Dek out and provides comedic relief as well as the heart of the movie, where Tessa is colder and wants to also hunt the Kalisk. Fanning portrays these two different characters well, showing a friendly, funny protagonist in Thia and a cold, harsher antagonist in Tessa. The friendship between Dek and Thia develops from Dek seeing her as a tool to survive Genna and get to the Kalisk to friends that protect on another.

For a movie with a $105 million budget, the special effects and visuals look great. The alien creatures, the setting of Genna, and the plants look incredible. It shows that movies with smaller budgets can still look great and put together good-looking CGI. In recent years, there have been too many big-budget movies with poor CGI. The action also didn’t disappoint. Many fans, including myself, were nervous about the PG-13 rating, but the action was still entertaining. Dek and the other creatures still go all out. The fight scenes, especially where Dek fights the Kalisk, are pure Predator-style action that fans will love. The only difference is that there is no human blood shown, only alien blood and goo whenever the creatures are wounded and killed.

Predator: Badlands isn’t a perfect movie. The movie has a predictable plot with Tessa and Weyland-Yutani Corporation wanting the Kalisk and later Dek to bring them back home to study them. It’s not that the plot is bad, but with everything else feeling fresh and unique in Predator: Badlands, the villains’ motivations feel like something we have seen in other science-fiction movies. The humor sometimes gets a bit stale. The movie, for a brief moment, felt like a Star Wars movie when a cute-looking alien named Bud joins Dek and Thia in the middle of the movie. It almost seemed like they wanted to go for a Baby Yoda/Grogu kind of thing, but luckily, Bud doesn’t go in that direction for the majority of the movie.

Overall, Predator: Badlands is a great addition to the Predator series. The movie takes so many risks that could have easily ended in disaster. Instead, we get a fresh, great science-fiction movie with great action that continues this strong trend of Predator movies. Dan Trachtenberg has done well in bringing the Predator franchise back, and I hope he continues to stay with the franchise. Dek, as the first Predator protagonist, is great, and Thia, as his synthetic partner, works for the movie. The visuals and effects look great. If you are a fan of the Predator series, I recommend seeing this one in theaters.

My final grade for Predator: Badlands is a B+. What are your thoughts on Predator: Badlands? Let us know in the comments below.