Who would have thought that a Predator had personal problems?
Apparently, director Dan Trachtenberg.
The formula for the first few Predator films (I have only seen the first two of the ones made before Trachtenberg) was reminiscent of the Alien films (which, oddly enough, I also have only seen the first two of that franchise): a bunch of humans are in the near vicinity of an extraterrestrial monster, and only a few survive. Then, in 2022, Trachtenberg came in and made the film Prey, which used somewhat of the same approach but in the early 1700s with Indigenous peoples. Now, he flips the script with Predator: Badlands, asking the question: What does it mean to actually be a Predator?
The predator protagonist in question is Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamantangi), considered the runt of the clan (and in the Predator species, runts are seen as too weak to be allowed to live), but still eager to prove himself. So eager, in fact, that when it comes to finding the adversary, he must hunt to be accepted, he goes after an unkillable monster called a Kalisk.
Upon landing on the creature’s home planet of Genna, Dek runs into Thia (Elle Fanning), a damaged android who is only accepted by Dek (since Predators only work alone) when she is seen as a “tool”. She is in search of her counterpart, Tessa (also Fanning), whom she was separated from after their last encounter with the Kalisk. They also encounter a monkey-esque creature that Thia names Bud, whose true objective is to steal every scene it is in (and succeeds with hardly any effort).
The planet of Genna itself is indeed dangerous, but not “bad”. It does have some rather inventive naturalistic dangers to behold, such as blade grace, an unstable purple cactus thingy, and exploding caterpillars/slugs. The result is (mostly) rather profound CGI that does not feel like a low-rent MCU film that is almost always in front of a green screen.
Parents, this is a rare case where I actually agree with a film being PG-13 instead of R. There is indeed violence and blood (albeit green blood, since that is what a Predator’s blood color is), but there is no sexual content or nudity. There is some swearing, but nothing drastic. In my theater, I saw a dad with his two sons, who were probably between 10 and 15. I would argue this is a great “guys’ night out” type of film.
There are clear homages to other films such as Aliens and The Empire Strikes Back (Thia is basically C-3PO even before she is being carried around like him). I read on Wiki how Trachtenberg is hoping to do at least one more film in this universe if Badlands makes enough money back.
I’d be down for it because he definitely has a caring mind for the material. Plus, I am a fan of Elle-3PO…or maybe it should be C-3P Elle.
Overall:
Nothing else to say 