To his credit, Predator: Badlands director Dan Trachtenberg has done wonders for the franchise, including the 2022 standalone installment, Prey.
However, Badlands misses the mark in the series' return to the big screen. Trachtenberg directs the heck out of it, but even Elle Fanning's dual roles can't salvage it.
As they say, bigger doesn't always mean better. Trachtenberg is given a much bigger sandbox this time around, evident from the very first shots (which feel like a combination of Denis Villeneuve's Dune movies and the opening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).
While the visuals are gorgeous, Badlands feels overlong and overstuffed. It even ends on a stinger that teases a next installment, a bold move considering the last theatrical release in the series made just $160.5 million worldwide on a $88 million budget.
We'll see if that ever happens. As it is, the latest Predator movie brings new visuals and renewed emotional weight to the series, but while Prey takes a step forward by going into the past, Badlands takes a step back by looking ahead.
Predator: Badlands review — what's it about?
In a tale as old as time, Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) cannot please his dad and the leader of the Clan, Njohrr/the Apex Predator (also played by Schuster-Koloamatangi).
Dek is seen as the “weakest” link of the Clan by his father. So, he is never given a fair shake to earn his cloak and rightful place in his father's Clan.
His older brother, Kwei (Mike Homik), has been prepping him for his first hunt, but it becomes clear that his father had other intentions.
So, Dek chooses to hunt the Kalisk, a feared creature from the planet Genna. Even his father fears it, and coming back with it sounds like an impossibility.
Dek flees to embark on his hunt. Along the way, he meets a damaged Weyland-Yutani synth, Thia (Elle Fanning), who was separated from her legs and her surrogate sister, Tessa (also played by Fanning).
They form an unlikely alliance to find the Kalisk. Dek and Thia are polar opposites, but their dynamic carries the emotional weight of Badlands.
Giving the Yautja emotional depth
For a Predator movie, Badlands focuses a lot on the Yautja. Usually, they're seen as the predators, but Badlands is dead-set on giving viewers an understanding of why they hunt.
Similar to the audience who pay to watch monsters fight and destroy things in the MonsterVerse, the Predator series is about the hunt.
So, this was a risky move for Trachtenberg, who developed the story with one of the screenwriters, Patrick Aison. It'd be easy to lose the audience who wants the fireworks, but it somewhat works in Badlands.
Dek's story is a familiar story, but it works effectively to get the audience behind him. It's strange to be rooting for the predator, but here we are.
Schuster-Koloamatangi had a tall task. The Yautja don't speak English, so he has to speak another language. Plus, he is hidden beneath prosthetics, so it's hard to emote effectively.
And yet, he hits all of the right notes the script asks of him. Granted, the script sometimes gets too silly, like a bit revolving around a small creature copying Dek's every move.
Why screenwriters insist on having MCU-like humor in every blockbuster is unclear. Generally, it undercuts any emotional beat you work hard to muster.
In the aforementioned scene where a creature copies Dek, it comes right after he gives Thia his backstory. It's an emotional scene, finally getting him and who he calls a “tool” (Thia) on the same page.
Elle Fanning's dual roles
Both Fanning and Schuster-Koloamatangi play dual roles. While Schuster-Koloamatangi's is more physical, Fanning's is more emotional.
Thia and Tessa are very different. The latter isn't even seen until about halfway through Predator: Badlands, so everything we, the viewer, know about her early on is spoken by Thia.
When she is finally introduced, it becomes abundantly clear that Tessa is the antithesis of Thia. While Thia has some empathy — their type of synths were given emotions to understand other species — her sister lacks that. Tessa is a cold figure, and Fanning plays both well.
Should you watch Predator: Badlands?
Trachtenberg has become the new leading force of the Predator series. His decision to humanize the Yautja one movie after making them scarier than ever in Prey was certainly a choice.
Going forward, it appears he wants to continue down that path. If you're going to continue a franchise that has been hanging on by a thread for years, changing perspectives is one way of doing it.
He still remains a force behind the camera. Predator: Badlands is the most gorgeous entry in the series. There are a few landscapes shown, and it has a grand scope that Prey could only dream of.
Even with the grandioseness of it, Badlands loses sight of what made Prey so good. Prey was a return to the Predator franchise's horror roots.
There's nothing scary about Badlands, aside from the obnoxiously loud sound mixing. It is rated PG-13 (Prey was rated R), but that isn't an excuse to be devoid of effective scares.
20th Century Studios/Disney is still on the hunt for an effective way to continue the Predator franchise. The answer, for as unfortunate as it might be, may be letting it rest for a long time.
Grade: C-
Predator: Badlands will be released on Nov. 7.
