“Monte’s Take” Review: PREDATOR: BADLANDS

The Predator franchise has experienced a creative resurgence under the guidance of director Dan Trachtenberg, first with the Native American-inspired excellence of Prey and more recently with the surprisingly strong animated anthology, Predator: Killer of Killers. Now, Predator: Badlands completely changes direction for the series' established formula by centering its narrative on the alien Predator hunter itself. This film inverts the traditional role of the Predator, known as the Yautja, devoting its focus to following a classic hero's journey rather than portraying the creature as an unstoppable horror villain.

The film introduces us to Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a young Yautja who is considered too small and too weak by his proud, aggressive clan and is determined to prove his worth. After a tragedy, and to earn his place and the respect of his kin, Dek embarks on a journey to the deadly planet Genna to hunt a creature no Predator has ever successfully killed. His solitary quest for acceptance and revenge is complicated when he encounters and is forced to carry Thia (Elle Fanning), the upper torso of a broken, Weyland-Yutani (an Alien universe tech company) artificially intelligent android with critical information, forging a reluctant partnership of survival on the galaxy's most dangerous hunting ground.

The refocusing of the traditional story trope for the Predator franchise is Badland's biggest strength, building a deeper connection with the main character—a Predator—as he struggles for survival on an actively hostile planet. Trachtenberg and his design teams execute phenomenal world-building here, composing the frightening planet Genna with fantastic creature designs that Dek must learn to overcome, all tied together with rapid-fire, kinetic action sequences. Lush with razor weeds, exploding flowers, and hungry tree limbs, the alien wilderness is a character unto itself, providing a high-stakes backdrop for Dek's odyssey.

The storytelling is unsurprising and straightforward, which is both a pro and a con. The simplicity keeps the pacing quick and efficient, immediately propelling Dek into action and ensuring that the adventure sequences remain at the forefront. However, this simplistic approach results in limited development of the core revenge and coming-of-age themes, although the film expertly employs powerful visual dynamics. The grudging partnership between the determined, self-reliant Predator and the sassy, back-mounted android, played with ample amounts of charm and, at times, annoyance by Elle Fanning, echoes the successful "found family" dynamics found in the Guardians of the Galaxy films and The Mandalorian series, with a touch of Lone Wolf and Cub just for fun, building an amusing and unlikely bond between the two non-human characters that ultimately drives the film's emotional core unexpectedly.

Ultimately, Predator: Badlands is a detour of the best possible imagining for this long-running franchise. It brings a story that gives the Predator more than just one primary objective and successfully introduces an adventure element where the series typically only offered horror. The action is nearly non-stop, the world-building brings fantastic atmospheres, and the new focus on the Predator makes for an interesting watch, cementing Trachtenberg's status as the new torchbearer for the Yautja legacy.

Monte's Score: 3.5/5