Predator: Badlands

Writer/director Dan Trachtenberg continues to take the Predator film series to new heights, with this inventive sci-fi action adventure that tells the story (for the first time) from the Predator’s perspective.

Premise:  In the far future, a young Yautja (aka Predator) named Dek is considered the runt of his clan, and so intends to prove his worthiness by undertaking his First Hunt rite of passage by journeying to the ‘death planet’ of Genna to kill the ‘unkillable’ Kalisk.

Review:

In 2022, director/co-writer Dan Trachtenberg surprised everyone by releasing the best Predator movie since the 1987 original, with the instant-cult-classic Prey.  Restoring a sense of tension and mystery to series, Prey was enough to earn Dan Trachtenberg the keys to the Predator franchise, and since then he’s really shown what potential this series has.

This year we were lucky enough to get not one, but two new Predator films from Dan Trachtenberg, as over the summer we first got the animated anthology movie Predator: Killer of Killers.  That film was a lot of fun, but it suffered the same limitations as any anthology film (namely the reduced screentime for each of the characters in the different sections meant that we only got a snapshot of each of them), and it also (to a certain extent) followed in Prey’s footsteps by depicting hunts in different historical time periods.  That said, it also expanded the series’ onscreen mythology significantly in its final section (which I won’t spoil here), as well as arguably laying the groundwork for some very intriguing future instalments.

“…explores the culture & society of the ‘Predators’…”

In hindsight, both Prey and Killer of Killers feel like they were Dan Trachtenberg’s attempts to incrementally expand the scope of the Predator series.  Quite simply, I’m not sure audiences would have been ready for some of the wild swings that he takes in Predator: Badlands had this film been the first Predator movie since 2018’s somewhat muddled The Predator.  Up until now, the onscreen depictions of the Predators have always shown events from the perspectives of their human prey, but Predator: Badlands is the first time that we really get to see events from the perspective of the alien hunters.

I keep saying that this is the first time we’ve seen the series’ mythology expanded like this onscreen, because it’s very clear that Dan Trachtenberg is a fan of the expanded universe of comics and novels that grew out from the first two movies in the 90s and beyond.  Those books and comics explored the culture and society of the ‘Predators’ in far more depth than the films had at that time, and as a longtime fan of those stories, it’s great to see the first live-action reference in Predator: Badlands to the ‘Predator’ species being the “Yautja”, the name they were first given in a 1994 novel.  Even the logo used on the movie’s title card feels like a tribute to the expanded universe comic books of the 1990s.

“…establishes a genuine emotional connection between the audience & the Yautja protagonist…”

Anyone who was concerned that telling a story from the perspective of a Yautja protagonist would mean that the film would lack any character depth should have those concerns placated by the opening prologue, set on the homeworld of Yautja Prime before Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) embarks on his first hunt.  Without going into any specifics, I will say that the prologue provides not only an introductory insight into Yautja culture for the uninitiated, but it also does an impressive job of establishing a genuine emotional connection between the audience and the Yautja “runt”, Dek.

Large parts of Prey were dialogue free, and it’s clear that Dan Trachtenberg is very comfortable telling visual stories with minimal dialogue – but Predator: Badlands is by no means dialogue free, thanks to the inclusion of Elle Fanning in the cast as two androids, Thia and Tessa.  The androids are Weyland-Yutani synthetics, which will be familiar to anyone who’s a fan of the Alien films (and who isn’t?), but this is a fun “Easter egg” rather than a full-blown crossover with the Aliens series.  Thia and Tessa have become separated on the “death planet” of Genna, and Dek and Thia become reluctant allies when Dek realises that she can help him find the Kalisk that he’s hunting, and Thia realises that Dek is her best chance of making it back to her “sister” Tessa.

“…Elle Fanning effectively carries the film in terms of dialogue…”

I’m not saying that Predator: Badlands is a buddy action comedy … but I’m also not saying that it isn’t – because the truth is, there’s a lot more humour in Thia and Dek’s relationship than I was expecting there to be in this movie – and I mean that as a compliment.  The humour doesn’t undermine the tension or the action at all, but it does ensure that Dek in particular feels like a fully realised character, rather than just an implacable one-dimensional alien monster.  A lot of credit has to go to Elle Fanning for effectively carrying the film in terms of dialogue, while also ensuring that the motormouthed Thia never becomes annoying to audiences.

Interestingly, Dan Trachtenberg made the decision for Thia’s dialogue to be heard by the audience in English (even when she’s speaking Yautja), but all of Dek’s dialogue is delivered in the (newly invented) Yautja language, with subtitles for the audience.  I thought this worked really well, because even in a film told from the Predator’s/Yautja’s perspective, I think hearing a Yautja speak in English dialogue (rather than the ‘recordings’ and mimicry from the earlier films) just wouldn’t have felt right.

“…works both for existing fans & for first time viewers…”

This is a rare example of a movie in an established film series that should work both for existing fans (who get to see a storyline they’ve never seen before, with the deepest onscreen dive into Yautja culture yet), and for first time viewers (although as a completist, I would personally still recommend watching at least the original film before this one!).  I would also like to assure anyone who was concerned (like I was) that this movie would be watered down when it was announced that it was rated PG-13/12A, that this still has all the action that you would want from a Predator movie, but because the violence isn’t inflicted on humans (and the blood on screen is alien-coloured and not red), the censors obviously felt that it didn’t deserved a 15 or R rating, despite the amount of sci-fi violence.

Visually, the “death planet” of Genna is beautifully realised, and it feels like it’s been pulled straight out of the pages of a pulpy sci-fi novel, where all of the local fauna and flora is potentially lethal.  Overall, this film is more inventive, funnier and more emotionally nuanced that I was expecting, so if you have any affection for the Predator series – or for sci-fi action adventures more generally – this is a must-see movie.