Predator: Badlands
Writer: Patrick Aison; From a Story by Aison and Dan Trachtenberg
Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Cast: Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, Elle Fanning, Mike Homik, Rohinal Nayaran, Reuben De Jong, Cameron Brown
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." - Ancient Yautja Proverb
Actually it was Tolstoy who said that in the opening line of Anna Karenina, but it holds true in every culture and star system. Family dynamics are front and center in Dan Trachtenberg's third entry in the Predator franchise, the first to receive genuine theatrical distribution. While 2022's Prey remains my favorite of those for sheer narrative elegance, Predator: Badlands also deserves pride of place on the trophy wall for flipping the script on the franchise's concept. Though comics and novels have centered the perspective of the Predator, this is the first time film audiences have been asked to join in the hunt with anything approaching sympathy for the alien Yautja in their rite of passage.
Now. If you're concerned that that level of access demystifies the enigmatic hunter of the 1987 original, your objection is not entirely unfounded. We all have our limits. For some, the Predator species even having a name is a bridge too far. Each new entry in the series has chipped away at the mystique. It's happened with every nonverbal slasher villain, leading to quagmires of forked continuity and retcon. We each manage our own headcanon (not to be confused with a plasmacaster; that's a shoulder cannon). In interviews, Trachtenberg has even made light of other franchises going too far in expanding their respective universes, so he's definitely mindful of the balancing act. Personally, I think Aison and Trachtenberg have been careful to limit the scope of their world-building to a particular clan rather than positing a full cross-section of Yautja society and history.
Our protagonist, Dek (Schuster-Koloamatangi), is the runt of his clan. That puts him at a distinct disadvantage in a civilization of intergalactic trophy hunters. Fortunately, big brother and sparring partner, Kwei (Homik), is more of a Randy than a Brad—if you'll accept a Home Improvement analogy. That gives the kid one ally against their no-nonsense father, Njohrr (also Schuster-Koloamatangi).
Narrowly escaping execution, Dek crash lands on a hostile world called Genna, resolved to slay the fabled Kalisk in a bid to prove his mettle and stick it to his old man. Deprived of the usual kit, he sets off into the wilderness in search of a beast he knows next to nothing about. You know those stages in video games where everything's candy and clouds? Genna is the opposite. Every slug and thistle and conifer wants you dead. He meets (most of) a playful Weyland-Yutani android named Thia (Fanning) clinging to synthetic life in the wake of a brutal attack on her survey team. Gruff and stoic, Dek is reluctant to take on a companion, but Thia's encyclopedic knowledge of the planet's many hazards, Kalisk included, make her invaluable. The rite of passage says Yautja hunt alone, but Thia is happy to shed personhood if it means she can tag along as a tool.
Fanning is wonderful in the dual role of Thia and her more hard-lining "sister" android Tessa. It's not quite the magic Michael B. Jordan pulled off in this year's Sinners, but it's still a great deal of fun. We spend a lot of time with Dek carrying Thia's top half like a chatty JanSport daypack, reminiscent of Chewbacca toting a deconstructed Threepio through Cloud City. And when her legs eventually join the fellowship, ain't that a kick in the head? The addition of "Bud" the ubiquitous Weird Little Guy (in this case gal) may be too cute for some, but I like fun. So.
If I have any real criticism to lodge against Badlands, it has to do with the denouement. Not the final confrontation with Weyland-Yutani forces; that's satisfying, if a bit conventional. I mean the inevitable rematch between Dek and his father. It feels like the filmmakers missed a trick in providing the runt with more tools to best the Apex Predator in round two. While I like Thia's invocation of a wolf pack to shift Dek's warrior philosophy, that character growth doesn't play a tangible role when we face Njohrr again. I think the encounter is missing a specific lesson (or lessons) learned that we can point to as a difference-maker.
That said, I really enjoyed this spin on the Predator formula and the forged family at its core. Trachtenberg walks a fine line to ensure Dek's arc is unique for a Yautja while still believable. The combination of live action performance, prosthetics, and digital effects coalesce in a credible alien character who speaks his own language throughout. It's about time we had an entry in this franchise with no humans to speak of. Though more individualized android characters—they're all identical males besides the two sisters–would've made for more satisfying encounters, their depiction as hapless NPC's makes sense thematically. Anyway, we got plenty of distinct android personalities with Alien: Earth. Now there's a crossover worth considering.
Badlands culminates in the kind of cliffhanger that makes half the audience groan and the other cheer. For my money, these filmmakers have earned more than enough good will to have left me very excited for the future of this series and whatever they do next.
We did it, Kwei. We did it.
