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Predator: Badlands

So without me really noticing, this franchise has reached NINE films (if you include the two Alien vs Predator crossovers). The last three have been directed (or co-directed) by Dan Trachtenberg, who's also helmed an episode each of the TV shows Black Mirror and The Boys. I've got to say, carry on lad, because this is probably the best Predator film I've seen (let me revisit the Arnie one before I remove that 'probably').

This film starts as a revenge quest that soon morphs into a discourse on dysfunctional families and finding your groove in life. All wrapped up in a gnarly, bloody sci-fi romp. I say blood, in actual fact, none of it is human blood, all characters being either alien or synthetic humanoid.

That in itself is one of the film's credits - none of the protagonists are human, and the nominal lead is usually a villain. Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is from the Yautja race, the original 'ugly mother-fucker' Predator. The preamble neatly shows us that he's yet to prove his worth to his father and the clan, that his brother loves him (in a Klingon kind of way), and that he's also a redundant member of the family and must be culled. A considerable amount of juice to pack into an opening.

From here, Dek gets his scaly arse to the planet Genna, the badlands of the subtitle, to hunt down the unkillable Kalisk and bring it back to his tribe. There turns out to be a solid reason all of the other Yautja have failed in this task - the planet is filled with things that want to kill the unprepared visitor. Kind of like an Australian outback on steroids. Most of the flora and fauna are dangerous, all well-conceived and some of them are even similar to the 'findings' in the excellent TV series, Alien Earth.

Speaking of Alien, the Weyland-Yutani link appears around here in that Dek is introduced to the top-half of a synthetic being, Thia, who's caught in a flying dragon creature's nest. She convinces Dek to take her along as a companion-slash-tool to help him find the Kalisk, as well as reuniting her with her twin 'sister' Tessa. Weyland-Yutani has sent them to Genna for motives explained later in the film. Elle Fanning is great in this double synthetic role - funny and sweet, nasty and stoic, depending on which sister she's playing.

The climactic donnybrook includes a very funny scene with the two halves of the Thia fighting two other full bodied synths. It's almost like Jackie Chan choreographed it. The film ends on a droll final line that brings everything back to the theme of maladjusted families. Some elements tend toward the cutesy (odd for a Predator film) but those aside, this is a successful, spritely genre pic that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Predator: Badlands is showing around Australia - I saw it at Event Innaloo (more on this below).

See also:

Trachtenberg directed the very first episode of The Boys (2019) and it would probably be remiss not to flag up the original Predator (1987), directed by John McTiernan.

Another key point - I saw this as part of the opening of the ScreenX at Event cinemas in Innaloo. This is a 270 degree screen where the vision bends back around the central screen (see clip below). I found this a fun gimmick in the promotional section, but was a bit concerned about how it might play out for the entire length of a feature. In actual fact, I needn't have worried. The film's focus is on the traditional centre screen, and the side panels just add peripheral atmosphere. Only once did I see a character approach from one of the sides, but this was fine. Obviously, you're not going to buy a ticket to watch, I don't know, 12 Angry Men or Buried, but for something expansive, something made for scale, ScreenX would be a great format to watch it on.

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