Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Actors: Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, Elle Fanning, Cameron Brown, Ruben de Jong
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Rating: M
‘Predator: Badlands’ is the 6th ‘Predator’ film, and while not a direct sequel to the excellent ‘Prey’, it fits well in the Predator (and ‘Alien’) universe, with a new take – following Dek (Schuster-Koloamatangi) as a young Predator and the film’s protagonist, out to prove himself on his first hunt on an inhospitable planet. This is great to watch, and the tables are turned from the usual premise of these films. It’s also fun to see Predators on their home planet – including Dek’s brother Kwei (Homik) and father (de Jong), as well as some new tech/weaponry.
The throat-singing music at the start and end sets a great
tone and is quite unique, adding atmosphere to the sometimes desolate landscape
– filmed in New Zealand. The CGI of the creatures on the planet trying to kill
Dek is great and pretty inventive. Things pick up when Dek encounters a crashed
and injured android/synth, Thia (Fanning), who brings great energy and almost
turns the middle act into a buddy-roadtrip film! There’s still plenty of action
and battles, but not too much blood or gore. It’s fun to watch Dek communicate
(via subtitles) with Thia (speaking English) and grow as a character. Dek &
Thia also have some nice scenes with the monkey-like “Bud”.
The final act with the Weyland-Yutani androids (pretty much
all played by Brown) and the main bad guy/creature, the Kalisk is all done well
and it’s all over in 105min. The humour was definitely appreciated and done
well, but didn’t overshadow the action or story. This was a nice change from
the “single Predator slaughtering people” storyline, and does well to incorporate
synths, especially after ‘Alien: Earth”. Not much I didn’t like here!
Overall: Really fun addition to the series
Gav’s Rating: 4.5 stars
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