Predator: Badlands Review: Prey’s Dan Trachtenberg Takes a Bold Move of Expanding an Action-Packed Predator Movie Into Multiple Directions With Mixed Results

Predator has feelings too. Not just hunt, kill and bring back the trophy as seen in the previous Predator movies since the still-superb 1987 original. This is especially true with the introduction of Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) in Predator: Badlands, a young Predator from the Yautja clan, who is seen as a failure and a disgrace by his tyrannical father (also Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi).

Returning director Dan Trachtenberg doesn’t waste time setting his story, with Patrick Aison and No One Will Save You‘s Brian Duffield in charge of the screenplay, right from the get-go. We see that Dek is eager to prove his worth, that he can complete the ritual by taking up his challenge to hunt down the seemingly undefeatable Kalisk monster from the distant planet of Genna. But Dek’s father wants him dead, going as far as ordering his eldest son, Kwei (Mike Homik), to execute him, leading to a mess that ends with Dek crash-landing on the planet Genna.

He has to rely on his killing instinct to survive in the uncharted territory filled with deadly lifeforms and plants. The latter covers everything from killer vines snaking around the forest and attacking anything that moves to the landmine-like pods capable of shooting poisonous spikes to paralyse their victims. The movie soon introduces another character — a half-bodied, synthetic (synth) Weyland-Yutani being named Thia (Elle Fanning).

Predator: Badlands is pretty much a movie that tries to break its tradition by exploring something new, even if it’s radical, for a change. It begins with Dek serving as the movie’s protagonist rather than an antagonist commonly associated with this franchise. No doubt a risky move, but it’s hard to deny Trachtenberg’s subversive approach here. I admit it takes a while to get used to watching an angst-ridden Predator like Dek, who is determined to fulfil his quest for bringing back the trophy at all costs.

This also gives Dek a surprisingly coming-of-age angle, as the story charts his journey from a mere singular goal of killing Kalisk to shifting his perspective, particularly after he reluctantly teams up with Thia. The latter sees them play out like a buddy movie that I didn’t expect to see from a Predator film. There’s a nagging feeling of awkwardness with the way Trachtenberg is trying his best to diversify Predator: Badlands in multiple directions, leaving me with mixed feelings, despite Schuster-Koloamatangi and Fanning somehow sharing an entertaining love-hate chemistry together.

Having grown up watching the first Predator since childhood, the sci-fi horror franchise has always been a R-rated territory that doesn’t shy away from graphic violence, gore and palpable stakes. Ever since Disney bought over Fox, it’s just a matter of time before a movie like Predator would be, well, Disney-fied for the sake of reaching out to the broader audience and making it more accessible.

This is exactly how I felt after watching Predator: Badlands, where the movie is toned down in favour of more humour and even lighthearted moments, especially with the subsequent introduction of a monkey-like alien creature nicknamed Bud. The latter serves as a comic relief, which I can’t help but wonder whether this creature got lost from a Star Wars movie and ended up in a Predator franchise instead.

Don’t get me wrong, Predator movies stretching way back to the 1987 original had their moments of levity and not just all-out seriousness. But adding a side character like Bud, even though it serves a purpose to the story, feels awkwardly misplaced. While I do appreciate that Trachtenberg wants to offer both fans and audiences more than just another story of survival in a Predator movie, this still comes across as an ill-advised decision.

That doesn’t mean Predator: Badlands is an outright disaster, just that not as great as I hoped for coming from the director who revived the flagging franchise back to life after the better-than-expected Prey three years ago. At least it doesn’t sink to the bottom as embarrassingly low as Shane Black’s The Predator. The movie has plenty of entertainment value with visceral sci-fi action thrills, even though Trachtenberg’s penchant for rapid-fire, yet frequently agitated camerawork tends to make them indecipherable in some scenes.

The 107-minute runtime is confidently paced from start to end, with enough moving pieces to keep the movie taut. And the studio’s decision to give Predator: Badlands a PG-13 rating? I almost thought this was going to be an Alien vs. Predator debacle all over again, but thankfully, Trachtenberg still manages to work around with the otherwise mainstream-friendly rating by retaining the movie’s propulsive action-thriller/horror elements.