Review of Predator: Badlands

A New Type of Hunt, For Better and Worse

This movie is a strange beast to critique. If you go in for a good time, looking for action and clever kills, you’ll get your money’s worth. But if you’re a fan of the Predator series, it might not scratch your itch since this takes the series and turns it into a modern buddy romcom-predator hybrid reminiscent of Ripley’s escapades from Aliens 4.

The premise is a variant of what we’ve been seeing a lot lately. An outcast Predator must hunt the unhuntable creature to regain his honor and avenge his brother. Along the way, he meets the top-half of an android who reminds me of Awkwafina’s Sisu from Reya and the Last Dragon. Take that as you will. And a cute mascot monkey-alien he begrudgingly teams up with. How you enjoy these characters will depend on your tolerance for tropes, but they inject humor into the movie amid the serious moments. The problem is whether you think a Predator movie should have a buddy subplot with an android who never stops talking and an animal sidekick designed to sell toys.

Our main Predator, Dek, is probably the weakest part of the movie. They tried to humanize him over the course of the movie, while keeping some of his Predator nature. It’s a fine concept, but here, it puts him in a liminal space. He doesn’t have enough human emotion to be likable, nor does he have enough of a Predator’s brutish and wild nature to make him unpredictable and interesting. But beyond this, the major sin is the ending of each action scene. Our main character is supposed to be the (second) baddest thing on the planet. Yet, in every fight save one, someone or something else must rescue him from the jaws of defeat (literally). It makes his victories seem unearned and makes you wonder if his impotence is chronic. Throughout the film, he is forced to find new ways to handle situations, but it feels like it comes at the expense of exploiting his weaknesses. That is the last thing the movie should do when its message is meant to show the inherent dichotomy of traditional Predator strength and the flaws of a lone-wolf mentality.

Luckily, most people will focus on the action, which delivers most of the time. The alien world Dek crashes upon feels like an antagonist. Everything from the plants to fish to the bugs wants him dead. It lends every scene tension, since you’re never sure what is coming or how he’ll escape. How these various hazards and creatures are utilized later to his advantage is one of its strongest aspects. Its world is interesting, and great set pieces keep the viewers’ eyes peeled. Exploring alien fauna and flora and seeing them incorporated into booby traps hearkens back to the original Predator film, where a ragtag team had to use the environment to best their foe.

None of the things killed in the film are human. The synths might as well be human, but the film promises they are not. If they were, it would be harder to forgive the brutality of the Predator’s tendencies. He goes all out against his brethren though. It is difficult to imagine how such a war-mongering race achieved the technological advancements and high level of civilization when they can’t help but culling the weakest components of their race. There is a subtext of eugenics there. The humans, in the form of synths, are portrayed as exploitative, heartless beings with no respect for other cultures, and no concern for the thriving of other beings. Nothing new there.

There isn’t much to say about our main villain. Kind of like Dek, she’s serviceable, but not much else. Which is a shame, because her introduction was interesting and tricks one into thinking we’re dealing with a mutli-layered character. Sadly, she’s more of a one-note brute than the ultimate creature Dek is trying to turn into a trophy. 

Action film buffs will get something from this movie. It’s like most modern action: turn your brain off and enjoy the spectacle while you’re elbow-deep in a tub of popcorn. Reminiscent of a lot of recent Marvel movies and Jurassic Park debacles. But the moment you start to dissect the whos, whys and hows of the film, you’ll find your mind stalked by the better movie this could have been.