Predator: Badlands, Dan Trachtenberg’s latest in his ongoing effort to revitalise the nearly 40-year-old Predator franchise, makes some bold new creative choices in an action-packed sci-fi adventure that may feel unfamiliar to fans of the franchise. However, these new ‘alien’ choices for a franchise so defined by its typical formula may be just what it needed to attract an expanding fan base for the action sci-fi classic.
Spoilers Ahead
Something to Prove
In many ways, Badlands follows a similar structure to Trachtenberg’s first venture into the world of the Yautja, Prey. A young underdog, less obviously capable than their more typical sibling, but with a determination to prove themselves nonetheless. Naru and Dek both have a pattern of failing and learning throughout the journey, taking brutal hits and making crucial mistakes, but constantly adjusting for these errors, leading them to a satisfying climactic battle where the audience tangibly sees these lessons come together.
To an extent, this was a critique for me, two leads going through much the same journey in back-to-back live-action instalments. But Dek, as the first Predator/Yautja protagonist, offers a lot of intriguing insight and uniqueness as a very different type of lead.
What endeared me most to Dek as a character was how Yautja he was; despite an arc entrenched in themes around family and connection, he was still fully immersed in his culture. Which made him far more compelling for me than a Yautja who simply rejected his cultures teachings. The fact that he isn’t funny, friendly, and still has the sadistic tendencies of the rest of his race gave me confidence that Trachtenberg really wanted to explore a Yautja as a character and write around that rather than write him into something more typical of a human character.
A New Clan
Joining Dek are two distinct members of his new clan. Thia, a Weyland Yutani synthetic straight out of the Alien franchise, an exciting reunion of the sci-fi sagas, and Bud, a Kalisk child who might strike audiences as the typical cute animal sidekick, but I was pleasantly surprised by how she tied into the plot particularly well.
Thia, and her relationship with both Dek and her ‘sister’ Tessa, was a really wonderful parallel to Dek’s own relationship with his father and brother Kwei. Thia is looking to her sister for familial connection, feeling an inherent connection because of their origins, but instead, finding family in Dek was a perfect ‘found family’ story and hit really well for me personally.
I think that’s what I appreciated most about the film, a story about family, good and bad. Kwei loves Dek and dies protecting him, but Tessa rejects Thia and tries to have her killed, Dek’s father wants him dead and kills Kwei, while the Kalisk loves Bud and spares Dek as Bud’s found family.
Despite the hyper-violence, fun sci-fi and adrenaline-fueled action (which I did love), this film works for me because of some themes previously untouched in the franchise and the directly opposed but fantastic parallels between every character’s relationships.
More Ugly Motherf***ers
With a film that, for the first time, gives us a lot of insight into the culture of the Yautja, something Killer of Killers had an exciting tease of, it’s worth talking about what that involved.
Just like Killer of Killers, Badlands has given us another excerpt from the ‘Yautja Codex’, some sort of holy text, we can guess that defines what their code is. I really enjoyed seeing more of their home planet, the harsh bleakness of it. An environment that easily might cultivate such dangerous creatures, the opening of creature after creature devouring the other, may have been somewhat on the nose, but it worked excellently for the tone.
Lore expansions were more minimal than I expected, but we heard more of their language, saw some of their homes, and I did notice that the guards at the end looked very in line with the guards in Killer of Killers. Perhaps we might learn there are paths beyond simple hunting for the Yautja.
But the film’s ending tease of Dek’s mother might suggest a film with much more of a focus on the relationships between the Yautja and how their culture functions next time.
Into the Badlands
Overall, I had a blast with this film; it might not scratch the itch you go to Predator for, but it was an excellent sci-fi adventure with a lead that I can’t wait to see more of (in a new AVP, fingers crossed). With the box office success and continued positive critical reception of Trachtenberg’s Predator films, I think the franchise is safely in his hands, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
