Predator: Badlands

Predator: Badlands, the ninth movie in the franchise and third project directed by Dan Trachtenberg, proves one thing: there's not one single way of making a good Predator instalment. All three of Trachtenberg's Predator projects (the 2022 streaming hit Prey, the animated Predator: Killer of Killers released earlier this year, and Badlands) are quite different offerings, at least for the series standards, which has always repeated the same pattern.

Badlands is the most different from the rest as it features no human characters (Elle Fanning plays an android from Weyland-Yutani, a nod to the Alien series that doesn't go beyond that), and the protagonist is a predator called Dek, and with a background, personality, and voiced dialogue who takes the role of the "good guy". This could, to an extent, alienate Predator fans, as the usual elements of these movies, like the fear and horror of not knowing where the monster is, the display of survival skills under extreme conditions, the tactics used by the human survivors to defend from the killer aliens... more or less remain in Badlands, but in a very different and much more light-hearted way than expected.

The plot is very simple: a young, seemingly teenager Yautja (the Predator species) goes to a planet (so inhospitable that even the grass tries to kill you) to hunt one of the fiercest creatures in the universe. There, he meets a sentient android (of half of it) played by Elle Fanning, and form the unlikely (and clichéd) tandem of the rough, silent, edgy killer and the lively, chatterbox, and childish companion that tries to break into the Yautja's cold heart, balancing their opposite personalities so that both can learn from each other. The dynamic between the two (they are capable of talking in different languages, with the Predator subtitled) makes for plenty of comedy, and the tone of the movie is surprisingly light, a big contrast compared to the rest of the movies in the series that are more sombre and tense.

Badlands feels much closer to a family-friendly adventure film, like The Mandalorian or even Guardians of the Galaxy. A big push in that direction is brought by Fanning, who used to play introverted characters blurred in an aura of mystery in most of her movies, and rarely gets the chance to have this much fun with a character as cheerful and bright as this empathetic android. She is a delight to watch here and infuses the film with an upbeat energy that makes it especially entertaining, even if (I insist) it isn't what you may be expecting from Predator.

It's no coincidence that this is also the first movie in the series rated PG-13 instead of R, helped by the fact that all the fight scenes are between other beasts or androids. That doesn't mean that the action isn't brutal, as many, many creatures and androids are butchered and dismembered, and the camera never hides it. But it means that, when an android is cut in half, you don't see blood and intestines, but white fluids or green blood, which reduces its impact a little.

There are many, many action scenes in the movie: it's the most action packed of the franchise (at the expense of terror, which has no place here), and each are really diverse, with all kinds of creatures big and small and stunning and sometimes seamless mixes of CGI and practical effects. The problem is that, while bombastic, few of them are really outstanding and memorable, which ultimately prevents the movie from soaring even higher. A hand-to-hand combat at the beginning of the movie may be one of the best, and it puts a mark so high that the rest of the fights don't quite reach it. Even with the climax, which is a bit too dark and unimaginative, despite the obvious reference to one of the previous movies from the... er, shared universe.

The biggest things against Predator: Badlands are your expectations of what a Predator movie should be, and certain elements that Badlands may not offer you the same way Prey did, for example. Going from the mix of horror-survival to a buddy movie between a Predator and an android going on adventures is a big risk. Trachtenberg breaks the mould within the borders of the franchise, but doesn't really build anything brand new, and it leads to a contradiction: despite being the most different Predator movie of them all, it often feels the most... generic.

A bit clichéd and predictable, but entertaining nonetheless, fun and exciting from start to finish, and undoubtedly well shot in the countless action scenes, even if they fail from being outstanding. With this quality, it's as valid as Prey was, as valid as the 1987 John McTiernan classic was (and certainly better than everything they made in between), and the ending points towards more exciting adventures in the Predator universe... if the public embraces this attempt from Disney to open the series to a bigger, more mainstream audience.