Predator: Badlands Parent Guide

It is the responsibility of every Predator, or Yautja, to prove themselves by taking a mighty trophy. Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) struggles due to his smaller size, and his father, Njohrr (Rueben de Jong) has waited long enough. Njohrr orders Dek’s brother, Kwei (Michael Homick) to kill Dek, and remove the shame of his weakness from the clan. When Kwei refuses, their father kills Kwei – but not before Kwei forces Dek to flee the planet. Injured and unconscious, Dek soon crashes on one of the most inhospitable planets in the universe: Genna.

Even the bravest Yautja have avoided Genna and its large, volatile wildlife – a risk, but also an opportunity for Dek. If he can bring back a Kalisk, one of Genna’s apex predators, he can rejoin his clan with honor. After all, no Yautja has ever killed one. But Dek isn’t alone with the monsters of Genna: Shortly after landing, he finds Thia (Elle Fanning), a Weyland-Yutani synthetic who has lost her legs. What she lacks in mobility, though, she makes up for in utility. Thia and her team have spent the last two years on Genna studying its vicious flora and fauna, and she claims she can lead Dek to the Kalisk. Yautja work alone, but Dek isn’t opposed to making the most of his situation. Now he just needs to kill a beast that an entire race of killers has always feared…

This film is a bit of a departure from the rest of the franchise, mostly due to the PG-13 rating. Previous films in both the Alien and Predator franchises are notoriously gruesome and not infrequently profane, but this is an almost lighthearted buddy adventure story in which no humans are harmed. A whole lot of critters and an army of synthetics on the other hand, are torn limb from limb in displays of violence very familiar to franchise fans – apparently, the difference between R and PG-13 is the color of the guts. Red, gooey, human insides? Adults only. White, gooey, android insides? Bring the kids.

A lot of the humor seems directed at a younger audience as well, and while I don’t inherently have a problem with that (especially as it manages not to be hugely annoying), I’m a little lost on the intended audience. Nearly every other entry in both franchises is, as I mentioned, heavily blood-soaked, and while you don’t need the franchise backstory to understand what’s going on in the film, this production makes a weird entry point for both Alien and Predator. While I’m whining, I’ll also warn you to avoid my mistake: This movie is decidedly not worth watching in 3D, which I ended up doing inadvertently. Most of the time, you’ll forget it’s not just a regular film – at least until you remember the stupid glasses you’re wearing. The rest of the time I think the digital effects actually look worse than they would in 2D. Save some cash and skip the 3D screenings.

Griping notwithstanding, I enjoyed the movie. Elle Fanning is funny and endearing, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi (and, of course, the effects team behind Dek) manage to push a lot of human emotion through a non-human face, and the lightning fast pacing and fun action sequences make this one of the more enjoyable action flicks I’ve seen this year. It’s still pretty violent for younger viewers, and I’m still not sure about the intended audience, but for older teens and adult franchise fans this Predator: Badlands is a grand old time.

About author

Keith Hawkes

Keith Hawkes graduated from Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada with a degree in English and History. His interests are movies, American literature, science fiction, almost every kind of music, and museums. He enjoys criticizing films for fun - although he's okay with being paid for it.