Dallas Film Now.

Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi star in Dan Trachtenberg’s ferocious, relentless action thriller. 

Spurned by his father, who kills his older brother in front of his own eyes, young Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is banished to a distant planet on an impossible mission that he himself chose in a desperate attempt to establish his worthiness to his father, the ruthless ruler of their warrior clan. His brother died protecting him, and Dek is determined that he will kill an unconquerable beast, a Kalisk, that has killed all Predators who have dared to battle it. 

Or he will die trying. Honor is Dek’s motivating force, rather than revenge. 

As soon as Dek steps out of his wrecked spacecraft on the distant planet, Genna, he is beset by (lowercase) predators. He himself is a member of the Yautja people, who are renowned for their ability to conquer every major and minor threat to them and the lands they possess. Genna is far more immediately dangerous than Dek’s home world. On Genna, every creature great and small, every flower, every planet, even the grass itself — literal blades of grass — poses a mortal threat. 

Quickly, Dek is overwhelmed by the planet, which appears to have joined together all its desperate elements to kill him. Desperate, he accepts an offer by what looks like a human woman who is trapped herself by a large plant, and soon teams up with the lively Thia (Elle Fanning), who is a stereotypical California Girl personified: bright and bubbly. 

Only she has no legs. 

As it turns out, Thia is a synthetic creature (synth) who is a product of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation — cue ominous Alien tie-in music — who arrived on the planet to document the ‘fascinating’ creatures, only to come up against the mighty Kalisk, lose her legs, and see all her fellow syths be slaughtered, even Thia’s BFF Tess. 

Wisely, since the Yautja insists on hunting alone, Thia offers herself up as a tool who can help Dek locate the Kalisk, and a new kind of buddy comedy-thriller is born. 

Truthfully, Predator: Badlands only uses humor as an occasional relief from its relentless pace as an intense action-thriller. As written by Patrick Aison, from a story devised by Aison and Trachtenberg, following up on their collaboration on the excellent thriller Prey (2022), Predator: Badlands reflects their deep knowledge of the previous Predator films and a keen sense of what has not been explored before. 

Both Prey and the animated Predator: Killer of Killers explored Yautjas in the past, but Predator: Badlands is the first to tell the story from the perspective of the titular character himself. Here, Dek is a convincing, stoic protagonist, which fits what we know about his people, as well as his motivations in his film-long quest to battle the Kalisk. First and foremost, he is a warrior who believes the only good opponent is a dead opponent. 

Known for his sunny disposition throughout her career, Elle Fanning is perfect cast as Thia since she is a synth; we don’t expect a synthetic creature to act recognizably human, and she is not, remaining cheerful and happy, even in the worst of circumstances, because that’s how she’s programmed. Fanning avoids any suggestion of deeper intents. To give one example, as a particularly  deadly, fierce battle is waged all around her, she is separated from parts of her body, which causes only a minor ripple of minor concern on her part: ‘Ooh, where’d my legs go? Oh, there they are.’

The atmosphere is constantly dark and gloomy, which fits the setting, but often makes it difficult to see what’s going on. One suspects that part of the reason why it’s so grey and shadowy is to help hide the unreal carnage that is wrought upon the synthetic creatures, as well as all the flesh-and-blood beasts, who are constantly being split apart and splattered, hither and thither. As a result, the film is rated PG-13, which may be bending the rules a bit, even in its present form. 

Nonetheless, the action is constant and often mesmerizing, a flurry of fighting and running and killing, which tends to numb the senses when it doesn’t thrill them — mostly it’s the latter, though. The film unleashes an incredible fusillade of action that sets a very high standard for the next entry in the franchise, whatever and whenever that might be. 

The film is now playing in many area theaters.  For locations, showtimes, and more information about the film, visit the official site.