Predator: Badlands

When "Predator" with Arnold Schwarzenegger was released in 1987, who knew that it would be a franchise for 38 years? When ir was released, I assumed it would be another summer flick that would fade into obscurity. Wow, I was way off. So, after a raft of more films in the franchise, we now have "Predator: Badlands". 

This film is set in the future on a remote planet called Genna, where a young predator, Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), is outcast from his clan due to his being weak, finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Elle Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary that others are not able to conquer but Dek believes he can so he will become part of the clan, while Thia becomes his guide to traverse this violent planet, hence the 'badlands'. 

Others to round out the cast are Rohinal Nayaran as Bud, Mike Homik as Kwei, Dek's brother, Reuben de Jong as Father, Stefan Grube as Kwei's voice, Cameron Brown as Drone Synth, Alison Wright as MU/TH/UR's voice, Matt Duffer as Kwei's ship computer and Ross Duffer as Kwei's ship computer. 

This was directed with grit in a totally gripping way by Dan Trachtenberg ("10 Cloverfield Lane" '16, "Prey" '22, "Predator: Killer of Killers" '25) plus TV and shorts. It's always interesting to see a film with a very limited cast to see how the director compensates how he or she stages and generally handles the cast since the audience can't just lean on the cast to get them through, and this definitely worked. Most of the cast consisted of only two characters--Thia and Dek, and the direction was so tight and well paced that these two practically alone kept your attention, and that's extremely fine directing. It was equally well written by Patrick Aison ("Prey" '22) plus TV, based on a story by Patrick Aison and Dan Trachtenberg, which is based on characters created by Jim Thomas and John Thomas. Considering this writer has only one other feature film to his credit, this script was well thought out, cohesive and tight. Other than a couple of very small places of slowness where it appeared that the writer was looking to find an end to a certain scene and finally found it, it was truly an amazing story. The visual effects predominantly designed by ILM )Industrial, Light & Magic) and Weta FX were seamless and definitely added to the story. 

Certainly if you're a 'Predator' aficionado, you'll love this installment--it's probably one of their best. The chemistry between Fanning and Schuster-Koloamatangi was effortless and simply added to the intensity of the story. The script is well thought out and if you like that up close and personal feeling, it's presented in an IMAX format and in 3D. 

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                    Rated: PG=13                                     107mins.