I had a great time watching the streaming version of “Predator: Badlands” at my friend’s house recently. The “Predator” universe is a cinematic world unto itself because you deal with the predator and his lineage, which includes the “Aliens” and “Predator” films.
“Predator: Badlands” is essentially a backstory about predator characters. In this one, a tyrannical father kills his own son, dispatching him without remorse. The Predator technology is very advanced, much further along than humans on Earth.
It’s way beyond our scope and capacity. The story centers on Thia, portrayed by Elle Fanning, who’s an android. She’s missing the lower part of her body. She’s forced to join forces with Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a Predator going on his first hunt with technology not known to man.
Thia needs Dek’s help to find out where she needs to go and what she’s supposed to do to find her long-lost sister. Dek is confused because he’s been thrown into a foreign planet that’s unfamiliar but also has some similarities to Earth. Director Dan Trachtenberg, who called the shots on the Predator movie “Prey” in 2022, knows where he’s going.
He has a firm grasp on how to navigate this storyline. On the small home screen, the story seems more intimate. That brings viewers closer to the two main characters. It’s easy to like them, even though we don’t really know them.
In all the previous “Predator” creature features, even going back to the original starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1987, the Predators have always been bad-guy monsters. In fact, they first visited Earth to essentially do a little sports hunting with humans as prey.
That’s not the case this time. Dek is an antihero on track for a new challenge in a strange land. Rated PG-13, this is more family friendly than the previous sci-fi action-adventures. I had a good time with “Predator: Badlands,” even on the small screen
Grade: B+
