‘Predator: Badlands’: 'Star Wars' with a Hint of 'Avatar'

Poster of Predator: Badlands. Courtesy of 20th Century Studios.

Good evening, readers.

Friday night, November 7th was when I watched Predator: Badlands, my first time watching any Predators movies, and I was impressed. The post-apocalyptic outer space atmosphere, the special effects for the alien creatures, and the tense yet charming chemistry between Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi were all what made Badlands a good movie to watch.

Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Dek from Predator: Badlands. Courtesy of 20th Century Studios.

Dek, a Predator from the planet Yautja, played by Schuster-Koloamatangi, went off to kill a creature called the Kalisk on the planet Genna after his father, played by Schuster-Koloamatangi in a dual role, killed his brother for sparing him in combat. Dek crossed paths with Thia, a damaged Weyland-Yutani Corporation synthetic, played by Fanning, and was forced to bring her and a creature named Bud on his quest to kill the Kalisk and prove to his father and clan that he was not weak.

You're gonna love the special effects makeup on Schuster-Koloamatangi's character of Dek, and the various creatures he and Thia faced on Genna. For example, the bone bison he hunted for food looked like a rhino without eyes, and you may be in awe (or not) about how gruesome it looks when it splits open and tries devouring the trio. Bud looked like a monkey version of Gollum. And the Kalisk looked like a Gigantopithecus. And speaking of the Kalisk, though it regenerated afterwards, Dek's first attempt at slicing her seemed like David cutting off Goliath's head. Kind of graphic.

Dek facing the Kalisk in Predator: Badlands. Courtesy of 20th Century Studios.

The environment of Gemma reminded me of the woods in Return of the Jedi and stuff from the Stone Age and post-apocalyptic worlds, and the trio's opponents, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, reminded me of the villains from Avatar, with similar loading mechs and tubes for the synthetics looking like tubes for uploading humans into their Na'vi counterparts. You'll also love the sword combat done by Dek, how he's all tough and takes down rivals with an iron fist.

Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Dek in a still from Predator: Badlands. Courtesy of 20th Century Studios.

The character of Dek reminded me of Gamora and Drax the Destroyer from Guardians of the Galaxy in that they were both warriors who sought honor and blood, but had to regain some compassion on the side. And said compassion was taught by Thia. Even though she was an android often at the control and mercy of her synthetic sister, Tessa, Fanning in a dual role, she was like Donkey from Shrek and Sid from Ice Age, being a talkative sidekick and a friendly foil to the initially reluctant loner. And yet without her legs for most of the film, she was resourceful with her upper body and took down WYCs that didn't share her kindness to Dek and Yautja in general. She looked pretty wild in combat when her legs were repaired later on.

Elle Fanning as Thia, and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Dek from Predator: Badlands. Courtesy of 20th Century Studios.

You'll also like the scoring by Sarah Schachner and Benjamin Wallfisch, the latter you may recognize from scoring Shazam!. Something about their electronic score highlighting the perils and heroism made me think the film's composer was Henry Jackman from Big Hero 6. Yet, I still liked their work.

So, if you want a good 90 minutes of action, check out Predator: Badlands. I give it an 8.5/10 for great acting chemistry between the lead actors, great visual effects, production design and scoring. 

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