Dan Trachtenberg has, in the last decade or so, done more for the Predator franchise than even John McTiernan and Shane Black, the director and writer of the original 1980s Schwarzenegger spectacular sci-fi action movie. Trachtenberg's 2022 Prey was an original portrayal of female empowerment, set in distant history of pre-colonial America. Not to be outdone, this year's animated anthology, Predator: Killer of Killers, is my personal favorite. For him to have now delivered two expensive, high-octane action blockbusters is a major achievement.
But where Trachtenberg has lost me - sort of - is in presenting the typically villainous, murderous extra-terrestrial as a being we should identify with. To top it off, here the anti-hero is presented without his emblematic mask. Watching his ghastly mug was difficult to get past - despite Elle Fanning's humanoid synthetic upper half spitting comic relief and hanging on his back on a planet that hosts the legendary Kalisk - the most difficult thing to kill in the entire universe.
Predator: Badlands is a well made action sci-fi fare. But such a bombastic extravaganza of explosions, bullets, slicing and dicing of blades on flesh, and general cacophony of noise, can be burdensome, after a while. Its narrative is not unlike the much superior Prey, where an undermined warrior has to prove him/herself to their tribe. It will undoubtedly spawn numerous sequels; and just as likely will - eventually - exhaust even its most ardent fans.
☆☆
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