REVIEW: PREDATOR - BADLANDS

4/5

Caught In A Crossfire

107 Mins. Starring: Elle Fanning & Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi. Screenplay: Patrick Aison. Director: Dan Trachtenberg. In: Theatres.

The hunt is back on, but like you've never been preyed on before. Director Dan Trachtenberg ('10 Cloverfield Lane', 'The Boys' pilot) is to the 'Predator' franchise, what the Russo Brothers are to Marvel. Ever since 2022's 'Prey' revived the dread locked hunter. Taking what was previously a co-'Terminator', Arnold Schwarzenegger star vehicle (a chopper?), like rival Sly Stallone had 'Rocky' and 'Rambo', and making it as worthy a cult science-fiction as the 'Planet Of The Apes', or the 'Alien' cousin its gone 'V' head-to-head with (check the Easter Eggs). Hunting down the forest of films, including 'Predator 2' (starring "too old for this s###" Danny Glover and his lethal weapon), 'Predators' (with 'The Brutalist' Oscar winner, Adrien Body) and the even more confusingly titled 'The Predator' ensemble, to be king. All these 'Fast & Furious' (the fourth film) subtle name changes to try and recharge the franchise with a new beginning. Only for a complete shift to truly bring this predator, that is now 'Prey', back to its roots.

Trachtenberg has taken us even further with two releases this calendar, like Willie Nelson, directing the amazing animated 'Predator: Killer Of Killers' that heated up this summer on Hulu and Disney Plus and furthered the franchise. Dan is the man, and he really needs to give us that World War II idea, in the trenches killing Nazis, like Tarantino, for what sounds like the most fun since the zombie bonus you unearthed in 'Call Of Duty'. But for now, he gives us 'Predator: Badlands', one week after Halloween. All for a monster mash that sees Guillermo del Toro's 'Frankenstein', starring Oscar Isaac, come alive on Netflix this weekend. Speaking of 'Badlands' for a head-on collision, smashing in your guts, if you were disappointed with the Bruce Springsteen 'Deliver Me from Nowhere' biopic starring 'The Bear' Jeremy Allen White, then this fear so real, that wants your heart and soul, is no sin. Alive with the fact that it's starting to treat the 'Predator' franchise good.

"First hunt. Last chance," the perfect poster reads for this film, scripted by Patrick Aison. In this ninth instalment and seventh solo film, the Predator is one who wants to earn his cloak, getting it in the mandibles from his father after his brother tries to show him the way. Our hunter, Dek, from the planet Yautja Prime, is the runt of the litter (I mean, look at this guy! How do you even market this movie?), who must claim his prize if he wants to show his "one ugly motherf#####" face back home. Unlucky for him, like a kid at a UFO catcher whose searching for toys his crane can't claim, the big beast in question has more lives than a comic-book character. Respawning like a video game. Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi ('Jonah', 'The Panthers') brings a brutal heart and beating soul, behind the Predator mask and make-up (this is what Van Damme should have done), but he'll need all the tools at his disposal. And this is where he meets an android in the form of Elle Fanning (more 'Alien' links? Especially with that power loader mech), and 'The Neon Demon' and 'A Complete Unknown' steals the show, without so much as a pair of legs, Lieutenant Dan. Even though they do their own a## kicking, (but we shouldn't spoil what more she brings here). This is one 'Predator' that's bad a##! TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Predator', 'Prey', 'Predator: Killer Of Killers.'