Predator: Badlands

Got a bunch to elaborate on here. Plenty of spoilers.

But first, I rated both this and Prey an 85 but I think Prey is probably better as a whole, but I think this is better than Killer of Killers. I rate in increments of 5, so I have to round down or up depending on what I think, but if I didn't, it would be something like:

Prey: 85-88
Predator: Killer of Killers: 79 or stays the same at 80.
Predator: Badlands: 82-84, depending on what I land on for Prey.

So they're all very close.



My big complaint:

Admittedly, I have a bad memory, there are Predator movies I missed (but they're not received well anyway so I don't care), and the first movie had some cheese... but I don't associate comedy with this franchise. I remember Prey being dark with minimal jokes, which is what I want. I'm also not steeped in Predator lore, but these are the movies.

There are too many jokes. Some do work, but mostly it imbalances the tone (this is incredibly dark at times) and takes me out of it a bit. The first Predator had one-liners but it never felt this dark. And coming off Prey, I hoped for more of the same for atmosphere. When Dek says he has a clan, the buddy copiness of it all pays off, but me and my brother found this to be the weakest aspect of it. And I think that's why I don't think this is arguably the best Predator movie ever. It really could have been a 90. It certainly started off that way.

I understand this is subjective. I get that the point is that he finds a new clan after being banished (well, they tried to kill him) from his own clan. I get that it's an adventure movie and meant to be different. I get that my own desires play into this. But even with those acknowledgements, I die on this hill: the amount of assistance he got and the comedic elements mostly diminished Dek himself as a character. MoviesWithLuis said it humanizes him too much, and while I don't mind him being humanized some (it got me a bit at the end), I still think that criticism is valid because it's a bit too much. It's his first hunt, and he was constantly saved, and I think him overcoming the odds by himself more often would have built him more.

With that said, he does overcome the Yautja at the end by himself with skill and intelligence, which was awesome. Seeing him survive in a hostile world that he doesn't understand is cool, even though he does have to lean on Thia some (I don't have a huge problem with this in context of he's using her, though again, the banter between them, meh). And before the final act kicks off, seeing him get ready by using the world as his weapon... good shit.

For as cool as I think the Alien crossover is with Thia and the corporation, I think the movie could have been better without Thia playing such a prominent role. If you needed him to become friends with something, the Kalisk's child would have sufficed.

But I do enjoy seeing the Yautja actually win in a meaningful way. I think they might have realized that we're all here to see him win because we like them. Prey was great but the Yautja being overcome was a little weird.