Our protagonist is Dek, a Yautja (the species name of the Predators) who is considered something of a runt. Such a runt in fact, that his dad wants to kill him for being a pitiful disgrace to the clan. After his brother saves him, he makes his way to "the Death Planet" Genna to hunt a supposedly unkillable monster in order to show his father who is boss and force the rest of the clan to put some respect on his name. When he gets there he discovers that, not only is all the wildlife deadly, but Weyland-Yutani (yes, the evil corporation from Alien) have sent a bunch of synths there to collect and weaponise his prospective trophy. He forms an uneasy alliance with a synth called Thia, or her upper body, at least, in order to navigate the planet's dangers and track down his target.
There are two major potential pitfalls with this set-up. The first is asking the audience to route for a Predator. Given their culture is based on visiting foreign lands and killing less advanced creatures, it's a bit like asking you to get behind the guy who shot Cecil the lion. Trachtenberg navigates this by doubling down on how terrible they are as a species. Dek's infanticide happy father is the real bad guy and our protagonist is just trying to make the best of the duff hand he was dealt. How these savages ever discovered interstellar travel is a mystery. The other thing that helps get viewers on side is pitting the lead against something people hate even more than big game hunters. An evil mega-corporation.
This leads us to the problem Badlands doesn't manage to solve, the franchise crossover aspect. Without the spectacle of the Predator actually fighting a xenomorph we're just left with two worlds that don't really fit together. It doesn't make conical sense for them to share a universe and every Alien film has a very distinct visual style which just doesn't mesh with the looser aesthetic of the Predator movies. Here we have Weyland-Yutani's synthetic humans acting nothing like they do in any Alien film. There is an attempt to explain why but it doesn't help. We have a MU/TH/UR artificial intelligence that looks nothing like any computer from its home franchise and a glossy CGI power loader that is a million miles away from the iconic, industrial clunk of Aliens.
It's a shame that the final portion of the film is given over to brand synergy because when the film is just Dek and Thia vs nature on steroids its an entertaining ride. The world isn't exactly Avatar level but has enough imagination of its own and looks pretty good for something that must be more or less completely CG. The young Yautja is clearly in over his head, which is a fun reversal of the predator usually being the ones who hold all the deadly cards. Any worries about the younger age certificate nerfing the action are quickly dispelled with our hero blowing and chopping up his prey with as much gusto as any of his brethren. The only real difference is the colour of the blood, which I guess makes all the difference to the ratings board.
The action works thanks in large part to a fantastically committed performance by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Dek. Managing to get so much personality and just the right amount of physical presence in the character is a real achievement given his speech is only understandable via subtitles and he must have been running around in front of a green screen for most of his time on set. Elle Fanning is a great foil as Thia, although her other role as Thia's more sinister "sister" is a little corny.
Badlands does get bogged down trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole, but when it just cuts loose and has fun it sweeps you along with it. Trachtenberg says he has one more, completely unique, idea for a Predator film and given he clearly knows how to make them entertaining, it will be interesting to see what it is. Maybe just leave the Alien stuff to someone else though.
6 skulls mounted on the wall out of 10.
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