The Predator franchise is one that more often then not sees decades pass between each film and yet when Prey was a hit it really was a shock to see a second film from the same director get announced pretty much right away. Well now then here we are with that film having just been released into theaters and well you all just knew that I was going to be checking this film out the very first chance that I got and so then join me as I give you my SPOILER FREE of the film that is actually the second Predator film to get released this year with the film in question being called simply just "Predator: Badlands" enjoy.
The plot of this film is when a young alien Predator crash lands on a dangerous planet he must team with an android to bring back the one kill that will see him get welcomed back into his family. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot thats actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad with the films plot actually doing something new with the franchise by showing us a young Predator going on what is presumably his first ever hunt and while the film doesn't really go as far as it really could have done with that idea the idea alone is more then strong enough to support the film on it's own with the plot of the film not really focusing on the hunt itself but rather the friendship between two characters which is nice but that's not why you come to watch a Predator movie as you come to one of these to see the characters getting stalked by this seemingly impossible killing machine but to be fair tho when your this many films in a franchise you do have to do new things to keep people going to see your movie and in the case of this film that does include showing a young Predator going on a hunt in a very dangerous planet with the plot of this film being as strong as it was ever going to be as let's be honest here nobody goes to see these movies for there plots and therefor it is interesting when we get a film that does have a really good plot to it an it makes you wonder why alot of the other films didn't have good plots to them as well with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Elle Fanning as Thia and Tessa and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Dek and the voice of Dek's Father. Also starring in this film is Reuben De Jong as Njohrr / Apex Predator / Father , Mike Homik as Kwei , Stefan Grube as the voice of Kwei , Rohinal Nayaran as Bud , Cameron Brown as Smyth , Alison Wright as the voice of MU/TH/UR and Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer as the voice of Kewi's Computer.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With all of this films actors turning in some really good performances which is something that is both shocking and yet at the same time makes complete and total sense with it being shocking due to the fact that much like Prey this film is mostly made up of unknown or very little known actors and therefor it would have been foolish to expect a good performance from them and yet at the same time it's not that shocking due to the fact that Elle Fanning is starring in this film and she does nine times out of ten turn in some really good performances in her movies with the same thing being true for this film with her even being the films best actor due to the fact that she plays two different characters in the film and she has to make them both sound different and look completely different from each other and that is something that she does do with ease in this film as Thia has more of an upbeat personality whereas Tessa is very much a by the books type of character and yet even when your not fully paying attention to the film you can still tell who is who due to how vastly different that they both sound from one another with the acting that's in this film really being helped by that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
Doing the CGI for this film is Framestore , Industrial Light & Magic , Perception , Trixter , capital T and VicScreen. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with this films CGI blending in really well with the live action elements and while it was still easy to tell what was CGI and what wasn't they were blended together really well with all o this films effects looking good as even tho this film only had a small budget at least when compared to other effects heavy films you can tell right away that the films effects budget was really high as not only did they manage to get alot of really good effects companies to wok on the film in the first place but they also manages to produce some really high quality effects alot of the time as while yes the film does have alot of really good effects in it there are also some really bad looking effects in the film as well with some of the films many creatures looking a little bit to fake alot of the time and there's a shot of Tessa near the end of the film where there's just something about the shot that feels off this is despite the fact that the film does have some really high quality effects alot of the time with even what they do with Thia looking really good and is something that does make you wonder how they managed to pull that effect off when making the film as there's no way that it's something that could have been without causing pain to actor Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi.
As was mentioned at the very start of this film this is actually the second Predator film that director Dan Trachtenberg made and released this year as in the summer we also got the animated anthology film Predator: Killer Of Killers. Yet without giving that much away about this film don't expect this film to connect to that film in any way and don't expect characters from that film to show up in this film as while the two films do indeed take place in the same fictional world there are no crossover characters from either film which is a smart thing as we've seen with the MCU that doing that kind of thing to often to quickly can more often then not do more harm then good and with there being noting like that in this film it's clear as day that Dan Trachtenberg is more focused on telling a good story and in showing us new and exciting things with the Predator and having alot of cameos from characters from other Predator films would be to distracting an could be seen as being to much like fanservice but either way the very fact that he managed to make two films at the exact same time is insane as it requires alot of time and effort to make ONE film and yet he's made two at the same time and had them released in the exact same year only just months apart from each other and while there aren't any characters crossing over from either film it's still fun to imagine to how certain characters from Killers Of Killers would react to certain events going on in this film and while we might not get the crossover film until the third film whenever that may be the fact that he's already thinking about that but is more then willing to take his time in making it does show that he's willing to give the fans what they want but only if the right story comes along first.
Whilst the film does have alot of really good things that are working for the film it does also have alot of things that are working against the film. Like the fact that the planet that this film takes place doesn't feel as well developed as Earth was back in Prey which granted might because of the fact that we don't get to spend alot of time on that world before the action fully kicks in but it is something that does leave you wanting you as you get to see these really unique looking creatures and yet know nothing about this planet other then the fact that it's really dangerous which is just the most generic thing that could have been said and is something that's not really unique to this film and yet if the makers of this film took the time to if not fully at least partially develop the world that this film takes place on as that then could have had the added benefit of making the dangers that the characters go through in the film feel all the more real with the the fact that we don't really get that much of a chance to care or the characters being another downside of the film as while yes the film does develop the friendship between Thia and Dek there still treated like superheroes when an action scene starts which means that we have no reason to care for them and feel anything for them when they get put into a live of death situation as we know that there going to be making it out alive and well when we should be wondering if there going to be OK this is the same problem that A Good Day To Die Hard faced where they put John McClane into these situations where he should have died but doesn't and that made it hard to by into the film and by into his character because there was no threat to his life there and it's the same thing here only it's on a lesser degree.
One of the things that the film does get right tho was the fact that it did develop the friendship between Dek and Thia. As without there friendship being believable then you don't really have a film to begin with and by into it so much that you do want to see more scenes with them just getting to know each other as that's when the film is the most fun to watch and while both characters are really well done in there own it's when there together that they really do come alive as both characters have such chemistry with each other that you really do by that he would do anything to protect her much like she'd do whatever she can do to protect him and while yes they both do have there sperate goals in this films it's the fact that we get to see them together that makes the film stand out as we've never seen a Predator movie where where the titular Predator has a friend as while yes other Predators have teamed up with humans before they have never had a friend with it being made crystal clear that with the three Predator movies that he's made thus far that this films director Dan Trachtenberg does care more about the Predator side of things that the human side of things as he does give us new looks at the Predator that the other films didn't do and he gives us new ideas for these characters as well and while having him team up with someone who is always cracking jokes could be seen as watering down the franchise it is something that does play into this film in ways that can't be discussed in this review but in saying that tho it is understandable why some people do hate this no kind of jokey take on the character as the Predator needs to be killing people in really horrible ways and not cracking jokes with a friend right before he does it.
Now then this film has had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty nine minuets and nine seconds. Which is a bit of short running time for a Predator film to have but at the same time tho this is a film that really does have the right amount of running time to cover that amount of running time however tho in saying that this is a film that really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as while the plot of the film is as well developed as it will ever be due to the fact that the makers of this film did put alot of focus on it's plot with the film taking it's time in adding things that do help to fully develop the films plot in the long run sadly tho the same thing absolutely cannot be said for this films characters as none of them apart from Thia and Dek get much in the way of character development which I guess does make sense as they are meant to be the films characters and so of course they are going to be getting alot of the attention from the makers of this film but even Tessa and alot of the films other characters don't get that much in the way of character development with this mainly due to the fact that the film does have a much more shorter running time which is great in that it means that every single scene has to be about the plot of the film but it does also mean that we can't get alot of the smaller character moments that help to develop alot of the films characters and as such alot of this films characters do feel like the waste of good characters as we know as much about them coming out of the film then we did coming into the film but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With it being made crystal clear that while the film does have alot of really good kills in the film they all going to take part in the films action scenes which is something that does somewhat make sense given that this is a young Predator but at the same time tho you don't expect a Predator film to be heavy on the action and not that heavy on it's kills as while there are kills in this film there's more action in the film it self with there being some creative kills but nothing that really hasn't been done before in other and better films with the films best action scene being the third act battle when Dek storms a building and uses his weapons to take out pretty much every one there in a gore filled action scene as again without giving away to much about what happens in that scene we do get to see alot of limbs being cut off with the only thing that lets that scene down being the fact that there's alot of CGI used in that scene which does look a little bit to fake alot of the time and while these more recent Predator films will always be effects heavy films there really should be a fine line between choosing when to use CGI and when doing things for real with this being something that should have been the case with the third act battle as it would have looked so much more cooler if we got to see alot of practical effects blended with the films CGI elements with the films third fight being helped by the fact that both Thia and Dek have there own enemies to fight with us getting to see just how each of them takes down there respective foe which is really fun to watch with the same thing also being true for the rest pf this films action as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall if you like the other two recent Predator films then this is a film that really will be right up your street as it is a really good film so much so that it's already made back around $80 million of it's $105 million American dollar budget with that proving that the Predator franchise is not only back but it's really here to stay as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Disney fandom wiki page , Tenor , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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