\n\tFor nearly 40 years, the company formerly known as Fox has had a killer property on its hands in \u201cPredator,\u201d but the studio hasn\u2019t really known where to go with it \u2014 on the big screen, at least (the mythology flourished in countless comics and novels). Without Arnold Schwarzenegger aboard, the films floundered, missing the point that the lethal species of intergalactic trophy hunters \u2014 dubbed \u201cYautja\u201d in the books \u2014 was the series\u2019 real star.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn \u201cPredator: Badlands<\/a>,\u201d director and franchise custodian Dan Trachtenberg<\/a> recenters the narrative around Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), the \u201cweak\u201d son of a Yautja chieftain, and turns him into an unlikely hero, considering that Predators have always been the antagonists (except where Aliens are concerned). The runt of his clan, Dek is so desperate to prove himself that he travels to Genna, the so-called \u201cplanet of death,\u201d where he\u2019s pledged to slay the Kalisk, a seemingly unkillable creature that intimidates even his father.<\/p>\n \n\tThat all sounds like pretty standard Predator fare. Heck, it sounds like a live-action version of Lewis Carroll\u2019s most famous poem: \u201cBeware the Jabberwock, my son! \/ The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! \/ Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun \/ The frumious Bandersnatch!\u201d Be warned that this logline leaves out what makes \u201cBadlands\u201d most interesting \u2014 and the strongest film with \u201cPredator\u201d in the title since the 1987 original (Trachtenberg\u2019s earlier \u201cPrey\u201d notwithstanding) \u2014 though it\u2019s tough to discuss without spoiling a few of those surprises.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBadlands\u201d belongs to my favorite category of movie: the kind that airdrop audiences into a completely unfamiliar world and then trust us to figure out how gravity works alongside the main characters. When executed correctly, that strategy respects our intelligence, even as it immerses us in a culture or place we knew little about before \u2014 a description which applies equally well to sci-fi classics (like the adapt-or-perish Vin Diesel thriller \u201cPitch Black\u201d) and art-house movies (\u00e0 la Iraq\u2019s official Oscar submission, \u201cThe President\u2019s Cake,\u201d this year).<\/p>\n \n\tNo one would mistake \u201cPredator: Badlands\u201d for an art-house movie, though it follows the \u201cAvatar\u201d formula reasonably well (after an obviously \u201cDune\u201d-indebted prologue), sending Dek to an unfamiliar planet, where it expects us to navigate the deadly flora and fauna as they present themselves. There are swift, serpentine vines dexterous enough to snatch Dek\u2019s supplies; combustible little slugs that detonate like grenades when triggered; and exotic flowers that swell up and squirt paralyzing darts when something approaches. If you\u2019ve ever played the game of speculating who the first person to eat oysters or poisonous red berries might have been, \u201cBadlands\u201d serves as an accelerated run through half a dozen such scenarios, with zero room for error.<\/p>\n \n\tDek arrives with a full range of Yautja weapons, but relying on them would make survival too easy. It\u2019s more satisfying to watch him stripped of his arsenal and obliged to improvise using elements he finds there. Is Genna really the deadliest planet in the galaxy? Not by a long shot: The air is breathable, the terrain is intuitive and there are no volcanoes or extreme temperatures to contend with. It does host a few Lovecraftian species, however, and that (plus the razor grass) is plenty to make Dek\u2019s task difficult.<\/p>\n