So yeah we finally went to see Predator: Badlands I personally am a big Predator fan, I have seen all the movies (including the AVP ones) and have them all on video as well as digital copies and we just watched the animated movie Killer of Killers not to long ago which I loved. I have played the video games and read the comics and have some Predator merch around the house. I believe I said this before like the Predator franchise way better then the Alien(s) franchise I think the Predator is more interesting both design wise as well as story wise. I’m not discounting H.R. Giger he is an amazing artist and I do enjoy alot of the Alien(s) movies I just think Predator is a better character and I always enjoy watching a Predator movie.
Now as for this movie I would have to say I did absolute love it. its seriously bad ass and cool AF! It kind of starts off as this heavy action movie and then become this and then becomes like this almost buddy action movie.
Its visually impressive like there is so much to see and it is shot beautifully the cinematography is at times very beautiful with the wide environment shots and at others it is very fast and brutal. I think some of it would have had to have been filmed in like New Zealand or something like that also you get to see things like the Predator home world which is a very cool thing.
Now as for the story it is very interesting this is a very Predator story as in the Predator character called "Dek" (played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is the main character there is very little human interaction/human characters in this which is totally different from the previous movies, so in this Dek is the hero character. Dek is pretty much exiled from his clan for being somewhat of a runt when it comes to his species. So to prove himself and earn his place among his people he has to travel to "the Death Planet" and kill a unkillable monster and while there he meets Thia (aka tool lol played by Elle Fanning) a synthetic (the same that are in the Alien(s) franchise) who is suffering a bit of damage. After helping each other out they team up and go on a wild adventure!
when they team up it becomes like this almost buddy action movie were Thia is the more comedic character to Dek's serious straight man. their chemistry and them playing off against each other is really good and they are not alone they are soon joined by this little cute but deadly monkey creature which Thia names "bud" I was surprised that there wasn't any in theater merch for this you could have done toppers for these 3 characters and maybe even had some Bud plushes lol but anyway through the movie the Predator Dek learns that he doesn't have to be alone and concepts like teamwork, friendship and chosen family.
Like I said the visuals were amazing all the weapons and tech that is used I really loved Dek's plasma like sword that he has and all the creature designs they must have had a great time writing this and coming up with all the crazy stuff for the planet like Razor Grass and the exploding bugs as well as those snake things as well as the carnivorous trees and "knock-out gas" plants. it was all very cool and very awesome!
I'd say even the music for this was great it was very I would say tribal it fit and really suited this movie perfectly.
So in the end I actually loved this movie and I would dare to say it was one of the best if not the best Predator movie! So I could say if you love the Predator franchise you'll love this one too! so I would absolutely recommend it.
