On desolate Yautja Prime, a gloomily-lit fight between two Predator brothers ends in tragedy and sees the younger brother, Dek, set on a rite-of-passage challenge, choosing the planet Genna ("the death planet") and the 'unkillable' monster The Kalisk, fending off its many dangerous indigenous creatures and teaming up with a talkative but damaged Wayland-Yutani exploration synthetic Thia as a comedy sidekick along the way. It is full of fan-pleasing iconography, details and moments, and it has a solid story and structure. There is plenty of talk about family, culture-clashes, grief and growing up to add some heft, but this entry in the Predator franchise does a solid job of balancing the lighter elements (odd-couple banter, wry humour) with the signature fantasy violence and the ruthless corporation hovering in the background. Elle Fanning is terrific in her dual role, and in Dek the film provides the most expressive and nuanced Predator seen so far. Badlands is a lively and well-shot sci-fi adventure romp, with shiny and generally well-realised effects work and takes its genre - but not necessarily itself - too seriously to entertaining effect, with a second half that takes an interesting and more muscular turn.
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