PREDATOR: BADLANDS MOVIE REVIEW

Director/writer Dan Trachtenberg gets his third go-round helming a Predator film (definitely watch Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers). This time he gets a theatrical release, like his previous two should have, and again he finds a way to tell a story very different from your traditional Predator film entry. Dek is a runt Predator. This alien race is not great with shorties. After escaping his own father who thinks he should just be culled, he flies to the most dangerous planet in the universe, where pretty much everything wants to kill you. His goal is to take on a giant creature called the Kalisk to prove his worthiness. Unfortunately, the Kalisk is nigh-unkillable. Fortunately for him, he meets half a Weyland-Yutani android named Thia (Elle Fanning) and the two make an uneasy arrangement with each other to survive and to find the Kalisk. While this is certainly the most Disney influenced of the Predator releases yet, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Chris, Nathan, and Wright think Predator: Badlands injects much needed new mythology and a very different story structure into the franchise with this very fun film.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Dan Trachtenberg

STARRING: Elle Fanning, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, Mike Homik, Rohinal Nayaran, Reuben De Jong, Cameron Brown, Stefan Grube, Alison Wright, Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 



Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Deliberations of Doom)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar and theater management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others).

 



Wright Sulek (The Other Boss, Trash in the Can, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, One Man’s Trash, Screener Squad)

Wright hails from the northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas. His passion for filmmaking brought him to Austin to study and make movies. Since then he’s had his hand in acting, writing, and directing his own short films with numerous like-minded film geeks he’s met along his journey. His newest interest has brought him into the podcasting world. He co-hosted a few different movie related podcasts such as ‘And Now This’ and ‘The Match Cut’. He currently co-hosts with longtime friend, Eric Samaniego, where they talk shop about the grimiest, trashiest, lost gems of movies on their show, ‘Trash in the Can’. Wright also guests and hosts reviews on Screener Squad and Highly Suspect Reviews as well as co-hosts Digital Noise with Chris Cox. As of 2024, Wright has now been inducted into the Austin Film Critics Association as well as co-owns the One of Us network with Chris Cox.

 



Nathan Flynn (Screener Squad, Highly Suspect Reviews)

Nathan Flynn is the resident goofball of OneofUs.Net, often found overly caffeinated,