"Predator Badlands" - Review

Alien runt of the litter Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) embarks on his first hunt, fuelled by vengeance and a thirst to be accepted by his aggressive warrior tribe. Seeking the unkillable Kalisk, the highest honour his hunt could bestow, he heads to its equally dangerous home planet Genna. He encounters a damaged yet still perky robot named Thia (Elle Fanning) and begrudgingly agrees that he may need her expertise and help in this matter. Together they embark on a hunt.

(Photo credit: IMP Awards)
The concept for this got announced and I was rather keen. I enjoyed Trachtenberg's "10 Cloverfield Lane", which was an excellent little bottle movie, and am always keen on simpler, old-school campier adventures like this.
It's a fun ride, very much at home with the buddy cop angle: it's the classic "I'm an edgelord who doesn't need friends" partnered with the "perky cheerful robot who does not understand your silly ways", and much like telling my fiancee they look cute: it always works. Elle Fanning is wonderful as the robot, and steals the show in my eyes, but "second-guess the first name spelling" Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi is also excellent, sprinkling a little of Bautista's "Drax the Destroyer" in the lead role, and really having fun as the defrosting, confidently powerful warrior whose heart grows 2 sizes. Their relationship is the staple, and it works, it's competently put together.
The beginning is fucking rough: all CGI blurs and nonsense greenscreen mashing together like a 2000s cut-scene tossed into a blender from a moving car, but once it hits the equally CGI-heavy planet and you turn your brain off, it's fun. The "BRAND!" and "FRANCHISE" stuff is honestly a tad distracting and a damning indictment that we can't even have 80s throwbacks or "Enemy Mine" homages without there being "INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY" attached to it (though it's not anywhere near as bad as "Alien Romulus" for its ghoulish nostalgia mask), such is the state of movies...
This was still fun, and will make for a good 9:00PM Film4 movie.
Plot was bollocks and the least interesting part, but its themes of overcoming societal expectations, toxic masculinity and found family elevate it above the standard fare.