Badlands certainly has the flavor of a franchise that has been given a marketable makeover better suited for a blockbuster. With PG-13 violence favoring a sci-fi adventure loaded with humorous levity, the ingredients make this film sound like a disaster. It seems like it shouldn’t work, but it’s remarkable how much fun it becomes —something that sounds strange to say about a Predator film, but also refreshing.

Director Dan Trachtenberg returns after his previous Predator pictures with a reiteration of teamwork, but from the least likely of allies. The runt Yautja hunter Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) wants to prove himself to his clan by killing the most vicious beast on the most dangerous planet, Genna. Also present on the planet is the synthetic android Thia (Elle Fanning), trying to prove herself to Weyland-Yutani by retrieving the same beast. With only half a torso, she’s not doing so well, but proves to be helpful for an inexperienced hunter like Dek. They’ll need to rely on each other, considering they’re hunting in a domain of exploding plants, snapping vines, and grass blades that can cut flesh.

With no humans present in this story, Badlands has plenty of confidence to keep its offworld adventure more alien than familiar, with Dek only speaking his native tongue. It’s easy to care for characters that usually end up slaughtering humans, given their ordeals of being devalued. Dek’s father, Njohrr (also Schuster-Koloamatangi), views his son as a weakling who deserves death, while Thia’s sister synthetic, Tessa (also Fanning), can only see her counterpart as defective. It’s easy to feel for their plight, but also appreciate their banter, with Thia’s eccentric curiosity and Dek’s dry approach to understanding everything from tools to wolf mentalities.

Where the film might falter is with the introduction of Bud, one of the cutest creatures on Genna that can still rip out spines. With his bug-eyed visage and toothy smile, he could be written off as a mascot, but instead fits the narrative well of embracing a chosen family rather than trying to appease those who built you, implied figuratively and literally. Bud becomes an enduring aspect of the film, even if his appearance and demeanor risk comparisons to the Disney character Stitch. He’s perfectly suited for a movie teeming with unique monster designs and action, with just the right amount of slapstick amid its brutality.

The levity granted for this unorthodox Predator adventure bodes well for the charm. Past attempts to evoke either fanservice through Alien vs. Predator or absurdity through 2018’s Predator have always come up short, where more thought seemed to go into the tech than into why audiences should be more interested in the Yautja and their vaginal-esque maws with fangs. This film works because it isn’t afraid to use comedy amid adventure without devaluing its characters or world. There’s a reason to root for Dek to do more than accomplish his big game hunting. There are stakes for a character like Thia who can survive bifurcation. In the film’s attempt to explore more of the corners of societies of hunting aliens and greedy tech conglomerates, there’s some gold stuck here, beyond some cool sequences of Dek decimating bloodthirsty wildlife and androids being dissected.

Badlands plays like an ideal Predator fanfiction from my youth, but polished enough to find a strong thematic core and tight pacing. The monster-filled planet is a brilliantly imaginative. The fusion of Predator and Alien lore, complete with hallmark Predator weapons and Yutani tech, matches the mashing nature of childhood play where anything felt possible. This film isn’t afraid to tantalize those ideas and go so far as to humanize them with an earnest dose of comical camaraderie amid all the limb-slicing and spine-yanking. There’s only so much of the stoic violence and guttural battle cries you can take before you start cracking your own jokes; this picture beats that weathered audience to the punch with better punchlines.

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