Speaker 1: Long after Dutch Schaeffer barely escaped a technologically advanced humanoid
Speaker 1: hunter in the Central American jungle, we traveled to a
Speaker 1: planet far far away for an origin story of sorts.
Speaker 1: Here on Yaucha Prime, we're introduced to deck Aunt, desperate
Speaker 1: to earn his clan's approval through any means necessary. Those
Speaker 1: means require him to successfully hunt and kill the deadly
Speaker 1: callous on the even deadlier planet of Jenna. It's Predator
Speaker 1: bad Lands. I'm Ronald Young Junior, and I'm leaving the theater.
Speaker 1: All right. This is Ronald and I am leaving the
Speaker 1: theater after seeing Predator Badlands. Predator Badlands written by Patrick
Speaker 1: Ason and Brian Duffield, directed by Dan Tracktenberg, starring El Fanning,
Speaker 1: Demitrius Schuster, Colona Matanji, and Mike Homick. And for complete
Speaker 1: cast listing, you can go to the link in our
Speaker 1: show notes. It is just me today, Predator Badlands. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: that's gonna make me laugh every time. Yes, there's a
Speaker 1: joke deep inside me that I cannot explain to y'all.
Speaker 1: But there's a way I want to say Badlands. I
Speaker 1: want to say Badlands because it makes me laugh. It's
Speaker 1: also a sad and painful memory, but it also makes
Speaker 1: me laugh. So and it's hard not to say Predator.
Speaker 1: So Predator Badlands. Okay, enough silliness, let's be serious now,
Speaker 1: Predator Badlands. Oh god, see, it's like, how do I
Speaker 1: stop saying it? How do I stop it? Okay? All right,
Speaker 1: are you still with me? I'm gonna review the movie,
Speaker 1: I promise. Okay. Predator Badlands, Oh no, I can't stop
Speaker 1: saying it. Predator bad Lands. Okay. So this is this,
Speaker 1: this is going deeper into the origin of the Predators.
Speaker 1: I'm not even going to try to pronounce what the
Speaker 1: name is. I want to say it's youcha. But they
Speaker 1: go into actually what these creatures are called. So these
Speaker 1: creatures are aliens. They are from a different planet. And
Speaker 1: if you know anything about the Predator series or the
Speaker 1: Alien series, you know at this point they're kind of intertwined.
Speaker 1: It's not even kind of they're intertwined. They're in the
Speaker 1: same they are set in the same universe. So in
Speaker 1: this one, we go to the Predator home planet and
Speaker 1: we find that there's one Predator named oh man, I
Speaker 1: was watching them say his name over and over again.
Speaker 1: I can't remember his name. You should look it up.
Speaker 1: It is somewhere in Wikipedia. You could find it very easily.
Speaker 1: He is the runt of his clan, and in order
Speaker 1: for him to get the respect of his clan, he
Speaker 1: has to do a hunt. Once he completes the hunt,
Speaker 1: he gets his cloaking device. So, for those of you
Speaker 1: that watch any of the Predator movies, this is diving
Speaker 1: into the low that exists on top of all of that.
Speaker 1: So the fact that the predators can cloak themselves, they
Speaker 1: have heat seeking vision. All of the things that the
Speaker 1: predators are able to do are tools that they earn
Speaker 1: for their respective hunts. I am not going to explain
Speaker 1: the Predator lore to you. I will say this, if
Speaker 1: you do not watch the Predator movies, I would encourage
Speaker 1: you to watch them before you watch this one. I
Speaker 1: do not think that this is a good entry point
Speaker 1: into the Predator franchise. I think it is a great movie,
Speaker 1: and I think for most people who want to watch it,
Speaker 1: even if you never watched any other Predator movies, you
Speaker 1: would probably understand the plot of this easily. But there
Speaker 1: is so much lore from other movies, not to the
Speaker 1: point that this is easter Egg salad. But there is
Speaker 1: enough in there that they're just not going to explain.
Speaker 1: There's just stuff that they're not explaining. They expect you
Speaker 1: to know some things and they're not going to tell
Speaker 1: you any details. So you know enough to watch the movie.
Speaker 1: But if you care about the larger story, you're gonna
Speaker 1: watch at least a couple of other movies. I would
Speaker 1: at least watch the First Predator and the First Alien
Speaker 1: and maybe Alien Versus Predator. Laughing, I'm laughing because everyone's
Speaker 1: gonna jump down my throat for saying that. There was
Speaker 1: also a movie that recently came out in the last
Speaker 1: couple of years called Prey. It is a prequel set
Speaker 1: in the Predator series. For those of you that ignore
Speaker 1: the Predator movies, these are fun movies. They're action adventure films.
Speaker 1: You don't have to watch like Predator two or Predator three.
Speaker 1: But if you watch Predator and then the Predator, which
Speaker 1: is the remake of it, and then there's a couple
Speaker 1: of Prey is another good one, and this one I
Speaker 1: think this is another strong entry into the Predator franchise.
Speaker 1: So we're following the runt of this clan who is
Speaker 1: trying to earn his stripes per se, and he's working
Speaker 1: with his brother and his father is very very mean
Speaker 1: to him, and eventually he has to find his own
Speaker 1: path on this very hostile planet in which he has
Speaker 1: to seek out this creature called the Callisk. I remember
Speaker 1: that he has to seek out this creature called the
Speaker 1: Callisk and then bring back its head as a trophy
Speaker 1: so that he can get his cloaking device. So this
Speaker 1: is a movie that is about grief. And while he's there,
Speaker 1: he runs into an Android. And so the thing is,
Speaker 1: androids are uniquely from the Alien series. This is the
Speaker 1: first time that I've seen a movie that was not
Speaker 1: Alien versus Predator or we will not see any aliens
Speaker 1: in this movie, except for the fact that predators are
Speaker 1: also aliens. But when I say aliens, I mean the
Speaker 1: scary things with the two mouths that jump out in
Speaker 1: the acid blood all that, and I can't remember that
Speaker 1: xeno morphs xenomorphs. We don't see any zeno morphs in
Speaker 1: this film, but typically when you see androids, you also
Speaker 1: see zeno morphs. So this is the first film in
Speaker 1: which I'm seeing androids and only the predators as opposed
Speaker 1: to seeing the Xeno Morphs as well. There are some
Speaker 1: callbacks to the Alien franchise as well, which are all
Speaker 1: very good. There's one in particular that happens towards the
Speaker 1: end of the film that is just very, very, very
Speaker 1: very good. So I'll say all that to say this
Speaker 1: is a very fun movie, very very enjoyable. If you
Speaker 1: like the franchise like me, if you watch them when
Speaker 1: they come out and you say, oh, that was pretty
Speaker 1: good or that wasn't so good. If you watch these movies,
Speaker 1: you will like this. You will like this. This is
Speaker 1: a strong entry into the franchise. If you watch the
Speaker 1: preview ands like, I don't know about that seems a
Speaker 1: little dumb, it's not. It's very heartwarming and charming, and
Speaker 1: there's funny parts, and there's an action adventure movie. It's
Speaker 1: a quest movie. It's a classic heroes journey. It's enjoyable
Speaker 1: in that way. I think the things that I don't
Speaker 1: like about this film are all about are all technicalities.
Speaker 1: I think that it's too dark sometimes, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. I know you're like, what, Ronald, Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: too dark sometimes, and it's too dark, and sometimes the
Speaker 1: writing is a little on the nose. But I would
Speaker 1: expect that from a film like this, But other than that,
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed it from the beginning to end. It's
Speaker 1: a movie about grief, and I find that more movies
Speaker 1: that explore grief in some ways are especially now, they
Speaker 1: touch a special place in my heart, especially when they
Speaker 1: do it in a very straightforward way like this. The action,
Speaker 1: the action sequences are good. There are setups that have
Speaker 1: very satisfying payoffs. There's parts of the film where he
Speaker 1: gets to this hostile planet and you realize everything on
Speaker 1: the planet could possibly kill him, and he leans into
Speaker 1: that in a lot of ways. And of course, because
Speaker 1: you see those setups, you expect to see the payoff
Speaker 1: later and you're very much rewarded for it. And I
Speaker 1: think if you enjoyed the pray, Pray is again a
Speaker 1: cat and mouse movie where we have the Predator and
Speaker 1: it's thrown into the past. It like you know, it
Speaker 1: comes to the planet in the past, and it fights
Speaker 1: against it's hunting Native Americans. It's hunting the indigenous folks
Speaker 1: of America, and Amber Midtunder is fighting against one of them.
Speaker 1: I don't know her actual name in the film, but
Speaker 1: I'm saying that to say this I mean, Dan Tracktenberg
Speaker 1: did that one. He did Pray and so now he's
Speaker 1: doing this, and if he has control of the franchise
Speaker 1: moving forward, I think he has a good life on
Speaker 1: what this franchise is and what it can be in
Speaker 1: the future. That's important to note because I'm thinking about
Speaker 1: the fact that they redid The Running Man and I
Speaker 1: recently started watching some of the newest entries or rewatched
Speaker 1: some of the newest entries in the Terminator franchise, and
Speaker 1: I posted this on threads. But I firmly believe that
Speaker 1: our vision of the future cannot be based from what
Speaker 1: we thought the future was going to be in the eighties,
Speaker 1: And I think what this franchise is doing well is
Speaker 1: constantly updating the future. Because we also had Alien Prometheus
Speaker 1: no Alien Romulus that came out, and I think, again,
Speaker 1: that's based on a vision of the future from the eighties.
Speaker 1: But there's a way that they're presenting it that makes sense,
Speaker 1: even if it's just about some of the socioeconomic dynamics.
Speaker 1: It makes sense. Even though maybe some of the technology
Speaker 1: isn't quite what it should be, the dynamics of people
Speaker 1: is exactly where I think it would be in the future,
Speaker 1: and I think if we're going to look at future
Speaker 1: visions from the eighties, we just got to make sure
Speaker 1: that they got it right. And I'm saying that to say,
Speaker 1: like all of the movies that we liked in the
Speaker 1: eighties and nineties that are now being remade or revisited,
Speaker 1: such as the Predator franchise, now is it appropriate time
Speaker 1: to just say what does it mean to engage with
Speaker 1: this franchise right now? And I think this does a
Speaker 1: good job of Again, Hero's Journey movie about grief. Take
Speaker 1: us on an action adventure, find somebodies along the way,
Speaker 1: and maybe the trophy that we were taking back was
Speaker 1: the friends we made along the way the whole time. Anyway,
Speaker 1: you know, like that's kind of where we are right now,
Speaker 1: and so I think this movie does that very well.
Speaker 1: With all of that being said, I think it's a
Speaker 1: four star movie. I would definitely watch it again. I
Speaker 1: definitely want to see more entries into the frame. It
Speaker 1: feels like a good starting point for this branch of
Speaker 1: the series. I'm interested to see what happens with humans
Speaker 1: in the future in this version of the future. Elle
Speaker 1: Fanning is in it, and she does a great job.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen her in anything in a while. I
Speaker 1: think she's been in things. I think I just have
Speaker 1: not seen what she's been in lately, and she does
Speaker 1: a great job in it. Dimitrius Schuster Colo Coloa Matanji
Speaker 1: is I can't tell what he's doing in the film,
Speaker 1: but physically he's fine. El Fanning is getting the bulk
Speaker 1: of the actual acting, and she's doing a great job
Speaker 1: seeing as how she's the only person speaking English in
Speaker 1: the film, meaning that and that's not to say that
Speaker 1: you have to speak English in order to do a
Speaker 1: good job, but because I'm imagining the acting challenge of
Speaker 1: her basically acting by herself in a lot of ways,
Speaker 1: almost close to GreenScreen. I know there's some green screen
Speaker 1: stuff in here, and her acting partner is speaking Yaucha
Speaker 1: never speaks English the whole film. So yeah, I think
Speaker 1: it was a feat of acting on her part. But
Speaker 1: it was believable and she was charming, and the film
Speaker 1: itself is charming. If you like action adventure movies, I
Speaker 1: don't think this is the type of movie like I
Speaker 1: don't know if this is the date night movie Fellas,
Speaker 1: unless you are with a partner that likes this franchise already.
Speaker 1: I dated a woman and I took her through the
Speaker 1: entire Alien and Predator franchise, and I know she would
Speaker 1: like this. If you like Star Wars, if you can
Speaker 1: suspend disbelief for all that, you can watch this as well.
Speaker 1: It does a good job of building out more of
Speaker 1: the low I liked it, and so I think this
Speaker 1: is a good start to the holiday movie season. We're
Speaker 1: deep in November, we're going into Christmas. This is where
Speaker 1: you get some surprise blockbusters and get people back into
Speaker 1: the theaters before we headed to a strong award season.
Speaker 1: So we're seeing and with that leaving the theater is
Speaker 1: a production of Oh It's Big Round Studios. I mixed
Speaker 1: this episode and I'm working very hard. You might have
Speaker 1: noticed that the Bogonia episode that came out last week
Speaker 1: came out on Wednesday when it should have come out
Speaker 1: on Monday. Well that was because I was traveling the
Speaker 1: week before and I got very tired on Sunday and
Speaker 1: I had to take a recovery day on Monday. I
Speaker 1: didn't get to edit this, finished editing it until Tuesday.
Speaker 1: So that's the type of slide that happens when you're
Speaker 1: a one Man Band. But I'm working very, very hard.
Speaker 1: I'm promoting my live show Heartbreaker. I'm also still working
Speaker 1: on season three of Wait for It. I'm a little
Speaker 1: behind on that, a lot behind on that, if we're
Speaker 1: being honest, and i just got a lot on the
Speaker 1: plate right now. But I'm still working hard. I'm still
Speaker 1: putting out episodes. We still put out a Bogonia ad
Speaker 1: free episode. We still have the ad for Going, We
Speaker 1: still did on the Couch. We got The Running Man
Speaker 1: coming out soon. We got the rest of this month
Speaker 1: planned for movies. We are moving ahead. We're moving ahead
Speaker 1: the best we possibly can. This is a labor of love,
Speaker 1: but it is labor. If that means something to you.
Speaker 1: You want to see this show continue, you want to
Speaker 1: help me out, you should become a patron. Go to
Speaker 1: patreon dot com slash leaving a Theater, or go to
Speaker 1: the link in our show notes. Show art from Heather Wilder,
Speaker 1: theme music by the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder. For more information
Speaker 1: about Predator bad Lands, check out our show notes. You
Speaker 1: can follow me on Instagram, Blue Sky, TikTok, threads or
Speaker 1: letterboxed at owitz Big Grond That's at h I T
Speaker 1: SBI g r N. You can find out more about
Speaker 1: this show and other oh It's Big Ron Studio shows
Speaker 1: by following us on Instagram. At owits Big rond Studios
Speaker 1: leaving the theater will be back soon, Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1: Directed by ten Directed by Dan track Trackenberg, Trattenberg, tratt
Speaker 1: Michelle Trackenberg, track and Tractenberg directed by Dan Trachtenberg