‘Predator: Badlands’ attacks 4K home theaters with spectacle and new mythology

Director Dan Trachtenberg continued to chronicle one of the fiercest species in the galaxy last year in an extreme action movie that arrives to the home theater disc format, bursting with 4K color and clarity in Predator: Badlands (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, 107 minutes, $49.99).

As the seventh film in the sci-fi horror franchise, the story introduces viewers to the Predator home planet Yautja Prime and a clan led by Njohrr (Reuben de Jong), father to sons Kwei (Mike Homik) and the runt Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi).

Njohrr declares Dek must be killed by Kwei to cull weakness from the group, but big brother, at his own peril, forces Dek to leave and jettisons him to the “death planet” Genna.

Dek’s dangerous rite of passage requires that he kill the planet’s nearly unstoppable creature called the Kalisk and return home a true Yautja as well as confront his father to avenge his brother’s death.

While on the Genna, he teams up with a broken, legless Weyland-Yutani Corp. android named Thia (Elle Fanning) and gets occasional help from a too-cute, pint-sized beast nicknamed Bud to navigate and survive the land and complete his mission.

Fans of the franchise will, of course, recognize that corporation as the villains who tried to harness Xenomorphs into bioweapons.

Weyland-Yutani’s not-surprising goal on Genna is to use an army of androids led by Thia’s “sister” Tessa (also Ms. Fanning) to collect creatures and add to their research trophies, but, unfortunately, a certain Predator is also now on the list.

Mr. Trachtenberg dispenses with the previous film’s plot of bad guy Predators simply hunting and killing and takes viewers into an emotional adventure set in a wondrous land.

The twist turns the usual primal villain into a sympathetic hero while tackling a story about family, friendship and honor. Bravo, Mr. Trachtenberg.

4K in action: An eye-popping visual smorgasbord, thanks to the meticulous creation of the hostile yet beautiful terrain on Genna, greets viewers. Highlights include massive trees in forests hiding a creature compendium’s worth of fantastical beasts, a field covered in razor-sharp blades of grass and a majestic waterfall, all taking full advantage of the ultra-high definition digital source material.

Details to relish include the splatters of neon-green blood from the Predator; its current weapon of choice, a sword with a red glowing plasma blade cracking at its edges; and the surgical reconstruction of a battle-damaged Tessa.

However, fans will most want to closely examine members of the Yautja offering fantastic garb, ornate masks and realistic facial construction.

Especially notable is the use of computer-generated effects to showcase its intricate quartet of independent moving, arthropod-like mandibles and fangs featured on the ugly face of the Predator.

Best extras: First viewers get an optional and global-wide commentary track with Mr. Trachtenberg (in Los Angeles), producer Ben Rosenblatt (in Los Angeles), cinematographer Jeff Cutter (in Australia) and stunt coordinator Jacob Tomuri (in London).

The director leads the fairly comprehensive and cohesive conversation, focusing on the production and quickly mentioning that the opening shot was supposed to be part of his previous effort “Prey” and was resurrected for “Badlands.”

The team explores story themes and what was not part of the script, the terrain of New Zealand and Iceland, working with Academy Award-winning costume designer Ngila Dickson (“The Lord of the Rings”), casting, performances, creature effects and fight choreography.

Discussion focus continues on topics such as budget constraints when showing the Predator’s intricate face, Easter eggs tied to other Predator canon, having a fight using a pair of legs as one of the combatants, working with blue screen and Predator designs (with Heavy Metal magazine influence).

Viewers also get, as part of the included Blu-ray disc, four short featurettes (averaging six minutes each) covering the effects used to bring Dek to life; effects to create Thia; building the most dangerous planet in the universe (shot in New Zealand) including its creatures and designing the home planet of Yautja; and the species including Predator garb, weaponry and ships.

Finally, the disc adds six deleted, pre-visualization scenes with optional commentary from the four guys who did the full commentary track.