PREDATOR: BADLANDS
(12A) 107mins
★★★☆☆
WHAT happens when the hunter becomes the hunted? That’s the question in this latest outing for the marauding monster franchise.
And for the first time it’s a Predator and not a person who is our protagonist.
This fundamental plot twist takes the action into pure sci-fi territory, too.
While Badlands still has a cat-and-mouse chase at its core, director Dan Trachtenberg disposes of the previous man versus masked extraterrestrials that glued together all predecessors.
And not a single human lifeform features in this script.
Forget Predator’s 1980s roots, which saw Arnold Schwarzenegger battling other-worldly beings in the jungle.
Decent curveball
Here an epic 22-minute opening explainer sees our lead Predator — young Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) — witness the murder of his brother Kwei by their Yautja father.
Cast out from his clan he takes flight to a far-flung planet with the intention of hunting down and slaying the gigantic apex hunter known as the Kalisk.
As well as this mutinous adversary, poisonous plants that can paralyse and lethal grass made of razor blades, here Dek also encounters Thia (Elle Fanning) — a Weyland-Yutani android left hanging from a tree after the Kalisk cut off her legs.
This becomes Dek’s cyborg-in-crime as they help each other across the Badlands with the aim of taking out their mutual target.
Thia’s spoken sentences after an awful lot of subtitled (uncannily Dutch-sounding) Yautja language are a welcome relief.
There’s an unexpected amount of humour too, mostly centred on an additional cute critter travelling companion called Bud.
But amusing segues aside, the idea that everyone is doggedly hunting something does still stand.
The Kalisk and Thia’s evil android twin Tessa are intent on trying to capture Dek, which enables all the heavyweight stand-off set pieces you could hope for.
The graphics are consistently excellent and there’s a decent curveball at the end to leave the door to the next instalment open.
Predator fans may feel dissatisfied by just how far-removed Badlands has travelled from the original.
But doing so does pave the way for some unadulterated futuristic action that can be enjoyed entirely on its own merits, and by a whole new audience.
ANEMONE
(15) 126 mins
★★☆☆☆
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS makes his big-screen return after seven years in this movie directed by his son Ronan.
On paper, that reunion sounds moving. In practice, the film feels heavy, distant and difficult to connect with.
It’s set in the late 1980s on a grey northern coast, and the movie commits fully to that gloom, as every scene reminds of the weight of past burdens the characters still carry.
Day-Lewis plays Ray, a recluse who has cut himself off from almost everyone.
His estranged brother (Sean Bean), seeks to bridge the gap, bringing with him long-buried resentment and unfinished conversations.
The performances themselves are strong, especially from Day-Lewis, who can still command a screen with the smallest gesture.
But the script – written by the actor and his director son – rarely gives the audience room to breathe.
Silence stretches on, metaphors pile up, and the film’s symbolism grows so thick it begins to feel jarring.
There are flashes of genius – a confrontation here, a quiet confession there – but the slow, sombre bits in between offer little or no reward.
The film wants to be profound about pain passed between generations, yet its emotional impact gets lost in its own seriousness.
LINDA MARRIC
THE CHORAL
(12A) 113mins
★★★★☆
YORKSHIRE royalty, writer Alan Bennett, is the recognisable voice behind the script of this feelgood World War One drama.
Set in his native God’s Own Country and with a stunning scenic backdrop, the movie is laced with Bennett’s trademark dry comedy and explores the hope and the horror of wartime Britain through the members of a local community choir.
Ralph Fiennes – superb as choirmaster Dr Guthrie – is brought in to help raise the roof for the ensemble’s annual performance.
Here he heads up a comforting cast of acting heavyweights including Mill owner Duxbury (Roger Allum), pianist Horner (Robert Emms) and Simon Russell Beale as the composer Elgar.
Initially regarded with suspicion thanks to pre-war years spent living in Germany and his fondness for reading naval pages (aka relationships with men) Dr Guthrie soon galvanises his motley mixed generational gang of voices, all dealing in their own way with consequences of war.
Lofty (Oliver Briscombe) and cheeky-chappy pal Ellis (Taylor Uttley) are about to be conscripted, others are grieving those who will not return.
Poignant and heart-warming stuff.
LAURA STOTT