Writer: Ana Lily Amirpour (Screenplay)
Starring: Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, Jayda Fink, Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey, Giovanni Ribisi
Plot: A love story set in a community of cannibals in a future dystopia. In a desert wasteland in Texas, a muscled cannibal breaks one important rule: don’t play with your food.
Runtime: 1 Hour 58 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Stylish Sci-Fi Horror
Story: The Bad Batch starts as Arlen (Waterhouse) leaves her facility heading into the dystopian wasteland to fend for herself, but it doesn’t go well because she gets captured by cannibals who take an arm and a leg off her for food. Arlen isn’t going out without a fight though because she fights her way out before getting rescued by the Hermit (Carrey), who takes her to a friendly community.
5 months past and with a fake league passed onto her Arlen continues to explore the wasteland when she can until she finds a person from the area to which she kills her but takes in the child with them Honey (Fink) back to Dream’s (Reeves) compound, which drives Miami Man (Momoa) into his own journey in search for his daughter. When Miami Man and Arlen team up in the wasteland we learn that both sides of the battle are not as similar as we might think.
Thoughts on The Bad Batch
Characters – Arlen gets removed from the facility she was raised in to fend for herself in the wasteland. She doesn’t do to well to start with but she does show the fight required to survive in after having her arm and leg taken by cannibals. We follow her through the wasteland and the communities that are at war with each other. Miami Man is one of the cannibals, his daughter gets taken which forces him to need to work with Arlen to get her back even though he is at war with the community she is part off. The Dream runs his community, he keeps his people happy even if it involves them having to take drugs and he becomes somewhat of a cult like leader. This wasteland is filed with colourful characters for us to watch Arlen meet.
Performances – Sukie Waterhouse is great in this leading role through the film, she shows the strength even when her character has an image of looking damaged. Keanu Reeves and Jim Carrey both show they are enjoying smaller roles in films where they can still shine even just for a moment. Jason Momoa is great too showing us once again that he will be around for plenty of years.
Story – The story puts us into a dystopian world where our leading lady must learn quick about the sides she can or can’t trust. It shows us how not every first impression is the right one and that we can have a wild adventure with colourful characters in a wasteland. The story does have a feel of how Turbo Kid without all the nostalgia behind it too.
Horror/Sci-Fi – The horror side comes from the inclusion of cannibals in this sci-fi world which dysphonia world we enter.
Settings – The world we are using look fantastic with the dystopian future that we don’t need to learn why it is in the state it is in.
Special Effects – The effects are all practical and are used excellently to show Arlen after what happens to her in the opening sequences.
Scene of the Movie – The shock value of the opening capture.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The film does feel slightly too long for the story it is telling us.
Final Thoughts – This is a stylish sci-fi horror that fits the world we are thrown into perfectly even if the film can feel longer than it needs to be.
Overall: If you want a sci-fi horror that is filled with style this one stands out this year.
Rating