<\/p>\n
“Predator: Badlands” is a marvel of a film that cements Dan Trachtenberg as the Yautja whisperer and a director who can lead this franchise to heights previously unimaginable. The movie follows in the footsteps of “Terminator 2: Judgement Day”<\/a> and switches perspective, transforming the eponymous alien hunter from the villain into a big softy\u00a0and exploring Yautja culture in a way we’ve never seen before.<\/p>\n Indeed, the movie spends a significant amount of time with protagonist Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) at home, exploring his culture and his relationship with his clan. That includes\u00a0his horrible dad Njohrr (Reuben De Jong), who wants him dead<\/a> because Dek is the smallest of the lot, and his father is obsessed with maintaining his family’s supremacy.<\/p>\n Speaking with \/Film’s Bill Bria about creating the Yautja language, linguist Britton Watkins explained how important it was to create the equivalent of a farewell wish like “Have a good one!” while reflecting the importance of trophies and hunting in Yautja culture:<\/p>\n “[The Yautja] are not going to say, like, ‘How’s your day going?’ or the typical niceties of human culture. But imagining their culture, they want to know, ‘How many kills have you had?’ These are different windows into how we need to think about a culture that’s so different. And not, just because it’s easy, making them too human.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n “When you’re wishing someone success, farewell, you wish them ‘a thousand trophies'” the linguist continued. “That’s not in the film, but if you have to put yourself in an alien culture in order to come up with an alien language that feels plausible, then these are the kinds of exercises we have to go through.”<\/p>\n\n