Today’s quick review: The Bad Batch. Branded as part of the Bad Batch, Arlen (Suki Waterhouse) is exiled ot a lawless wasteland in the Texas desert to live with other misfits and criminals. There she loses an arm and a leg to cannibals before finding Comfort, a cultish town run by The Dream (Keanu Reeves). Unsatisfied with her life there, she ventures back out into the desert and meets Miami Man (Jason Momoa), a cannibal searching for his daughter.
The Bad Batch is an offbeat thriller set in a bizarre wasteland. The movie follows Arlen as she gets to know Comfort, the dangers outside its walls, and the peculiar society that has sprung up in the absence of any formal government. The Bad Batch carves out a distinctive niche for itself with its unusual characters, laconic storytelling, and intriguing symbolism. However, its loose plot and explicit content make it something of a niche pick.
The Bad Batch is an odd watch. The wasteland Arlen finds herself in is a violent, mysterious, and quirky place. Resources are scarce, strangers can’t be trusted, and different breeds of insanity flourish unchecked. Just catching pieces of The Bad Batch’s world and trying to piece them together is one of the film’s main appeals. The effect is bolstered by hints of symbolism and social commentary, as well as its knack for saying a lot with a little.
The tradeoff is that The Bad Batch is very abstract. The plot feels less like a complete story and more like pieces of one, evocative bits taken from a larger whole. Arlen has no clear purpose in the wasteland, giving the film a passive feel even when she’s fighting for her life. The lack of a strong plot makes it hard to invest emotionally in the story and characters, while the film’s graphic nature can make it difficult to watch at times.
Fans of the odd, mature, and experimental may want to give The Bad Batch a shot. It never rises to the heights of tension that its premise implies, but the combination of an interesting world, skillful presentation, and open-ended dots to connect means that it does have something to offer. Still, few viewers will be drawn to its unusual combination of traits. Most people who are interested would be better off with a more straightforward pick.
For even more overt social commentary, try High-Rise or Snowpiercer.
5.3 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.0 for an interesting world without the plot to hold it together.