THE BAD BATCH: Wasteland For Interesting Ideas
Upon hearing the premise of The Bad Batch, I was very excited. Not only was I getting Mad Max: Fury Road vibes, but I also got a Texas Chainsaw Massacre-esque cannibalism premise.
Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour, director of A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, and starring Suki Waterhouse, Keanu Reeves, Jason Momoa, and even Jim Carrey, it was increasingly peaking my interest. While The Bad Batch has interesting elements throughout, it’s unable to mesh everything together in an engaging way.
After being thrown into the Texas wastelands, Arlen (Suki Waterhouse) is kidnapped by cannibals who make a meal out of her arm. She escapes from her captors and soon finds out that in the bad batch, her ways will have to change.
Creative, Interesting Elements Throughout…
The Bad Batch doesn’t lack in any creative, stylistic, and interesting elements. Its soundtrack is used quite creatively featuring artists like Ace Of Base, Federale, and Die Antwoord to create a terrific sense of mysteriousness throughout the film. Federale’s song ”All The Colors Of The Dark” fits in perfectly with the visuals and subject matter of the film.
Even songs like Ace Of Base’s All That She Wants, that shouldn’t fit, are welcome additions to that end-of-the-world feeling. Songs are played in full, or almost in full, which gives cinematographer Lyle Vincent time to create some stunning shots. They’re used mostly during montages but fit well within Amirpour‘s stylistic choices.
The gripping elements don’t stop there though. A Jim Jones-type cult leader played by Keanu Reeves appears, and instead of giving his followers spiked kool-aid, he opts for LSD drugs. His cult, which he calls The Dream, is a visual cue throughout the film when characters will be holding signs with ”Find The Dream” spelled on it. These aren’t the only mysterious members roaming the streets of The Bad Batch. There are the dangerous cannibals who are ready to eat everyone walking in their way, and you know that they are a significant threat just by looking at the many people walking without various limbs.
…With No In-Depth Exploration
That’s about as far as The Bad Batch explores its various interesting elements. The cult doesn’t do anything but give way to a neon trippy psychedelic trip where Amirpour can exercise her style while the cannibals only exist to showcase the work of the people involved for Waterhouse‘s missing limbs. It’s frustratingly simplistic when in reality Amirpour has the talent and creativity to make an engaging story that could explore her terrific post-apocalyptic world.
Everyone seems fine for the parts they’re given even though they don’t do much. However, Suki Waterhouse sticks out as being the rotten apple of the batch. Her accent and her facial expression seem like she’s making her best impression of Anna Paquin‘s Sookie from HBO’s True Blood. It looks way too forced and fails in comparison.
Style Over Meaning
Even if The Bad Batch is a frustrating movie, it could have easily been redeemed by injecting a commentary of some sort and a pool of ideas it did have. There are so many opportunities to explore different themes yet they choose to explore nothing. Is it a commentary on crime and our justice system? Could it possibly be a commentary on religion with its heavy reliance on the hollow concept of The Dream? Or maybe it could be a commentary on misunderstood individuals wrongfully deemed the bad batch? Whatever Amirpour is trying to say (if any) is lacking exploration – and what a missed opportunity.
If The Bad Batch is just meant to be a vehicle to showcase Amirpour‘s style, like many great stylish movies, there needs to be some kind of exploration of something or even just a theme of some sort. Unfortunately, it doesn’t explore either one leaving its wasteland full of interesting ideas to dry out in the desert sun.
The Bad Batch: Conclusion
The Bad Batch feels like a post-apocalyptic, psychedelic trip to nowhere-land. Even with all these fascinating ideas and stylistic choices, I find myself unable to recommend it to anyone. The main reason is the lack of substance or exploration of themes which is super frustrating for such an inventive film. It’s a movie that is on the cusp of something great while at the same time being on the brink of a total failure, and like everything trapped in the in-between, it’s deemed pointless.
What are your thoughts on The Bad Batch? Tell us in the comments below!
The Bad Batch was released in the United States on June 15, 2017. For all international release dates, see here.
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