The Bad Batch

Screen Media Films | Release Date: June 23, 2017

5.4	USER SCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 62 Ratings

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SpangleSep 22, 2017

The Bad Batch is the first American film from Iranian director Ana Lily Amirpour. Just a few years ago, Amirpour launched onto the scene with A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. A chilling black-and-white vampire film, A Girl Walks Home AloneThe Bad Batch is the first American film from Iranian director Ana Lily Amirpour. Just a few years ago, Amirpour launched onto the scene with A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. A chilling black-and-white vampire film, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night was a slow and thinly written film, but one with enough atmospheric tension and narrative progression to complement Amirpour's stylish visuals. The Bad Batch, however, does not possess the same quality. Rather, this desert-set and sun-drenched film about a young girl named Arlen (Suki Waterhouse) who is sent to a prison for undesirables set in a portion of land south of Texas that is claimed by no state, is one that has many stylish sequences but just has nothing under the surface. There is no readily apparent theme, idea, or narrative hook to this film. It is devoid of tension or intrigue, both of which were found readily in Amirpour's prior film. Instead, The Bad Batch serves an indulgent excuse to wander around the desert with a model who cannot act.

The film's strongest element is certainly its visuals. Though just a mishmash of Amirpour's inspirations from, mainly, western films or more modern drug-infused indie films, The Bad Batch is nonetheless an often gorgeous work. The classic western low-angle shot of a person walking towards the camera from a distance with the sun at their back is utilized here and looks terrific. Shots of the terrain or even the blue-lit shots in the home of The Dream (Keanu Reeves) are often rather gorgeous. However, the pinnacle of this film is when Arlen takes drugs at a concert held by The Dream. Tripping with the camera spinning about, rapidly cutting, and lit by the blue aura of the moon, this sequence is one that really captures the moment perfectly. With this editing technique, Amirpour simulates the feelings of being on drugs rather well. Her distorted vision and her dangerous encounter with cannibal Miami Man (Jason Momoa) really do ramp up the tension as she is unable to decipher what is going on, who he is, and what could happen to her as she trips out of her mind. Often visually gorgeous, The Bad Batch is a film that can be defined as a hypnotic fever dream. Unfortunately, though it may possess the colorful and stunning visuals, it also shares the confusion, lack of cohesion, and shallowness, of a fever dream.

This is largely communicated via the plot's lack of narrative thread. Jumping from event to event as Arlen traverses this territory that holds people in the "bad batch", the film seems to lack any forward motion. Things occur, she has a bad encounter with cannibals, she is upset and goes to get revenge, she stops getting revenge randomly, she has to find Miami Man's daughter, she does not for a while, and then she finally starts looking only to meet him again. There is just nothing to grab onto. It is a plot that sort of just floats by with nothing but stunning visuals to hold it together. A lot of this issue is contributed by the film's absolute lack of dialogue. Thinly written films are fine, but the problem with The Bad Batch is that too often the dialogue is so sparse it is only used as exposition or to explain the thematic meaning of events or phrases. Often on-the-nose - The Dream explaining what "the dream" means or Arlen asking Miami Man why he is in the "bad batch" - and exposition-laden, the dialogue in the film's random appearances are never really welcome. Never illuminating anything regarding the constantly shifting direction of the plot, never really building characters, and only serving to explain what is happening at a certain location, The Bad Batch is just a hollow endeavor that lacks any meat on its bones.

Of course, there is no requirement that a film tell a story. There does not need to be a narrative thread to a film to justify its existence, but then two things must be true. However, it then has to have great thematic depth to provide substance to the film-viewing experience, be character-driven, or be shorter. On all three fronts, the film fails. At an overlong and bloated two hours, the aforementioned lack of characters hardly helps matters with Amirpour hesitant to ever write anybody in this film beyond one-dimension. With regards to its themes, the film hints at some intrigue regarding The Dream and his harem of women, how Comfort runs on drugs, and more, but it hardly does anything with these items. Rather, it just presents it as it is, never explains how he got the money and place to live in a desert prison, and moves on. Amirpour never dedicates time to exploring his lifestyle or, when it does, it just comes out and explains what it all means. With such thin writing, The Bad Batch is hard to describe as anything better than vapid and pretentious. It has nothing going on in its mind of any depth and when it does, it just comes right out and says what it is about via simplistic metaphors ("the dream is inside me" or growing fruit).… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

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LadyViper_23Jun 19, 2020

A dystopic future with a cannibal tribe, a girl that have to escape from them, all set in the Texas desert. When I read this plot on Netflix I honestly think that The Bad Batch would be all I was looking for in a thriller/cannibal/dystopicA dystopic future with a cannibal tribe, a girl that have to escape from them, all set in the Texas desert. When I read this plot on Netflix I honestly think that The Bad Batch would be all I was looking for in a thriller/cannibal/dystopic movie. I couldn't be more wrong. In 115 minute of film almost nothing happens. There are two supposly "violent" scene, all off screen and the rest of the movie is just this girl making bad decisions and walks in the desert. It was bad, and not in a good way. Not so bad that you can laught about it, just bad and really annoying to watch. I have nothing against "slow" movies or "no dialogues" ones and I could really enjoy them but this is not the case. The biggest problem is that it's really pretentious. This movie is a wanna be George Miller meets Quentin Tarantino, you can feel it, but it is neither of them. It takes more that some violent themes (cannibals in this case) and an apocalyptic scenario to make a movie like Mad Max or Kill Bill. Only mention a masterpiece like Fury Road in the same sentence of this movie is an insult. It wants to be courageous and innovative but it's not. A waste of time. Next time I'll definitely check out the director before see anything, I would have spare 115 minutes.… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

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LeoKearseJan 6, 2022

This film sucks ass. Insanely dull and self important. Trying way too hard to be cool instead of just telling a story. Takes forever to say nothing.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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raporgiDec 30, 2017

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. crap piled on top of crap. A waste of time movie that doesnt really do anything with its premise. Momoa is a bodybuilding cannibal that falls in love. there's nothing exciting goin on in the proceedings. Keanu Reeves is stunt casted as ....whatever and spouts some forgettable nonsense. Dont Waste your life on this.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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pantheon0Oct 1, 2017

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is an interesting film, but I had to give a low rating because of the ending. It seems unfair that now this little girl has to be raised by her mother's killer. That is of course disregarding, entirely, the racial implications.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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BillHimmelJan 6, 2023

Often quite boring and very unconvincing in the end! Extremly brutal visuals! You can skip this one!

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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