‘The Bad Batch’ Is Sleek And Stylish But Will Leave You Hungry For More Story

With her debut feature A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour proved to herself to be a genre filmmaker to watch.

She wore her influences on her sleeve, blending the style of Nicolas Winding Refn, the stereotypical characters of David Lynch, and the witty dialogue of Quentin Tarantino to tell her vampire story, resulting in a slick and unconventional horror love story. With The Bad Batch, Amirpour continues to flex her filmmaking muscles, but three years later, the end result doesn’t feel as fresh.

In the not-too-distant future, Arlen (Suki Waterhouse) is rejected by society and is deemed one of the “Bad Batch,” left to fend for herself in the vast wasteland of Texas. The standard rules of society no longer exist, as many characters turn to theft, violence, and even cannibalism to survive. Arlen’s survival, sadly, costs her an arm and a leg, literally, but it’s a small price to pay to find a community where she’s accepted.

Arlen crosses paths with a cannibal known as “Miami Man” (Jason Momoa) who find themselves united in a quest with a similar goal. Their destination would lead them to a town known as “Comfort,” which is run by cult-like leader (Keanu Reeves). Our duo must find a way to infiltrate the community to conclude their journey, while also learning the importance of camaraderie.

As she proved with her previous film, Amirpour knows exactly how she wants her film to look and immerses you in that aesthetic completely. With A Girl Walks Home, it was a stark world food of mood and shadows, while The Bad Batch feels like an LSD trip while walking through the set of Mad Max. At times the film is euphoric and beautiful and at other times thrilling and dangerous. When it comes to how she wants her films to look, the director has a mastery over tone and wholly realized vision.

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When it comes to a narrative, however, The Bad Batch leave something to be desired.

Being a member of the Bad Batch doesn’t inherently make any of the characters evil, but some of the choices our leads make show them to be pretty awful. Arlen and Miami Man don’t make any compromises about who they are, which is commendable but doesn’t change the fact that they have both murdered people in cold blood and also eaten them. It’s hard to get the audience to root for a cannibal, but Silence of the Lambs proved it could be done.

Jason Momoa, unfortunately, is no Sir Anthony Hopkins, as his character is a man of few words and few reasons to support his motives. Similarly, Waterhouse doesn’t give audiences much to work with, but still manages to grab your attention and she confidently wanders from one scene to the next. Reeves gets to embrace his campier side, much like he did in The Neon Demon or Knock Knock, but his performance sticks out when compares to the other performers. Additionally, Jim Carrey is virtually unrecognizable as a mute vagrant, but his acceptance of the role at least shows he’s still willing to make bold choices.

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There’s no denying that Amirpour is a confident filmmaker, willing to take risks to make the movies she wants to make, even if those movies aren’t for everyone. Much like the desert itself, The Bad Batch can be at times beautiful and all-consuming, while at other times feeling desolate and wonder why you went there in the first place.

With whatever Amirpour’s next project might be, we hope that she decides to go even further with her experimental nature and give us something gorgeous and absurd, or hone in on her narrative vision and utilize more of the top talent who have become fans of her work, the two types of film The Bad Batch can’t decide it wants to be.

The Bad Batch is in select theaters and on VOD now. It is 118 minutes long and is rated R for violence, language, some drug content and brief nudity.

Rating: 3 Out of 5 Stars