| The Bad Batch | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ana Lily Amirpour |
| Written by | Ana Lily Amirpour |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Lyle Vincent |
| Edited by | Alex O'Flinn |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Neon |
Release dates |
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Running time | 118 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6 million |
| Box office | $201,890 |
The Bad Batch is a 2016 Americandystopianthriller film directed and written byAna Lily Amirpour. The film is about a young woman (Suki Waterhouse) exiled to a desert where she is attacked by a group of cannibals, led by a person called Miami Man (Jason Momoa), and barely escaping alive to a bizarre settlement run by a charismatic leader (Keanu Reeves).Giovanni Ribisi also stars.
The Bad Batch was selected to compete for theGolden Lion at the73rd Venice International Film Festival, where it won theSpecial Jury Prize. It received a limited release in theaters byNeon on June 23, 2017, in addition to streaming onNetflix.
A young woman named Arlen is exiled to a desert outside Texas, where people deemed undesirable by the government (the "bad batch") are forced to fend for themselves. A sign declares the area outside of the US and thatAmerican laws andcitizenship no longer apply. Arlen is soon kidnapped by two women in a golf cart. When she wakes chained up, a woman cuts off her right arm and leg. Arlen tricks the woman into unchaining her, kills her, observescannibalism of human limbs, and escapes crawling on a skateboard. She is rescued in the desert by a mutehermit, who takes her to a makeshift settlement named Comfort that has all-nightraves.
Five months later, Arlen has a prosthetic leg and a home in Comfort. She walks out to the desert with a pistol. Investigating a golf cart similar to the one used by the cannibals, she finds a woman and little girl scavenging in a garbage dump. Accusing the woman of being part of the cannibal community, Arlen shoots her in the head. She is observed by the hermit as she takes the girl, Honey, back to Comfort. Miami Man, a leader of the cannibals and the father of Honey, goes looking for her, finding the dead woman, and then the hermit. The hermit, in exchange for a hand-sketched portrait, advises Miami Man to "find Comfort".
In Comfort, Arlen takes ahallucinogen at a rave held by The Dream, the cult-like leader of Comfort, and loses track of the child, who is taken in by The Dream. Hallucinating, Arlen wanders out into the desert, where Miami Man finds her. Upon threat of death, he demands that she find his daughter in Comfort.
Arlen and Miami Man grow closer on their journey to Comfort. He kills another cannibal who is looking to trade gasoline for her flesh and reveals that he was put into the lawless territory because he was anillegal immigrant from Cuba. However, another man shoots Miami Man in the chest, and Arlen somewhat reluctantly returns to Comfort. She searches for Honey, eventually discovering she is living in The Dream's mansion, along with his largeharem of pregnant young women.
Arlen visits The Dream, who explains that Comfort's economy is run on the drugs his concubines make, and that Comfort is free offeces because of the plumbing he provides. Arlen agrees to join his harem but uses a pistol she has hidden inside her prosthetic to hold one of the pregnant concubines hostage. After extracting the girl, they head out of Comfort in a golf cart and reunite with Miami Man, who had been found and healed by the hermit.
The child and Miami Man blissfully reunite, and Arlen implies she would rather stay with him in the desert than live in Comfort. Miami Man tries to discourage her, deeming her unable to survive out in the harsh desert, but does not send her away. Honey asks for spaghetti, as she had grown accustomed to good things in the mansion. Instead, Miami Man takes his daughter's pet rabbit, and later the three of them lounge by a fire eating it. Miami Man rubs his teary daughter's back, and then he and Arlen look into each other's eyes, smiling.
In January 2015,Ana Lily Amirpour was announced to be directing the film, whileMegan Ellison would produce under herAnnapurna Pictures banner, and Danny Gabai and Sina Sayyah would produce under theirVice Films banner.[2] In March 2015,Keanu Reeves,Jim Carrey,Jason Momoa,Suki Waterhouse, andDiego Luna joined the film,[3] though Luna's work would eventually be limited to an uncredited cameo in the finished product. The film was produced on a $6 million budget.[4]
Principal photography on the film began on April 8, 2015, in Los Angeles.[5] Film was also shot inNiland andBombay Beach, California.[6]
The film had its world premiere at theVenice Film Festival on September 6, 2016.[7] Shortly after,Netflix andScreen Media Films acquired SVOD and theatrical distribution rights to the film, respectively.[8][9] However,Neon later acquired distribution rights to the film.[10][11] The film also screened at theToronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2016.[12][13] Neon gave it alimited release on June 23, 2017,[14] earning a box office of $201,890.[15] In addition to its limited theatrical release, and streaming on Netflix, sales on Digital HD fromAmazon Video andiTunes commenced on June 22, 2017. The film'sDVD andBlu-ray were released on September 19, 2017.[16]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 45% of 100 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "The Bad Batch has its moments, but it's too thinly written and self-indulgent to justify its length or compensate for its slow narrative drift."[17]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 62 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[18]
Guy Lodge ofVariety wrote that "though there's much to savor in the pic's lavishly distressed visuals and soundscape, its narrative feels increasingly stretched and desultory."[19] Lee Marshall ofScreen International wrote that "the story runs out of steam – with a full ninety minutes still to go."[20] David Rooney ofThe Hollywood Reporter wrote that "the movie is overlong and not without draggy patches, but it's sustained enough to keep you watching."[21]
It was selected to compete for theGolden Lion at the73rd Venice International Film Festival, where it won theSpecial Jury Prize.[22]
