PREDATOR: BADLANDS (2025)

Dan Trachtenberg has become the godfather of the Predator franchise, having now helmed one third of its nine films (if we include the divisive Alien vs Predator duology). And considering the failure of Predators (2010) and The Predator (2018) in reviving mainstream interest in this 1980s property, that’s no small feat. Prey (2022) is what guaranteed Trachtenberg could steward this sci-fi horror series, as it went straight to streaming on Disney+ but became so popular they had to release physical media for rabid collectors. His reward for making Predator a viable commodity again is double the budget and a guaranteed theatrical release for this film, Predator: Badlands, which also lowers the usual R-rating to PG-13 in an attempt to widen its appeal to a younger crowd.

Prey’s spin on the mythos was to get back-to-basics with a story that followed the iconic Predator (1987) concept—tough humans versus an extra-terrestrial hunter—but set events in the 18th-century and followed a Comanche tribe even less equipped to defeat an alien with futuristic weaponry than Arnold Schwarzenegger with a Minigun.

The twist for Badlands is to remove humans from the equation entirely, as the lead protagonist is now a young “Yautja” called Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi). He’s a stocky runt of his clan on Yautja Prime, about to be culled by his merciless father (Reuben De Jong), but whose life is spared by his more sympathetic brother Kwei (Mike Homik) to repay a blood debt. Dek is soon whisked to the planet Genna (a few letters short of ‘Gehenna’, a Biblical place of punishment and torment), where he must hunt and kill the infamous Kalisk beast to prove his worth and claim a place by his father’s side.

It’s a bold choice to focus on an otherworldly Predator for the first time, which is akin to making a Halloween film where we’re always in the company of Michael Myers and asked to sympathise with his killing of innocent Haddonfield residents. But it works here, as the Yautja have essentially become Klingons the more we’ve seen of their (very similar) warmongering society. And there’s a tradition of feeling empathy for a skilled hunter—if you’re not in its cross-hairs for dinner. Hunting becomes a noble pursuit if there’s a sense of fair play and honour baked into its tribal practices and rituals, although maybe that’s debatable here as the Yautja rarely seem interested in eating their prey to survive or clothe themselves. But one assumes they must do.

It wouldn’t work if we only followed Dek’s solo hunting trip across Genna, which is creatively brought to life as a nightmarish take on Pandora from Avatar (2009), where everything has evolved to kill or hurt you. The circle of life is in constant rotation, as “cornfields” explode paralysing darts, tree vines hunt you like anaconda snakes, small bugs behave like suicide bombers, and even the grass is razor sharp and will shred you to pieces if you run through fields unprotected. It’s fun to see Dek try to survive this constant danger, but it’s not long before we’re given narrative assistance from polyglot Thia (Elle Fanning), a Synthetic woman who lost her legs after encountering the Kalisk monster Dek needs as a trophy.

As someone who now squirms at the fanboy idea of Predator sharing a universe with Alien (1979), which started as a fun joke in Predator 2 (1990) when a xenomorph skull was seen displayed inside a spaceship’s trophy cabinet, I thought the poorly-received Alien vs Predator movies had put an end to this crossover. However, Trachtenberg seems to disagree it’s a wholly bad idea, despite the Alien franchise undergoing its own rebirth with Alien: Romulus (2024) and Alien: Earth—which have both never once mentioned the Yautja.

Nevertheless, Thia is a Synthetic built by Alien’s Weyland-Yutani Corporation, so we presumably have to accept Disney blessed uniting both sci-fi franchises they now own. So-called “cinematic universes” are still in vogue, it seems. It’s a little odd, however, as Alien: Earth could easily have connected itself to Badlands, considering that series concerned the collecting of deadly alien species. I was half-expecting the body-snatching “eyeball” from Alien: Earth to cameo here, which admittedly would have been fun. I’m such a hypocrite. One wonders if the masterminds behind the Alien franchise are frustrated Trachtenberg keeps wanting to force Predator upon them.

Trachtenberg re-teamed with Prey screenwriter Patrick Aison to develop the story, and it’s a straightforward survivalist adventure with all the chutzpah of a Saturday morning sci-fi cartoon. The character journeys are also simple but flow extremely well, too: misfit Dek starts as an angry, grieving loner determined to slay an “unkillable” beast to prove his worth, but learns the value of friendship and teamwork after discovering the useful “tool” of Thia and hearing the wisdom she speaks about wolves and an alternative view on what it means to be an ‘Alpha’.

Badlands also cleverly avoids the potential awkwardness of having to suddenly feel sympathy for a frightening Predator, whom we’re accustomed to seeing slay people in various gruesome ways, by not putting a single human on screen to be killed. Instead, Genna is full of oddly generic Synthetics, as they’re expendable workers and can cope with the harsh environment better because they don’t feel pain. So this means Dek and various other critters can happily maim and kill dozens of Synths without us, the audience, feeling conflicted after eight films spent watching humans be the brave underdogs against these predatory boogiemen. When all the blood is either luminous green or milky white in colour, that PG-13 certificate allows for a lot of leniency with the violence.

It’s difficult to get too critical about Predator: Badlands, as it’s efficiently written and coherently shot. There’s a strong balance of action and humour, the pacing never drags, and it’s easy to get caught up in the plight of the characters. Trachtenberg’s part of a generation of filmmakers raised on 1980s and ’90s movies, but also 21st-century video games and anime (which the directors he grew up with wouldn’t have been), so those influences are clearly evident in all his Predator movies. But its visuals and style doesn’t mean time isn’t taken to make us care about an alien warrior that’s been the franchise’s face of evil for decades, which is arguably Badland’s real triumph.

Elle Fanning (A Complete Unknown) is also great in dual roles, although I’m a little annoyed so many recent Synthetics in the Alien/Predator universes behave like they’re modern-day humans. Fanning likely portrayed Thia this way to differentiate her from evil sister Tessa, who’s more in the vein of an emotionless automaton, but I still think Thia could have been made to feel less human than she is. But it’s a minor quibble.

Overall, Predator: Badlands perhaps isn’t as dramatically interesting as Prey and there are fewer performances to get invested in, but it’s a breathlessly enjoyable spectacle that proves Trachtenberg can work with a true blockbuster-sized budget. And coming so soon after his animated anthology, Predator: Killer of Killers (2025), it seems he’s building a few different strands to follow with various sequels, perhaps leading to some form of major crossover for all his in-universe characters. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole Alien vs. Predator concept gets revisited soon, either, but let’s hope it’s not canonical to the timeline of the fundamentally more highbrow Alien saga.

USA • AUSTRALIA • NEW ZEALAND • CANADA | 2025 | 107 MINUTES | 2.39:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: Dan Trachtenberg.
writers: Patrick Aison (story by Dan Trachtenberg & Patrick Aison; based on characters created by Jim Thomas & John Thomas).
starring: Elle Fanning, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, Reuben De Jong, Mike Homik, Rohinal Nayaran, Cameron Brown & Alison Wright (voice).