Imagine being in a land designed to kill you. Never mind what was put into place by Charles Darwin, what if an entire ecosystem was built entirely on the idea that the largest creature will always be out to get you? Everything else around you, flora and fauna, follows a similar tactic for the sake of wanting you to expire. Predator: Badlands takes a couple of wild swings regarding the franchise it represents, but also functions as a terrific adventure story that features found families, a test of courage, and other complex social dynamics. It’s also incredibly creative, as we are witness to an entirely new world with plenty of lovingly crafted creatures that exist to either be killed or kill you.
A clean prologue sets the stage. Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is a young Yautja (the Predator’s species) seeking to prove himself to his clan. He’s undersized, but that hasn’t stopped Dek’s brother Kwei from pushing him to be the best hunter possible. Their father does not share this thought, only for circumstances to lead Dek to Genna, a planet composed entirely of deadly organisms. To prove himself, Dek seeks out a truly monstrous beast, the Kalisk, and along the way discovers a helpful tool. This would be Thia (Elle Fanning), a synthetic who has lost its legs after being damaged by a Kalisk. Realizing Thia can be of use, the two set off on a trek together to find the Kalisk, even while knowing a variety of threats will attempt to upset their journey.
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The clear change-up this time around for the Predator series is making the Predator our protagonist. It’s a bold move, but one clearly stemming from director Dan Trachtenberg’s desire to take this franchise in new and exciting directions. Even on top of that, it’s an excuse to build a strong survival-action feature rooted in sci-fi ideas, combined with minimalist touches. Sure, we have an advanced alien race that prides itself on utilizing cool weapons to combat others. At the same time, the film does all it can to portray Dek as a warrior stripped of its most valuable tools.
Dek is unable to cloak himself in invisibility or use a laser-guided plasma cannon. Instead, he has a few items, such as a heated blade, but that’s it, and they’ll only take him so far. Among the strong ideas put forward to enhance this narrative, watching our main character learn to accept his environment and find ways to use it to his advantage, rather than fight it, becomes rewarding in a variety of ways. Not only is it good character work for a creature who only speaks in a language made up for this film, but it’s a solid reflection of what great action directors can accomplish when they are equipped with the right sensibilities to consider what they have at their disposal.
Of course, this is still a Predator movie, and being the seventh overall entry (not including its rendezvous with Aliens), it was exciting to see a film explore the nature of a race that prides itself on being traditional hunters with their own sense of morality. Unique to this film (with one exception that I’ll get back to) is how the arc, rooted in the notion that a Yautja, given the chance to adapt and grow as a character, can actually become less prideful and more humble. To be clear, I love Predator and am a big fan of the series overall, but pretty much every iteration suggests a warrior alien with a smug attitude. They take a certain level of joy in dispatching their prey, including recording the sounds they make, taunting their enemies, and choosing an explosive death over any choice ever to yield.
Because Dek is our hero this time around, we can see one of his kind experience things that don’t typically compute with these creatures. Working with others, having empathy, and even sharing a joke – these are all aspects of Dek’s life on Genna, which speaks to the concept of found family, let alone other ways to learn to embrace an environment. The only other entry to come close to this was AVP: Alien vs. Predator, which spent a third act showing a bond between human and Predator, in an unexpected pairing reliant on mutual understanding of a unique environment.
The parallels between Dek’s family and their primary motivations, and what we learn of Thia and other creations like her, are fascinating. While one wouldn’t expect Predator movies to be an acting treat, there’s a lot of great work here from Fanning (in a dual role, no less), which invites her more sensitive synthetic character to have a humorous and curious personality. On top of that, newcomer Schuster-Kolomatangi does a terrific job emoting the way it’s needed under all the prosthetics, allowing for a believable bond between the creature and the cyborg. All of this, and yet the film stays well-balanced, opening up thematic journeys while remaining action-packed.
In that regard, Trachtenberg is certainly doing his best to function as a filmmaker who understands how to push this world into unexplored territory. With Prey, Trachtenberg removed all modern conceits in favor of a period film pitting the frontier landscape and a spunky Native American girl against an aggressively mean Predator. Moving into animated territory, the gamer side of Trachtenberg used the opportunity to explore how well one can tell a story with minimal dialogue and a gorgeous animation system, producing the highly entertaining straight-to-Hulu anthology flick, Predator: Killer of Killers. The success found in both, along with an apparent budget increase, has only led to more impactful action sequences.
For Predator: Badlands, we get to see Predator action dished out to an assortment of deadly creatures, including flying beasts, a forest that acts as a Hydra, a regenerating monster, and a buffalo that’s able to split its head open. These are some impressively crazy ideas, and watching a seamless blend of practical and CG effects and stunts gives you a chance to see a team of filmmakers have a blast staging elaborate fight sequences, chases, and general mayhem, given all that a Yautja is capable of. Yes, the visual effects involved in developing so many new lifeforms are impressive, but it’s also wildly effective to see them battle a Predator in ways fit for gamers equipped to make effective action cinema.
Rarely stopping for too long, and when it does, the time for introspection is effectively handled, Predator: Badlands is so confident in knowing how to keep the action going without sacrificing basic storytelling techniques. Sure, the film may become a bit less interesting the more complex it gets regarding other characters that enter the plot, but it’s hardly an issue. The core story is first-rate and serves as a proper way to build a movie that is always on the move, never less than exciting, and full of imaginative ideas for showing what it truly means to be both the hunter and the hunted.
Predator: Badlands opens in theaters and IMAX on November 7, 2025.
