Notes
My quick rating - 6.9/10. Predator: Badlands takes a hard left turn from the familiar jungle and urban hunting grounds of the franchise and drops us onto Genna, a hostile, alien world where pretty much everything wants you dead (haha, I know, we say that about Australia). From the opening moments, director Dan Trachtenberg makes it clear this isn’t business as usual. The film kicks off with an impressive, brutal-looking fight scene between an older and younger Yautja, which not only sets the pace for the movie but is a testament to how much Predator visual effects have evolved. It’s slick and heavy, and expressive for a species that is known for its clicks as opposed to its words.
The young Predator, Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), hasn’t yet earned his cloak of invisibility, a symbol of status and respect within his clan. His overbearing father sees him as weak and orders Dek’s older brother, Kwei, to kill him. Thankfully, Kwei isn’t on board with that charming bit of family tradition and instead helps Dek escape, sending him on a near-suicidal rite of passage: travel to Genna and bring back the head of an arrogantly chosen, supposedly unkillable target. It’s a classic Predator setup filtered through a more character-driven lens, and surprisingly, it works.
One thing longtime fans may not expect is just how much Predator dialogue we get. If you’ve ever wanted to see full conversations with that wonderfully gnarly mouth design, this is absolutely your movie. Around 20 minutes, the title card is finally shown, which means it’s time to kick off on a 90-minute ride full of realistic CGI, creative creature designs, and relentless environmental hazards. Genna feels alive, poisonous, and cruel, which is exactly what I want from a Predator hunting ground.
In a field of toxic plant life, Dek meets Thia (Elle Fanning), a synthetic created by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, a name that will immediately perk up the ears of Alien fans. This crossover-adjacent element is handled with restraint, but it brings with it the expected corporate secrecy and hidden agendas. Thia’s mission is unfinished, and soon another company android, Tessa (also Fanning), is dispatched to clean things up. Along the way, they’re joined by Bud (Ravi Narayan), a local monkey-like creature who adds some levity and unexpected charm.
Visually, the film is a knockout. New Zealand’s landscapes, digitally enhanced or not, look spectacular, and the action choreography is inventive, including some genuinely fun “leg fighting” that’s best experienced unspoiled. Trachtenberg delivers confident production design, strong cinematography, and a plot that refuses to stay locked into a single objective.
That said, Predator: Badlands does soften the franchise in noticeable ways. The film isn’t afraid to give the Predator emotional beats, and yes, there are a few cutesy, almost Ewok-adjacent moments that feel suspiciously Disney-approved. While the action remains unique and often glorious, I do miss the colder, hyper-intelligent Predator pitted against humanity - two apex killers colliding through evolution and instinct.
Still, even in this slightly watered-down form, Predator: Badlands is anything but a bad flick. It’s very much a visually striking and different type of predator movie, which, although entertaining, does lead me to want to see a return to the hard-hearted, alien predator of yesteryear.
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