Predator: Badlands (Theatrical) 2025

PREDATOR BADLANDS is just what the hunter ordered to breathe new life into a franchise whose movies had, frankly, gotten stale. There is only so many times you can rehash the same formula of badass modern warriors being hunted by a superior alien enemy, the titular Predator, and one of said warriors has to reconnect with unorthodox traditional methods to fight back.

 This movie flips the perspective and places a Predator as our protagonist. It opens on the homeworld of the Yautja, the species name of the Predators, as we bear witness to the events that land our protagonist Dek (played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) on the planet Genna.

Genna is a death world. Its plants and animals all highly dangerous and regard Dek as prey. Fighting for survival against the savage flora and fauna, Dek crosses path with a damaged female synthetic human named Thia (played by Elle Fanning). Or at least her upper half. 

Dek intends to kill a monster known as the Kalisk in order to restore his honor among his clan. Along the way he has to learn to work with Thia and other unlikely allies against not just the threats of Genna, but an army of other Synthetics, led by Thia’s “sister” Tessa.

 From the get go, this is definitely not your usual Predator movie. The desolate surface of the Yautja homeworld , the heavy worn look of the Yautja tech with its wicked glowing blades and pockmarked bronze armor, the tribal chanting accompanying the electronic soundtrack. 

This calls to mind comics from Heavy Metal magazine and the feel is like a mix of classic swords and sandals movies such as Conan The Barbarian, and post apocalyptic sci fi. Having the Yautja speak in an alien language with subtitles was a good touch and I sense quite a bit of work went into mapping out a feasible fictional language for the Yautja. 

 I was blown away by the overall look of the movie. These were filmed on real life locations in New Zealand but enhanced with visual effects to create truly stunning alien worldscapes. 

The VFX was impressive for the most part, on par with big summer blockbusters that have double this movie’s budget. My favourite was how expressive the Yautja were, combining facial performance capture and CGI. 

 The narrative itself is a classic story, not the most original, but definitely entertaining. It’s the strong scowling loner who gets saddled with a talkative comic relief companion. You have seen it in The Witcher, Scorpion King, classic Westerns, Conan (again), it is a commonly used character dynamic but one which allows for entertaining interplay between the two. The loner learns compassion and how to work with others while the comic relief gets their idealistic worldview put to the test.

 A theme of ableism permeates our characters’ journey; Dek is marked for death by his clan for being the runt of the litter, and called defective many times. Thia is written off as damaged by the other Synthetics for both her physical damages and for straying from their original mission. Watching the underdog protagonist overcome the odds makes for a very satisfying experience with a well earned payoff. 

 Despite the flipped premise, Predator Badlands retains much in common with its predecessors. Dek’s status as the runt of his clan having to prove his worth calls back to Naru from 2018’s PREY. Him having to eschew his advanced hunting technology for taming wildlife, harvesting plants and bones as weapons recalls Dutch from the first PREDATOR movie having to ditch his commando weapons for ones forged from sticks and stones. Dek crashing violently on Genna brings to mind the game preserve planet from 2010s PREDATORS.

 I have my nitpicks yes. The lead up to the climactic confrontation where Dek infiltrates the Synthetics’ encampment accompanied by a pair of disembodied legs (yes) and a cute warbling creature mascot (I am not kidding) involves some of that juvenile slapstick humor that seems to have infected every superhero movie nowadays. There is also a couple of spotty VFX scenes, notably the opening sequence of two Yautja dueling in a cave. 

 Other than those, I find PREDATOR: BADLANDS to be a surprise hit. As a long time Predator fan, through movies, novels, comics and games, I already had a certain level of expectations, and this movie exceeded them. Outstanding on all fronts from the character development and underlying themes to the action and even the soundtrack by Sarah Schachner and Benjamin Wallfisch. Highly recommended.