Predator is an iconic 80’s movie with a perfect mix of action, sci-fi, and a group of guys that look like they live inside Gold’s Gym. The franchise spawned many sequels and spin-offs but could never recreate the magic of the first film. Enter director/writer Dan Trachtenberg. He took a bold idea and injected new life into the franchise with his surprise hit, Prey. Next, he delivered one of the best animated films of 2025, Predator: Killer of Killers.

What fans were eagerly anticipating was Trachtenberg’s next theatrical release, Predator: Badlands – a film with the Predator as the main protagonist.

The story follows Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), an undersized Yautja. The film opens with Dek and his brother Kewi (Mike Homik) training for Dek to earn his cloak and be accepted into the clan. Dek’s father believes he’s too weak to survive, so Dek decides for his final test he will hunt an un-killable apex predator known as the Kalisk. Not only is the predator dangerous, it lives on planet Genna aka the Death Planet – the nickname is accurate because everything on the planet is trying to kill you.

After crash-landing on Genna, Dek is forced to team up with a partially destroyed Weyland-Yutani Corporation synthetic named Thia (Elle Fanning). Together, they make their way through various dangerous creatures, flowers that paralyze you, and even a field made of razor-sharp metal to find the Kalsik. Dek wants to kill the Kalsik to earn his cloak while Thia wants to find her legs. Along the way they befriend a native creature to the planet that Thia affectionately nicknames “Bud”.

Predator: Badlands is full of surprises. One of the biggest is how funny it is. Predator fans don’t think of humor when they think about the franchise, yet this film leads with comedy and it works.  Elle Fanning’s performance as Thia delivers a few laugh-out-loud moments but mostly keeps the mood light with humor. Thia’s humor is enhanced by her juxtaposition to a very serious Dek.

Trachtenberg making a Predator the protagonist is absolutely genus.  He uses it to deliver more information about Yautja culture outside of them being violent warriors. Dek has so much personality. You can see him trying to prove his worth through every obstacle he faces on Genna. You also see, although undersized, he’s an absolute badass. The other genius of Trachtenberg was making Badlands the perfect mix of his two previous films. It has the beautiful storytelling of Prey blended with the incredible action in Predator: Killer of Killers.

Like a true action blockbuster, this film moves at an excellent pace and has action at every turn. There isn’t a moment wasted in this film. If Dek and Thia aren’t surviving some creature out of your nightmares, the dialogue is giving information about the story or the more understanding about the characters and their motivations. It’s a fun story and then film gets injected with an insane action sequence. Those moments feel like an adrenaline rush in a film that’s already very entertaining.

The actions sequences are incredible. They all build up to the final showdown that delivers some of the film’s best moments. The last fight feels reminiscent of Dutch’s fight in ‘87’s Predator and Naru’s battle in Prey. It’s a beautiful way to tie franchise together using the protagonist’s final fight, especially when one is a Yautja.

One of the things that will make fans happy is how seamlessly they infuse the Alien franchise with the presence of Weyland-Yutani. What they’re doing and why they have a presence on Genna makes perfect sense. It also makes sense they would cross paths with the Yautja at some point.

Predator: Badlands is one of the best action films of the year. It delivers everything fans want from a blockbuster action film along with being an excellent addition to the Predator franchise. Trachtenberg and his crew can keep making Predator movies. These movies are bringing new fans and making fans of the original fall in love with the franchise again.  I’m excited to see what original story they deliver next.

Grade: B+