Predator: Badlands (2025) – Review

Quick Thoughts:

• It’s an unabashedly fun action film.
• It starts a bit rough (VFX Yautja), but quickly finds its footing when the Yautja lands on the death planet.
• Elle Fanning is great.
• Best 2025 spitting and headbutts.
• Amazing final line.
• I want director Dan Trachtenberg to keep making Predator movies. Prey (2022) and Predator: Badlands (2025) rule.

Predator: Badlands is really fun because it isn’t weighed down by seriousness, lore, or decades of story. Director Dan Trachtenberg and writers Patrick Aison and Brian Duffield (Underwater, Love and Monsters, No One Will Save You) made sure to create a standalone Predator movie about an undersized Yautja warrior attempting to kill a mythically hard-to-kill monster. 

Predator: Badlands focuses on the adventures of a young Yautja named Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), who is the runt of his Yautja clan. His brother Kwei (Mike Homik) does his best to mold him into an ultimate badass, but it’s in vain as their father Njohrr (Yautja kids have terrible parents too!) wants Dek dead to prevent any perceived weakness in his clan. After a battle on their home planet of Yautja Prime, Dek’s brother is killed by Njohrr, and Dek escapes to a death planet named Genna, where he plans on killing a creature called the Kalisk so he can reclaim his spot in the clan and avenge his brother’s death. 

After a rough start that sees Dek almost eaten or mortally mutilated by flying monsters, death spores, hungry tree branches and razor-blade grass, he comes across a damaged android named Thia (Elle Fanning – the MVP of the movie) who promises to help him kill the Kalisk, if he helps her get her legs back (the Kalisk ripped them off). Together, the two navigate the death planet, meet unlikely allies, and run away from poison-dart-shooting death snakes. I don’t want to spoil anything else because Predator: Badlands is loaded with fun surprises and moments. If you’ve watched the trailer, you’ll know about the surprises, but I didn’t know much about the film, and it made the experience much more enjoyable. 

At its core, the Predator franchise thrives on simplicity because the high-concept films revolve around one thing: tough people being hunted by something tougher than they are. That’s why Predator, Predator 2, Predators, and Prey work so well, because they keep things simple. What’s nice about Predator: Badlands is that it isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel, and instead feels like a 1990’s action film that wants to entertain audiences. The opening 15 minutes are a bit worrying because of the over-reliance on VFX work that doesn’t look nearly as good as Stan Winston’s creatures in Predator and Predator 2. However, as the film progressed, I got used to Dek’s look and wasn’t bothered by his VFX face. 

This may seem like an odd comparison, but Predator: Badlands feels like a rewatchable action film that you discovered on the shelf of a Blockbuster Video. It’s wildly unpretentious and isn’t afraid to lean into humor or absurd shots in which Dek stands in front of an explosion and poses like an action hero. Of all the Predator films, it’s easily the funniest, and that’s because Trachenberg wasn’t interested in “retreading and remaking the same thing over and over.” I’m certain that certain Predator purists will dislike the buddy comedy elements and PG-13 rating, but it will open up the world for new viewers. Trachtenberg was inspired by Terminator 2: Judgement Day, in that entire families could watch the film and find something to like. In regard to the PG-13 rating, since most of the violence happens to aliens, monsters and androids, there isn’t a plethora of red blood spilling all over the place, which means there wasn’t a need for an R-rating. Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of exploding bodies and spine rips. 

The New Zealand locations are gorgeous  and are expertly filmed by cinematographer Jeff Cutter (Prey, 10 Cloverfield Lane), who understood what he was shooting (a fun action film). The costume design by Oscar winner Ngila Dickson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) is excellent as well, with the highlight being Thia’s jacket that will most certainly be seen on many comic con floors in years to come.

Final Thoughts – Predator: Badlands put a massive smile on my face and I can’t wait to watch it again.