Review Roundup: Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator: Badlands
In 2022, Dan Trachtenberg directed Prey, which gave the venerable Predator film franchise a much-needed shot in the arm (read my review). And now he returns with Predator: Badlands, which has the intriguing twist of making the Predator — or Yautja, as they’re known in-universe — the hero of the film.
This time around, a young Yautja arrives on the galaxy’s deadliest planet in order to prove his worth, and teams up with an unlikely ally: a Weyland-Yutani android. (In case you didn’t know, the Alien and Predator franchises are connected.) The film stars Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as the alien hunter and Elle Fanning as his synthetic companion.
So, does Predator: Badlands add an interesting wrinkle to the Predator franchise like Trachtenberg’s previous film did? Read on for a selection of critical reactions to the movie.
Predator: Badlands is just about kept from flatlining by Elle Fanning’s effortless charm, though it shows what happens when the Predator in question must, in the service of narrative development, be humanised and made sympathetic and vulnerable and … kinda … nice? What happens is that it ceases to be the Predator, so something or someone else has inevitably to fill the Predator role.
Predator: Badlands asks the impossible question: what if the Predator was the protagonist? After 38 years and nine movies of the Yautja being the most merciless sonuvabitch ever, it seems absurd to even consider it. But after Trachtenberg miraculously rebooted the franchise with Prey, and strengthened his vision of the franchise with his animated spinoff, he’s pulled off his greatest magic trick yet with Badlands, a movie that not only manages to make you root for the Yautja, but also delivers the most accessible Predator movie yet.
Predator: Badlands emerges from the promise of this theatrical release arrangement fully formed, a near-perfect cinematic organism designed with maximalism in mind. It’s big, it’s bold, and it’s packed with gnarly kills — and it truly wants you to feel every bone-crunching moment in your bones.
In both structure and family-friendly cadence, Predator: Badlands can often come off like a bootleg Mandalorian, with Dek as an (admittedly more belligerent) antihero, meekened somewhat by his adorable misfit sidekicks. Between this, Prey, and this summer’s Killer of Killers, Trachtenberg seems to be forging his own Dave Filoni-esque cinematic universe for the Predator — only with its edges sanded down where they were once barbed and nasty.
Badlands is a decidedly B-movie that thoroughly utilizes and enjoys the freedoms allowed when any prestige ambition is eschewed. The film simply wants to be the best version of a zillionth Predator installment that it can be. If it has to complicate — and, yes, soften — the branding to do that, so be it.
If you’ve never seen a Predator movie before, Badlands works very simply as an entertaining sci-fi adventure. But, if you’re a fan of the franchise, it’s additionally exciting and rewarding to discover what these creatures are like from their side of the mask. Through this story, we learn so much about this mythical species that has captured the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny Glover, Amber Midthunder, and others.
Predator: Badlands also blows the doors wide open on the franchise’s future. Tratchtenberg has explored the Yautja across time, with Badlands the furthest into the future yet. It functions well as a thrilling adventure, albeit very PG-13, but also lays exciting seeds for the future, from crossovers to sequels and beyond. That limitless potential is as exciting, if not more so, as this bold new adventure tale that introduces the Yautja’s heart.
Director Dan Trachtenberg has made far gorier Predator films with the lean Prey and the stylish animated anthology Predator: Killer of Killers, which were both released as Hulu originals. But his first theatrical film in the series maintains a PG-13 rating by avoiding anything but neon-green Yautja (aka Predator) blood, milky synth fluid, and some monster guts. While there’s plenty of CGI-packed action, there’s no real tension.
A curious, half-successful mutation in the Predator bloodline, Badlands wants to transcend the franchise’s primal instincts. Instead, it proves that sometimes survival means knowing what not to evolve. Or at least, pushing the envelope with greater execution and story conviction.
Badlands is full of gore and connections to the Alien series, but it’s surprisingly heartfelt and silly in ways that Predator movies have seldom been before. The new film feels like a feature that’s meant to be seen with people you care about, which is a bit odd considering how it’s about beings who have been taught to kill things on sight. But Predator: Badlands uses that odd energy to its advantage and fashions it into an emotional weapon that hits harder than you would expect.
Predator: Badlands opens in theaters on November 7, 2025. Watch the trailer below.
