Review: PREDATOR: BADLANDS is a Winning Franchise Recalibration

It's official: Dan Trachtenberg is the Yautja whisperer. His third Predator entry, Predator: Badlands, is so excitingly different from Prey and Killer of Killers. Where Prey puts a period spin on the original, and Killer of Killers takes the minisode anthology route, Badlands turns the corpse-counting franchise on its head. Shades of Kong: Skull Island, James Gunn, and Saturday morning cartoons reign supreme, but also science fiction imagery à la Frank Frazetta, and behemoth perspectives seen in the video game Shadow of the Colossus. Oh, it's also genuinely hilarious? Badlands is the Predator story I never knew I needed—a thrilling call to alien wilds full of heart, healing, and heroism.

Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi stars and shines as a Yautja runt named Dek, who is desperate to prove his worth to his clan-leader father, Njohrr. Unfortunately, it's an unhealthy parent-child dynamic that sends Dek on a dangerous mission to kill the unkillable: a Kalisk. Dek sets course for Genna, but crashes, unaware of the environmental hazards. He soon finds a halved Weyland-Yutani synthetic, Thia (Elle Fanning), who is eager to help. Together, Dek and Thia (his “tool”) brave Genna's threats on their way to challenge the Kalisk—but, as the Yautja learns, maybe he’s been looking for approval in all the wrong places.

If that sounds borderline Hallmark-y, where a black sheep Predator learns to value himself thanks to newfound friendships … you're right. Trachtenberg ditches the more horrific leanings of prior Predator films, particularly where Yautja are "villains," and endears us to the predatory species. Schuster-Koloamatangi graduates from stunt actor to leading man, translating emotional complexity through motion capture technology and a made-up Yautja language he learned in full. The film's core themes revolve around Dek's suicidal desire to prove his father wrong, the same father who'd use him as bait given his weaknesses. That's where the James Gunn of it all comes in, as Dek embraces the warmth of found family, and Trachtenberg highlights universal truths about self-discovery while leading us on an extraordinary interplanetary adventure.

What's even crazier? Badlands is filled with laugh-out-loud moments that approach Yautja traditions and sci-fi camaraderie with a very Guardians of the Galaxy sparkle. Don't get me wrong, the Predator films have a silly streak—from oily machismo to Shane Black—but Badlands plays like an outright comedy. Elle Fanning's having a ball as Thia, whose inquisitive supercomputer brain is an excellent complement to Dek's savage warrior ways. They're the yin and yang in a buddy comedy where one is like Genna Pokédex, and the other … wants to kill everything in Genna's Pokédex. The jokes keep mounting—especially from an adorable, scene-stealing lifeform that Dek and Thia encounter—yet Trachtenberg never disgraces the Predator name in the process. Some might balk at the idea of a gleeful and comical Predator, but it's just another flavor of entertainment, rather than a combative resistance to fall into franchise conformity.

But still, this is a Predator spin-off. Trachtenberg does not ignore the promise of fantastical combat; it's just reworked into a gauntlet of wills and strength for Dek. It's less about devastating Yautja technology, as Dek fights for survival against murderous flora, creatures ten times his size, and even razor-shard grass. Everything Genna wants to eliminate Dek, so he must tap into his surroundings, relying on Thia's findings, brute instincts, and Schuster-Koloamatangi's nifty stunt choreography. We've done the whole Predator vs. Humans thing time and time again; Trachtenberg subverts our expectations but satiates our cravings. You wouldn't hire a stuntworker without using their talents, so rest easy knowing that Dek has much violence to unleash on Genna's population of gnarly and formidable species.

My two biggest fears coming in were whether computer graphics could replicate what Stan Winston achieved with practical special effects, and whether the Weyland-Yutani connection would be a distraction. Thankfully, neither element bogs down Badlands. A roster of animation studios—including Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Wētā FX—brings the epic scale of Genna and beyond to life, while Alien universe crossover elements are nothing more than Weyland-Yutani lending its synths to Dek's storyline. Schuster-Koloamatangi disappears under pixels that he manipulates with powerful expressions, while Fanning leans into the slapstick antics of her legless form. It might seem sacrilegious to divert away from the franchise's practical devotion, but it's for a good reason, and the visuals are damn impressive.

Predator: Badlands is more evidence of Dan Trachtenberg's magic touch. Its shortcomings are minimal—some overly glossy digital work scattered about, a joke or two that doesn't land. Otherwise, Badlands is a rip-roaring Predator installment that commits to world-building on Avatar or The Lord of the Rings levels, delights with zany quirks, and refuses to take itself too seriously (a treat). There's a beautiful sense of empathy shared by the film's characters, while still indulging in old-school Predator callbacks that'll have diehard fans grinning. Trachtenberg risks it all on a western-infused, Conan the Barbarian-y renegade of a Predator continuation, which, it pleases me to report, is one of the most entertaining films of the year.

Movie Score: 4/5