Rating:
Summary: Tonally a bit jarring, this is a Predator film running away from its horror roots to aim for broader appeal, which will definitely irk some fans of the franchise. Creature design and action set-pieces save this film from being a total disappointment.
I remember going into "Prey" without having read up a single thing about the movie, and I was genuinely surprised it turned out to be a movie in one of my favourite franchises. And not only that, it turned out to be one of the best in the series. Director Dan Trachtenberg earned enough goodwill through that movie to become Disney's de facto "Predator" director, and he earned further goodwill via the fairly impressive animated movie "Predator: Killer of Killers". Which is why "Predator: Badlands" feels like a misstep by Trachtenberg, because this movie is best described as a movie about the Predator, as opposed to being a Predator movie.
For the first time, the Yautja, the alien race from the Predator series, isn't the antagonist, but a fully fledged protagonist (and not in the "temporary ally" kind of way of "Alien vs. Predator"). Instead of forever just getting glimpses of the Predator, in both the visual sense due to their use of cloaking technology, and in the narrative sense, where we really find out very little about the Yautja race, their culture, their emotional core (or if they even have one other than just being forever in hunting mode) - "Predator: Badlands" aims to shows you everything.
The story involves a young outcast Yautja, Dek (played under heavy prosthetic by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), who teams up with a Weyland-Yutani (yes, the corporation from the "Alien" franchise) android (played by Elle Fanning) to restore his honour by hunting a legendary monster on an extremely (and I mean extremely) hostile planet. Hot on their trail is another android, Tessa (also played by Elle Fanning), who is on a mission to stop them. If you've watched the trailers, and perhaps a couple of the clips 20th Century released online, you would have gotten all of that, and there really isn't too much more beyond what I've just described. This isn't a bad thing - Predator movies are not known for their complex narratives and interwoven story arcs - and the story here is enough.
Presenting a story through the eyes of the Yautja as opposed to one of their prey is the main twist here, and it's not a bad idea. The idea that the Yautja not being the most deadly creature on the planet most of the story is set in (it's probably not even in the top 100 here), is also interesting - the predator becomes the prey kind of thing. Fleshing out the culture behind the killers might also be needed at this stage of the franchise's development, because there's only so much suspension of disbelief one can hold before you start to question how such an advanced race can be so single-minded (how did they evolve this way, and who develops and maintains their technology, for example).
Unfortunately, these interesting ideas are largely wasted. We see a lot about the Yautja, we hear a lot from Yautja characters (there's probably more dialogue by Yautja characters in this movie than in all the Predator movies combined), but we really don't find out too much new about the Yautja. They like hunting. They like killing. They take the previous two activities very seriously. Everything they do revolves around hunting, killing, polishing skulls, etc... We already know all this, but "Predator: Badlands" simply reinforces all of this without giving us any real insights. It says a lot without actually saying anything. The Yautja being the protagonist also removes the thing that made the Predator films as suspenseful as they were - the monster almost never seen, is now the good guy that's shown in almost every second of the film?
This also means that the tone of the film shifts, from action horror to action adventure. This feels less like a follow-up to "Prey" and more like a "Guardians of the Galaxy" homage - a deadly assassin teams up with a quirky android and a cute alien to hunt for a prize, while evading operatives sent by an evil galactic corporation. This is a film that looks and feels like a grab for mass appeal - the lack of an R rating (mainly because almost all of the deaths and carnage in the movie are for CGI aliens and androids), the cutesy elements, and the numerous moments of comedy. If this film succeeds commercially, then this is probably why it happens. It might also fail for the exact same reason because it fails to give what fans want.
There is one section of the film towards the end that does get close to what Predator films are all about. It's an extension of the theme of nature versus technology that's been prevalent in all of the (good) Predator films. But even that part is filled with elements that are almost a parody of past Predator films - it's funny, but it probably shouldn't be.
The cast, although there's really only three characters and two of them are played by the same person, does an admirable job with the material, although I didn't really buy Elle Fanning as a Weyland-Yutani android - her Thia character is unlike any other Weyland-Yutani android from films past (although there's a reason for that), although her twin character Tessa does feel more authentic.
Shot in New Zealand, the scenery is breathtaking as you would expect, and the creature design is violently fascinating, a huge plus for the film. The action set-pieces were good too. Violent and good.
Perhaps, being a huge fan of the franchise, I'm being too harsh here, and casual viewers will find plenty to like about the film. I didn't dislike the film, and it had many elements that were quite well done, but I can't feel but be a little dissapointed at what it could have been.
"Predator: Badlands" is in Australian cinemas on 6 November 2025. Australian streaming release date: TBA
