The Predator franchise has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. The original 1987 Predator hit theaters a year before I was born, and I definitely saw it way too young — but thank God I did. My grandfather probably showed it to me with my older brother, and I fell in love instantly. It’s arguably the most macho movie ever made. Testosterone practically leaks out of the TV. Arnold in one of his defining roles, Carl Weathers, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura — it still holds up flawlessly today.
Then came Predator 2, which gets unfair hate online. I’ll never understand it. That movie is like a cocaine-infused fever dream of a sequel, and Gary Busey is incredible. The slaughterhouse sequence alone is peak Predator cinema. Danny Glover deserves way more love than he gets for carrying that wild ride.
After that, the franchise took a 20-year nap until Predators, which I still think is really good. The AVP movies? They’re dumb fun, and I include them proudly in the “solid Predator track record.” Really, there’s only one genuine loser in the entire franchise: Shane Black’s The Predator (2018). I almost walked out — the only time that’s ever happened to me.
Fast-forward to Disney buying Fox. Everyone panicked, assuming Alien and Predator would get Disney-fied to death. But then Alien: Romulus crushed, Alien: Earth was pretty good, and Dan Trachtenberg has proven twice already (Prey and the animated Killer of Killers) that he understands this universe. So when Predator Badlands was announced — with the Predator himself as the protagonist — I was excited.
And now that I’ve seen it?
Predator Badlands is the most outlandish, different Predator movie ever — and I dug it.
People are going to have issues with it. I can already hear the discourse. But I’m just gonna say it up front: the PG-13 rating didn’t affect a damn thing. There’s still plenty of gore and badass Predator kills. They just used the loophole — no human blood. Synthetic, creature, monster blood? That’s apparently fair game. And honestly, I don’t need f-bombs in a Predator movie for it to work.
Dek, our Predator lead, absolutely works.
Demetrius Schuster KolaMantangi crushes it as Dek. Yes, he looks different than past Predators. Yes, he talks — in Yautja and, thanks to Elle Fanning’s character, eventually English. But here’s the thing: in the original movie, the Predator is unmasked for like eight minutes. That mystique wouldn’t work here. Dek is unmasked for basically the whole movie, and Trachtenberg builds the story around that.
Dek is the runt of his clan, protected by his older brother, nearly sacrificed by his father. He sets off to prove himself by traveling to Genna, the Deadliest Planet in the universe — like Avatar’s Pandora turned up to 11. His goal: kill a Kassalik and bring the skull home as a trophy.
Elle Fanning steals the show — and will absolutely divide audiences.
She plays dual synthetics, Tessa and Thea. Think “annoying but lovable road-trip companion” — Donkey from Shrek-type energy — quippy, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt. Some people will HATE this because they want Predator movies as grim, macho lone-wolf hunts. But we aren’t on Earth here. We’re not in a jungle or a city. We’re on a literal Death Planet. The rules are different.
And honestly? She worked for me.
Yes, there’s a cute alien creature. No, it’s not a problem.
This is the most “Disney-esque” thing in the movie, and I promise people will lose their minds over it. But again — we’re on an alien planet. In 40 years of comics, novels, and lore, Predator stories have absolutely included weird creatures, emotional arcs, and clan politics. This is not a stretch.
Predators can have families. They can be outcasts. They can learn. We’ve just rarely seen that side because the franchise has always framed them as the boogeyman hunting humans. Badlands shows what it looks like from their side, and I think that’s actually really cool.
And let’s be clear: the Predator boxes are STILL checked.
• Deck does badass Predator shit
• Cool gadgets
• Cool kills
• Predator-on-Predator violence that goes hard
• A fantastic, reinvented score
• Trachtenberg behind the wheel again, proving he knows this universe better than most
Everything surrounding those core elements won’t work for everyone, but the essentials? They’re rock-solid.
That last line of the movie though… holy shit.
No spoilers, but it’s one of those lines where your brain instantly goes: OH. OH WE’RE DOING THAT.
And if you know Predator lore? You know what’s coming. And it’s badass. And it has NEVER been done in the movies before.
Final Thoughts
I genuinely liked Predator Badlands. It’s not afraid to take risks instead of rehashing the “macho guys get picked off one by one” formula again. It opens the door for a younger generation to jump in — PG-13 means kids can get hooked the same way I did when I was young — and Deck is one of the coolest, most fleshed-out Predators we’ve ever gotten.
It’s about family, choosing your own path, being an outcast, and finding your tribe — literally and metaphorically. It’s a band-of-misfits story on a death planet starring a Predator as the protagonist. And that’s just a damn cool thing to finally see.
And yes… it’s finally time for a new AVP movie. Weyland-Yutani is a big presence again. It’s been almost 20 years. Let’s go.
Predator Badlands = 84/100
