Dan Trachtenberg continues his hot streak of revitalizing this once floundering franchise
Not too long ago, the Predator franchise was in the doldrums. A clunky 2018 effort helmed by Shane Black capped off a middling run, following the ill-fated efforts to pit these hunters against the Alien franchise in the mid-2000s. Step up Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), who in 2022 breathed new life into the franchise with the stellar Prey, and this year’s animated anthology effort Predator: Killer of Killers. Predator: Badlands continues his efforts to approach the franchise in new, invigorating ways, and caps off a run that leaves no doubt as to the health and direction of the Predator-verse.
Badlands takes us further into their rituals and hierarchies of the Yautja (the formal name of the titular species) more than any film before it. Our entry point is Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), the runt of his clan, protected by his older brother but dismissed as unworthy by his father. After escaping his ritual culling, Dek takes a hunter’s vow, to kill a prey so fearsome it will earn him redemption. His chosen target is the Kalisk, a creature so dreaded that even his father fears it. The beast resides on Genna, the titular badlands, a world where every plant and animal seems engineered to kill. Barely surviving a crash landing, Dek encounters Thia (Elle Fanning), a marooned Weyland-Yutani synthetic who’s literally half the person she used to be, her lower body has been torn away by the Kalisk. Thia, desperate to reunite with her “sister” Tessa (also Fanning), strikes a bargain. She’ll share her expertise on Genna’s wildlife if Dek helps her reconnect with her lower half, and ultimately her sister. Together, they form an unlikely duo; brawn and brain, stoicism and childlike wonder, forced to rely on each other to survive.
The Predator ethos is summed up by the creed “Prey to none, friend to none, predator to all.” Badlands upends that. Dek’s journey is not about proving his worth through violence but discovering it through connection. The film builds to a message of strength in cooperation and kindness, concepts that sound like anathema to Predator’s machismo but work astonishingly well here.
Fanning brings an innately affable, almost childlike energy to Thia, all chirpy optimism and earnest curiosity. Schuster-Koloamatangi, working under prosthetics and heavy CGI, finds an emotive core in Dek’s quiet resilience. Their chemistry carries the film, evolving Badlands into something between a coming-of-age tale and a buddy comedy, complete with a “Drax-esque” sense of humor. When a chimp-like local named Bud tags along, their trio becomes the most endearing misfit pack this franchise has ever seen.
Trachtenberg and writers Patrick Aison and Brian Duffield conjure a brutal, vividly realized ecosystem where trees lash out and grass cuts like razors. It’s a lush, lethal playground that gives the film a constant visual charge. The film echos the weird and lethal oddities glimpsed in HBO’s superb animated effort Scavengers Reign. Sarah Schachner’s tribal-tech score underscores the Yautja’s guttural language and Dek’s emotional arc, while the film’s PG-13 sensibility never undermines its tension or spectacle. Instead, it allows the focus to stay on character, humor, and the evolving mythology.
Trachtenberg leans into the inherent absurdity of the concept, ultra-advanced aliens who travel faster than light just to engage in macho trophy hunts, and punctures it with warmth and comedy. The result is a film that acknowledges the franchise’s hyper-masculine roots while gently mocking them, and pitting them against a host of females in the process. A quick post-credits stinger hints that this thematic evolution isn’t over yet, teasing another problem on the horizon.
Those craving a hard-R splatterfest in the vein of the original or its sweat soaked sequel may find Badlands a touch tame. The violence here is largely blood-free, white android fluid replaces the usual crimson, but that restraint fits the film’s tone. It’s comic-book-style action, brisk, colorful, and bursting with invention rather than gore.
Dan Trachtenberg continues his hot streak with revitalizing this once floundering franchise. Even when rolling out tropes, its such an enjoyable experience you can’t help for forgive it. Predator Badlands blows open the mythology of the franchise like none of it’s predecessors, but never forgets to have fun while doing it A rollicking, action packed spectacle, and delightfully goofy slice of sci-fi.
Predator Badlands slashes its way into theaters on November 7th
