Predator: Badlands Forgets What Made the Franchise Great

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While Predator: Badlands has some good parts, it’s quite different from other Predator films and doesn’t quite measure up to the rest of the series.

Predator: Badlands offers a fresh take on the Predator franchise. Director Dan Trachtenberg, known for Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers, introduces Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a young and less experienced Predator who must prove his worth. He’s sent to a particularly dangerous planet to hunt a terrifying creature. This film gives us the first-ever Predator seen from its own perspective – something the original Alien vs. Predator briefly hinted at – and reveals a completely new side to these formidable hunters.

It’s not a bad pitch on paper. It’s the execution that doesn’t really work.

Why doesn’t Predator: Badlands work as a Predator movie?

Predator: Badlands is an enjoyable action film. Beyond the main character, Dek, the story also follows Thia, a synthetic created by Weyland-Yutani and portrayed by Elle Fanning, who goes through a compelling transformation.

As a big fan of the Predator films, I’m finding Badlands a bit of a departure, and it’s creating a strange disconnect for me. Compared to the more serious tone of Prey or even the grittiness of Predators, Badlands feels…different. It’s not long after Dek and Thia team up that the humor really kicks in, and honestly, it feels a bit too much like a Marvel movie – lots of quick, snappy jokes that just don’t quite fit the world of Predator, you know?

As the movie progresses, you start to notice elements that feel very Disney-influenced – even though the Predator franchise is now owned by Disney, like we saw with the surprisingly intense ‘Alien: Romulus’. A significant part of this is a charming little monkey character that seems designed to appeal to kids and drive toy sales. While the PG-13 rating doesn’t ruin the film – there’s still plenty of action – ‘Badlands’ ultimately feels toned down and doesn’t quite live up to its potential.

By the end of the Badlands story, Dek, Thia, and the monkey creature—now growing into a dangerous, though still somewhat endearing, animal—have become a close-knit family. They defeat their opponents primarily through their strong bond (along with alien weapons, of course). This dynamic works well in stories like Killer of Killers, where diverse characters unite to survive. However, in Badlands, their connection feels a bit artificial, as if the story is forcing them together to set up future installments instead of reaching a genuine, organic conclusion.

Trachtenberg recently shared with Variety that The Avengers influenced the approach to Badlands, hinting at exciting possibilities for interconnected stories. While I’m also eager to see how that unfolds, what I enjoyed about Prey and Killer of Killers was their standalone nature – the idea that placing a Yautja in any time period would automatically create something cool, without needing a larger, connected narrative. Now, it feels like everything needs to connect, and the focus is on building a shared universe that requires viewers to watch a lot of content to follow the story.

The Predator films directed by Trachtenberg remain enjoyable and imaginative (I’d be thrilled to see a story about a Yautja battling Nazis in World War II!). However, ‘Badlands’ seems focused on appealing to a broad audience instead of embracing what makes the Predator series truly special.

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2025-11-10 19:27