In "Predator: Badlands," writer-director Dan Trachtenberg does away with the traditional cat-and-mouse structure of a Predator film, focusing instead on a buddy-cop adventure film with no human characters. While certainly an ambitious venture, this attempt at humanizing the Predator takes away from the aura of mystery that made the monster so iconic in the first place. For the first time in the history of the series, our titular Predator is given a name — Dex — and daddy issues.
In a bid to prove to his warlord father that he isn’t the runt of the litter, Dex sets off to kill the only thing his father fears — a hulking, monstrous beast called the Kalisk — or die trying. Along the way, he comes across Thia, a bisected automaton played by Elle Fanning that serves as comic relief and eventually a cute, cuddly and endlessly merchandisable sidekick named Bud.
As the first PG-13 entry to the traditionally R-rated film franchise, "Badlands" manages to carry over a fair amount of gore by having androids and alien creatures suffering the brunt of the damage. While it mostly succeeds in this venture, it then suffers from a storytelling perspective, as the usage of synths in the film was largely just to be family-friendly cannon fodder. The result is an awkward mashing of Weyland-Utani synths and "Alien" references into the relatively straightforward plot of the film as Elle Fanning takes far more of a center stage role than expected.
"Badlands" hits all the notes of a painfully generic sci-fi film but doesn’t attempt to fulfill what most people go to see a Predator film for. Following in line with most of Disney’s mainstream releases this year, "Predator: Badlands" is a story of found family and overcoming societal pressures to fit in. In all respects, it could not be a further divergence from the blood-soaked jungle of "Predator" (1987), where a squad of elite soldiers tries to survive a series of attacks from an invisible hunter that slips between the trees. If you’re in search of a Predator sequel that delivers on all cylinders, watch the underrated "Predators" (2010).
Although "Badlands" is far from the worst entry in the series, it fails on all fronts as a successor to the Predator title. The driving force of these movies stems from the human — or even alien — characters as they attempt to find a way to deal with and outsmart a seemingly insurmountable threat. Trachtenberg accomplished this to much acclaim with his 2022 film “Prey." If you removed the Predator branding from "Predator: Badlands," it would be a decent yet generic entry in the indie sci-fi scene.
Throughout the film, Trachtenberg uses his love for the Yautja, or the Predator species, to further adapt lore from the comics onto the big screen. Unfortunately, the execution leaves something to be desired, as the exploration of the Yautja in this film only serves to make the Predator mythos less intriguing. Trachtenberg’s prior film, "Predator: Killer of Killers" expanded upon the lore in an interesting way without asking the audience to sympathize with the Predators. In the end, it was this decision that ultimately spelled doom for this project from its inception.
2/5 — A generic sci-fi romp shoved into the Predator mythos.
The execution results in a film that feels as if it had been neutered through excessive use of focus groups to determine the most profitable formula for a modern sci-fi adventure film. By all markers, "Predator: Badlands" is not one of the worst films of the year, but it is certainly one of the most forgettable.
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Logan Myers, freshman majoring in journalism, is from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. He has been with The Auburn Plainsman since the fall of 2025. In his spare time, he writes short stories and novels in the horror/thriller genre and enjoys camping.
