Predator: Badlands Review: I Wasn’t Expecting The First Predator Movie Without Humans To Be The Most Heartfelt Of The Clan (On Top Of Awesome Action Sci-Fi, Too)

Since the first Yautja landed on big screens back in 1987 for the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led sci-fi action film, the titular Predators have been recognized as an impressive, cool alien species obsessed with the hunt – and unmistakably the enemy to the hero. Now, not unlike many franchises before that have made turns to humanize villains (like Darth Vader, Joker and so forth), Predator: Badlands shifts the perspective and makes the extraterrestrial adversary the protagonist.

It isn’t necessarily changing the way we’ll look at the green blood splatters of Yautjas in its cinematic past; it’s simply offering a fresh story into the series. And while it’s one that may be more family-friendly, it's also just as fun in the same way that the grungy movie series has always found strength in.

The new movie from 20th Century Studios is the third Predator movie to come out in three years thanks to the wealth of ideas from director Dan Trachtenberg – who also helmed Prey and this year’s animated film, Predator: Killer of Killers. Within the trio, it has the largest scale, but there’s also a continued throughline of attention to character and storytelling within its world that doesn’t feel like the franchise hasn’t gotten too big for its britches… or its trophy room, perhaps to be more colloquially correct.

Predator: Badlands successfully makes a Yautja the hero of his own story.

Badlands starts on Yautja Prime where a young Yautja named Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is training to hunt for his first trophy off of his home planet and earn his cloak. We quickly learn, however, that his father doesn’t think he’s even fit to try since he’s the runt in the clan, and he calls for his son's execution. Dek manages to escape death by jetting off to a dangerous wasteland of a planet that’s home to a creature that’s thought of as “unkillable” among even the most formidable Yautja.

Fueled by rage and naive arrogance, Dek makes it his mission to bring home his trophy, but it’s not long before the harsh elements of the planet of Genna start to outwit him. Lucky for Dek, he comes across a helpful Weyland-Yutani (yes, from the Alien franchise) synthetic named Thia (Elle Fanning), who is eager to help him along on his mission.

Now, Dek isn’t a “good” Yautja, but he is unlike what we’ve seen from the species before. Because he’s been deprived of the main honor that defines this alien race’s identity, this flips the script on a Predator movie in a biting way. We get to be part of the hunt, but we also can understand the protagonist's desire to prove one’s self and be seen as worthy. The setup gives fans (and newcomers to the franchise) an exciting way in, because this Predator is both somehow relatable, yet always speaking in his alien language – and very much ready to pull someone’s spine out when given the chance.

Predator: Badlands carves out its own identity, from its memorable score by Prey composer Sarah Schachner alongside Killer of Killers’ Benjamin Wallfisch, and a real attention to detail as a whole. It’s never been more thrilling to see what weapons a Yautja will employ, especially when the focus is completely on him… or when all his classic weapons have been taken away from him, and he must improvise with the deadly flora and fauna of Genna.

The inclusion of Elle Fanning’s synthetic is disjointed but very much welcome.

When Thia first comes into the picture, there’s some tonal whiplash to get used to. It feels like Dek is in an epic science fiction movie, and the synthetic is way too excited to be in the wilderness of an alien planet – if not especially because she has been severed in half and separated from her legs. There are some early issues fusing the main characters into a congruent dynamic, but it’s nonetheless entertaining from the get-go to see the opposites interact. It’s not long before Dek realizes he’ll actually need Thia if he wants to slay his trophy, and ends up strapping what’s left of her body to his back to make use of her as a “tool”.

From there, we learn there’s a deeper storyline attached to Thia being stranded on Genna, and she needs him just as much as he needs her. Thia’s addition to the storyline only strengthens the Yautja’s hero’s journey – in plot and emotion. While Dek will do anything for violence, Thia is programmed with emotions that give her empathy for all the creatures she has been sent to study.

As you can imagine, as Dek and Thia trudge through the wilds of Genna, their conflicting outlooks rub up against each other more than the rope of twigs that keep them strapped together. What comes of that brings out a rather expected dialogue between them, that can sort of come off as too cutesy for a movie like this. At the same time, there’s something sweet and to appreciate in the message about letting go of one’s toxic masculinity and asking for help rather than going at it alone (especially coming from such a historically macho franchise).

The third act picks up the pace and swings for the fences with all kinds of lively action set pieces that makes use of its characters and environment, and winks to the best of Predator (and Alien) without it feeling like it is dolling out deja vú for the audience.

Few franchise films make the best of a small-scale CGI fest like this one.

When it comes down to it, Predator: Badlands is asking us to make a complete escape from our world into a completely new planet that has unwelcoming things like razor blades of grass. We venture with an alien usually known to be the villain of Predator movies, a synthetic android and (eventually) an adorable creature dubbed Bub that steals every scene. That’s a lot of visual effects, which aren’t always flawless, but the film is nonetheless full of imaginative science fiction environments that are fun enough to explore. But yes, it can feel like you’re in the middle of a video game for much of it.

Ultimately, there’s an impressive simplicity to Predator: Badlands as a whole, as it operates with a straight-forward narratively in a runtime that is 13 minutes shy of two hours. We don’t see enough films in large scale franchise like this. While Trachtenberg’s feature may be predictable at times, and rather soft-hearted for a Predator movie, it’s myriad of strengths in the face of so many franchise curve balls proves once again that the canon is in a solid place with him as a guiding voice. I think it still might be more fun to root for the Yautja when they're the enemy, but as this movie shows, it can worthwhile to see them revel in victory for a little while, and there could be more story to tell from where this movie leaves off as well.