FILM REVIEW: Predator Badlands (2025)

Predator: Badlands - New Release Review

Director: Dan Trachtenberg

Starring: Elle Fanning, Dimitirius Schuster-Koloamatangi, Reuben de Jong, Cameron Brown, Rohinal Nayaran

Written by: Patrick Alison, Dan Trachtenberg

Produced by: John Davis, Brent O'Connor, Ben Rosenblatt, Marc Toberoff

Cinematography by: Jeff Cutter

Original Score by: Sarah Schachner, Benjamin Wallfisch

Synopsis:

A young outcast from his clan finds an unlikely ally on his journey in search of the ultimate adversary.

Thoughts:

Dan Trachtenberg has proven with 'Prey' and 'Predator: Killer of Killers' that he is the man to take the franchise into the future and he doubles down with 'Predator: Badlands' in the best possible way. Epic. Exhilirating. An exciting new journey in Yautja lore.

A young Yautja named Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is looked down upon by his Father and Chieftain of his clan. So much so that he sees him as the weak link and such a weakness must be culled. Father orders Dek's older brother Kwei to do the business but he saves Dek instead and falls fatally by his Father's sword. Dek escapes from Yautja Prime to Genna, the most dangerous planet in the galaxy, in search of the creature known as the Kalisk. An unbeatable foe who has slayed many a Yautja hunter before. Dek has vowed to bring the Kalisk trophy back to his Father and then perhaps even seek revenge.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

But Dek won't be able to survive this hostile planet on his own and soon after his crash landing he meets Weyland-Yutani synthetic Thia (Elle Fanning) who somehow persuades him to drag her along on his journey to find and kill the Kalisk. And the next 80 minutes or so is a high octane, sci-fi action buddy adventure movie with just the right balance of humour, heart and pulsating fight sequences. It was a joy to watch.

Make no mistake about it, Trachtenberg goes big here. He's not messing about. It's a risk because half of the internet hated the design of Dek and were finding anything to complain about from the various trailers that were released. I'm sure those haters will still be loud and proud but I'd imagine that a large amount of them might also eat some of their words too. I'll admit I wasn't fully sold on Dek either after the first trailer but once, like me, you accept that this predator is not the same type of predator as the one in the original films then it becomes so much more entertaining. Trachtenberg is building something here. He's expanding the lore of the creature and laying the groundwork for the future of the franchise.

Elle Fanning actually plays two roles in the film, Thia and Tessa, two almost identical synthetics who have been programmed with human feelings and who are more or less sisters. And she is fantastic in both roles. Thia, who we meet first and who is the one who joins Dek on his journey, is very happy go lucky and whimsical in her behaviour whereas when we meet Tessa, we realise that she is very different. Very company orientated and non nonsense. Fanning does a great job and differentiating both characters so well.

LISTEN TO THE DISSECTION PODCAST

The big standout from the the film is the action scenes, of which there are many. It kicks off a little bit like a modern day 'Star Wars' film. A deserted beach with sprawling mountains in the background. It looks ancient. Skeletons of dead animals buried in the sand. A speeder bike with a hooded figure. And then an electric close combat fight scene to set up the character of Dek and his brother. Space travel. And then another planet. Wild this time with insanely dangerous creatures, and even more worrying, extremely dangerous vegetation. There's giant spikey plants that explode when you get close to them. There's blades of grass that are actually blades, like literally. And there's trees that come alive and try to comsume you. It's pretty much non stop. There's even an adorable sidekick with bulbous eyes and a cute demeanour who copies everything Dek does.

And then we get deeper into the story once Tessa arrives on the scene and the connective tissue to the Weyland-Yutani corporation begins to rear its ugly head. But this film doesn't just feel like a bridge to yet another 'Alien vs Predator', which is 100% happening soon, it's so much more than that. There's actually a lot of emotional stuff in the film too and it highlights some great themes about loyalty and being part of a family.

The writing is fairly basic storytelling and a classic structure. Visually it's incredible on a big screen and although some of the CGI of the Yautja's facial expressions are a bit distracting, particularly the eye movements, it doesn't hurt the film at all. And the visuals are all backed up by an incredible heart pounding score from the returning Sarah Schachner and genre favourite and Frightie Award nominee Benjamin Wallfisch. It's epic in scale and really has that old school Steven Spielberg adventurous vibe to it. There's even a fair amount of lens flare in there to give it that nostalgic look.

'Predator: Badlands' is like a live action Saturday morning cartoon. You know the ones you used to sit right in front of the television watching with a huge grin on your face? This will certainly appeal to a mass audience rather than fans of just the original but I'm very excited to see what's next for the Yautja...and whatever other creatures it comes into contact next.

Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

-Gavin Logan

'Predator: Badlands' is in Irish/UK cinemas on November 7th