Predator: Badlands

Tonight, I went to watch “Predator: Badlands,” which came out last month. After hearing a lot of praise for this movie, I was eager to see this. Seeing how this is the one year we got two “Predator” movies and one of them was really good, despite being released to streaming, how is this theatrically released one?

“Predator: Badlands” is the first Predator film to be rated PG-13 rather than R. That’s a surprise for the new sequel in a franchise that is about an alien species that does beating bodies and plasma cannons that regularly fill the screen with intestines. What’s more surprising is that “Predator: Badlands” is the first time a yautja (as the Predators are called) is a thinking and feeling protagonist.

Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) hasn’t just been exiled from his tribe, he’s been exiled by his father (Reuben de Jong) for his evident weakness. When Dek travels to the most dangerous planet in the galaxy to kill an indestructible beast, he’s not just doing so for pride. He’s doing it to show his father he’s good enough. Kyle Logan said in his review, “These aren’t complicated emotional stakes, but they’re far more than these movie monsters have been afforded before.”

Writer/Director Dan Trachtenberg (creative leader of the franchise and co-director of the animated anthology “Predator: Killer of Killers” earlier this year) adds to Dek’s emotional story with the introduction of Thia, played by Elle Fanning, a fast-talking and emotionally intelligent (so she can better utilize organic lifeforms) android left behind by her crew. Logan noted, “Fanning is essentially a more endearing, less annoying Donkey to Dek’s Shrek, as she’s there to teach him that friendship isn’t weakness.” This is a lesson that’s given some interesting thematic weight, as Dek initially only agrees to team up wit her because he justifies, she’s a tool to be used.

Logan said, “When Thia’s crew of other Weyland-Yutani (the corporation from the Alien franchise) androids returns for their bioproducts, the exploration of what becomes a web of exploitative relationships makes Badlands a better Alien movie than the last Alien movie we got. But more than anything, Badlands is a teen-friendly adventure movie in the vein of the original Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean trilogies.” This is filled with amazing combos of practical and digital effects, exciting action, beautifully shot outlooks, and equally heartfelt and humorous character subtleties. This may be unlike any other Predator movie, but it’s all the better for it.

I was tired from work, so I nodded off a few times, so I might have missed some of the first action and a little of the final action scenes. However, with the majority of it that I remember, this is a great entry in the franchise. This is told from the point of view of the Predator, which is something we have not seen before. The way Dek and Thia work off of one another is just amazing. As always, the Predator franchise never fails in the action scenes because they are all engaging. Finally, the way this film ends, it leaves you feeling like they are definitely going to work on a sequel. See this in the theaters if you haven’t because I don’t think it will be playing that must longer. You can’t miss the opportunity of seeing this film in the theater and getting the experience of it.

Thank you for joining in on this review tonight. Tomorrow I will be looking at another below average comedy in “Disney Month 2025.”