Predator: Badlands
7.286%94%7.8
In the future, on a remote planet, Dek, a young predator recently outcast from his native clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia. Together, they soon embark on a treacherous and extremely dangerous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.
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- michael.b562November 10, 2025Entertaining, not boring at all
- Liam1d agoI was hungover when I watched this which may have affected my enjoyment of it. That is to say, I didn't. There is a lot of Predatian language (yes I made that word up) early on in the movie and it got on my nerves. Also I had injured my leg the night before doing drunk karaoke, which didn't help my mood. Maybe I wasn't in the right mindset to watch it really. Still..
- Gabezilla6d agoI was so damned entertained. Permanent add to the collection.
- Chris CNovember 12, 2025Flipping the script and making the yautja/predator the protagonist works much better than you might expect. There are plenty of fun action scenes and even some genuine humor sprinkled in. I appreciated that only the head of the main character was CGI and practical effects were used for the body and the CGI used in general was very good. But there were just too many "wow, that sure was super convenient" things going on to pull me in quite as much as I hoped. Still, Dan Trachtenberg's first entry "Prey" was superb and this one is good enough that he should keep the keys to the Predator franchise for now.
- ShaydeknightJanuary 7, 2026I went into Predator: Badlands expecting to hate it, but I had a genuinely good time watching it. This is also the first live-action Predator film that meaningfully explores Predator culture. We see how they live, how they speak, and how they see themselves. I am still conflicted about demystifying the Yautja this much, but I also recognize the necessity. The franchise has already exhausted the "Predator hunts humans, humans learn its tricks and kill it" structure. If Predator movies are going to continue, they have to evolve. Killer of Killers proved we were ready for a shift. Badlands takes a risk and mostly delivers. What surprised me most is how well the Alien and Predator universe overlap works here. Setting the story in the far future was a smart move. It creates enough distance from the classic Predator formula while letting the shared mythology breathe. The Weyland/Yutani presence and the android characters feel adjacent rather than stapled on, and it would not shock me if this film is quietly paving the way for a future crossover that actually understands both franchises instead of smashing action figures together. The universal translator plot device is an obvious cheat, but it is a sensible one. It allows the film to communicate ideas and relationships that would otherwise be impossible without endless subtitles or narrative gymnastics. As a storytelling tool, it works, and it never feels like the film is pretending it is anything other than a convenience. Yes, the movie leans hard into familiar tropes. The power of friendship is there. The feral outsider learning through companionship is there. The fact that they had to choose the "runt" Predator to focus on was to be expected. There is more than a little Predator Rambo Tarzan energy running through the whole thing. None of this is subtle, and none of it is new. But it is executed with enough sincerity and momentum that I did not care. I enjoyed it. I ate it up. What really sells the film is its willingness to let the Predator be something other than a slasher monster. This Predator is still dangerous, still violent, still formidable, but it is also driven, wounded, and striving. That shift will annoy purists who want the creature to remain unknowable and terrifying. I understand that reaction. Mystery is powerful. But stagnation is death, and Badlands refuses to stagnate. OK, it's not a perfect film, and it gets a bit cheesy, sure, but it's earnest where some will want brutality. It is emotional where some will want dread. It's confident in its choices, and it feels like it knows exactly what kind of movie it wants to be. I expected a misfire. What I got was a fun and energetic Predator movie that proves the franchise still has room to grow, provided it's willing to take risks.
- Stephen BarracloughSeptember 12, 2026Best predator movie by far
- theLillyPadJanuary 2, 2026This is EXACTLY the sort of movie you envisioned when you heard "Disney Predator Movie". It's vapid, tamed, neutered, watered down, quippy, garbage. Predator has always been about human ingenuity and mankind's ability to overcome the impossible. This movie is about the power of friendship and why hunting is bad. You read that right. One of the main themes of this movie is a condemnation on hunting. In a franchise called "Predator". I could have watched this exact tone of film from pretty much any major bland blockbuster in the past 5 years. Nothing connects it to the unique feel and atmosphere of its namesake other than the title. I mean... it's rated PG13. What more do you need to know?
- Tony BrownNovember 28, 2025Loved it boss can't wait for the next one in fact never seen a bad predator movie ever.
- Ben FearnleyJanuary 5, 2026Brilliant movie, especially since it's filmed from the predators perspective. Will rewatch again
- remiiJanuary 21, 2026Delivers in all ways possible. It’s dramatic, well paced, inventive and witty. The set pieces are extraordinary, the Shakespearean storyline gives some epic to the backstory. The message tends to overlook some script details at times but overall the franchise is given a new breath. The only downside is the same as the series Alien, Earth : by flipping systematically the core concepts (the predator becoming the prey, what if monsters had feelings or a family...) it drifts so much from the original material that it could be any franchise. Replace it by any other franchise and it would still work. It's actually unsettling and brilliant at the same time : generic and yet exhilerating.
- Kevin WardNovember 9, 2025While my head says there’s reasons to maybe not rate this so highly, I just can’t because it was just so damn much fun. One of my favorite trips to the cinema this year. Pretty amazing how this franchise was essentially dead to me about 7 years ago, and then Dan Trachtenberg comes along and delivers 3 very different, very well-realized films that has me absolutely salivating over what might come next. My kids loved it, and even my wife who is very much not into the Predator franchise was pleasantly surprised by this. The film follows a runt yautja, virtually stripped of all the typical powers we’re accustomed to the yautja possessing. (Cloaking device, plasmacaster, and smart disc). Outcast by his father, he sets off to prove his worth by slaying the beast his father feared most, the Kalisk. When he encounters an immobilized Wayland Yutani android, Thia (Elle Fanning), on this treacherous planet, she convinces him to utilize her knowledge and skills to help him complete his quest and maybe discover a new definition of family along the way. Admittedly, it sounds super cheesy. It’s literally a runt being raised in a toxic, alpha-male environment—gets discarded by his biological family—adopts a found family—and learns that it can be good to better to work together—or perhaps even depend on one another. I can’t explain it, but I was completely surprised by how much it worked. Would I prefer a rated R version? Of course, but I think making a bunch of androids the Predator-fodder was a good choice. You can still do horrible things to humanoid without showing a single drop of blood. Elle Fanning was terrific and the film has a decent sense of humor as well. And of course, I love a Long Cold Open I have been slacking on getting my youngest son, into the Predator franchise. This was actually his first. We may have a Predator franchise rewatch in the near future.
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Predator: Badlands was released on November 5, 2025.
Predator: Badlands was directed by Dan Trachtenberg.
Predator: Badlands has a runtime of 1h 47m.
Predator: Badlands was produced by John Davis, Brent O'Connor, Marc Toberoff, Dan Trachtenberg, Ben Rosenblatt.
In the future, on a remote planet, Dek, a young predator recently outcast from his native clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia. Together, they soon embark on a treacherous and extremely dangerous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.
The key characters in Predator: Badlands are Thia / Tessa (Elle Fanning), Dek / Father (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), Bud (Ravi Narayan).
Predator: Badlands is rated PG-13.
Predator: Badlands is a Science Fiction, Action, Adventure film.
Predator: Badlands has an audience rating of 9.4 out of 10.
Predator: Badlands had a budget of $105M.
Predator: Badlands has made $184.5M at the box office.