PREDATOR: BADLANDS (2025)

Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Cast: Elle Fanning, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi 
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Rating: NC16 (Violence)
Released By: Walt Disney
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 6 November 2025

Synopsis: 20th Century Studios’ “Predator: Badlands,” directed by Dan Trachtenberg (“Prey”), opens exclusively in theaters November 7, 2025. The newest entry in the “Predator” franchise is set in the future on a remote planet, where a young Predator (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), outcast from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Elle Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary. 

Movie Review:

After decades of blood-soaked hunts and grim-faced soldiers facing certain doom, Predators: Badlands finally dares to do something different — and for a franchise that has often taken itself far too seriously, that’s saying something.

Gone are the stoic jungle ambushes and the existential brooding about man versus monster. In their place comes something almost bizarre, yet surprisingly fun: a buddy adventure between a down-on-his-luck Predator and a legless synthetic companion wandering across a dangerous planet.

Directed with gleeful irreverence by Dan Trachtenberg — who helmed 2022’s Prey and 2025’s Predator: Killer of Killers (both well received on Disney+) — Badlands feels almost like a parody at first glance. The Predator — traditionally a symbol of lethal precision and intergalactic menace — is reimagined here as a hapless warrior who can’t quite live up to his species’ fearsome reputation.

New Zealand actor Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, wearing a full Yautja body suit with his face replaced via performance-capture CGI, plays Dek, a Predator who fumbles, sulks, and even emotes — yes, technology has finally caught up to the point where you can see these expressions and not think they’re clumsily cobbled together by movie magic. It’s equal parts ridiculous and brilliant, giving the iconic creature a layer of unexpected comic charm.

His unlikely companion, a damaged synthetic intelligence (the ever-luminous Elle Fanning) housed in a mobile half-body, provides the perfect foil. Where the Predator grunts and gestures, the synthetic babbles incessantly, dispensing advice, sarcasm, and occasional moral lessons about survival and failure. Together, they stumble into a quest met with one peril after another. It’s a mix of absurdity and high-octane action that somehow works — or at least keeps you grinning through the mayhem.

For longtime fans of the series, this tonal shift may feel like heresy. Gone is the self-serious dread of Predator (1987). Badlands instead embraces a cartoonish sensibility, more space-western than horror thriller. Yet beneath the goofiness, it retains a genuine affection for the franchise’s lore. The designs of the Predator weapons, ships, and armour are lovingly detailed; the cinematography, awash in ochres and crimson, makes the titular badlands feel vast and strangely beautiful.

The action, too, remains top-tier. Several exhilarating set pieces justify seeing the film on the biggest screen possible. In IMAX, the film’s scale and spectacle are fully realised, with creature design and practical effects blending seamlessly with digital wizardry. It’s loud, chaotic, and often hilarious — but always entertaining.

Perhaps most refreshing is that Predators: Badlands doesn’t pretend to be profound. It knows it’s a popcorn flick and revels in that fact. The film zips along at a brisk pace, never bogged down by exposition or mythology dumps, instead letting its odd-couple dynamic carry the weight. By the time the credits roll, you may find yourself oddly fond of its bumbling antiheroes.

Is it silly? Absolutely. But it’s also the most fun this franchise has had in years — a reminder that even the fiercest hunter in the galaxy can occasionally afford to laugh at himself. And judging by the mid-credits tease, Badlands might just be the strange new direction this long-running series needed.

Movie Rating:

(Predators: Badlands may not redefine the franchise, but its offbeat humour and dazzling action make it the most fun the series has had in years)

Review by John Li