action, Dan Trachtenberg, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, Elle Fanning, Michael Homick, movies, Predator: Badlands, reviews, sci-fi, science fiction, Stefan Grube
November 4, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg
Culture Representation: Taking place in outer space, the sci-fi action film “Predator: Badlands” features a group of outer-space alien creatures and robots.
Culture Clash: After his family is destroyed by betrayal, a Yautja creature named Dek, who comes from a long line of predators, is determined to prove himself as a worthy warrior by killing a giant apex predator called the Kalisk, with help from a talkative android.
Culture Audience: “Predator: Badlands” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the “Predator” franchise and sci-fi sequels that dare to do some things differently from their predecessors.
Up until “Predator: Badlands,” the “Predator” franchise (which began with 1987’s “Predator”) has been synonymous with sci-fi action stories that have touches of horror and have the Predator as a vicious killer from outer space who targets the heroes in the stories. With themes of found family and anti-hero empathy, “”Predator: Badlands is a departure from the usual formula of making the Predator the chief villain. This less-violent and more-comedic “Predator” movie is original in some areas and cliché in other areas.
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg and written by Patrick Aison, “Predator Badlands” has a simple concept that works well because the movie doesn’t get cluttered and bogged down by trying to cram too much into the plot. The Predator in each “Predator” movie comes from a mysterious species of creatures called the Yautja. “Predator: Badlands” is the first movie in the franchise to show the Yautja as beings with family bonds that are similar to what humans would have, for better or for worse.
This de-mystification of the Yautja in “Predator: Badlands” might get mixed reactions from fans. However, it’s a unique premise that should be commended for not lazily recycling the same type of story that has been other “Predator” movies. “Predator: Badlands” is also the first “Predator” movie where humans are not main characters in the story.
The fictional Yautja language is shown in subtitles in the movie. “Predator: Badlands” was filmed in Australia. Trachtenberg also directed two previous movies in the “Predator” franchise: 2022’s “Prey” and 2025’s animated “Predator: Killer of Killers.” Viewers don’t need to see any previous “Predator” movie to understand what happens in “Predator: Badlands,” which can be considered a stand-alone sequel.
In the beginning of “Predators: Badlands,” on the planet of Yautja Prime, a male Yautja creature named Dek (played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is shown fighting for respect from his older brother Kwei (played by Michael Homick, voiced by Stefan Grube), who is much taller and stronger that Dek. Kwei and Dek face off in a mock battle, where Dek is easily defeated by Kwei. They also argue over whether not either of them can fight like someone who is considered a superior warrior to both of them: their father Njohrr (played by Reuben De Jong, voiced by Schuster-Koloamatangi), the leader of the clan.
Njohrr has disdain for Dek, who is smaller than the average male Yautja and was born with an eye disability. The mark of a great warrior in the Yautja culture would be anyone who can kill a giant apex predator called the Kalisk, which resides on a “death planet” called Genna. A Yautja who can bring back the corpse of the Kalisk as a hunting trophy would make that Yautja creature the unidsputed, legendary leader of the clan.
The Kalisk is considered almost impossible to find and kill. Many hunters and warriors have tried and lost their lives in the process, which is one of the reasons why Genna (which has a lot of dense jungles) is called a “death planet.” Dek believes he can kill the Kalisk, but his brother and father are very skeptical.
Njohrr is very cruel to Dek and doesn’t think he’s worthy of being part of the clan. In the first 15 minutes of the movie, Njohrr tries to murder Dek, but Kwei sacrifices himself by pushing Dek into a locked spaceship while Njohrr attacks Kwei. Njohrr is bigger and stronger than Kwei and murders Kwei as Dek watches helplessly from the spaceship.
A devastated Dek escapes in the spaceship, which goes to Genna. Even though his father committed a heinous act of betrayal, Dek is determined to prove is is a worthy of the clan by going ahead with his goal to kill the Kalisk. Dek also wants to replace his evil father as the clan leader.
Dek is ejected in a pod in a jungle area of Genna. After some solo hiking, he encounters a human-looking robot named Thia (played by Elle Fanning), who is stuck in a vulture’s nest. Thia, who is friendly and talkative, is missing tthe lower half of her body, from the waist down. Thia explains to Dek that she was built and deployed by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation (in the “Alien” franchise) for research. Her spaceship crashed, and she says she was attacked by the Kalisk, which caused her dismemberment and why she is stuck in the vulture’s nest.
Dek helps Thia out of the net and immediately can sense that Dek is hunting for the Kalisk. Thia wants to be Dek’s travel companion. Dek is gruff and abrupt with Thia and says that he hunts alone. However, after Dek gets attacked by a poisonous flying creature that resembles Pterodactylus, Thia is able to convince Dek to take her with him because she says she knows where to get an antidote to the poison.
When Thia first meets Dek, she mentions having an identical twin android named Tessa (also played by Fanning), who was with Thia during the Kalisk attack, but the Thia and Tessa got separated during this attack. Thia says she’s looking for Tessa and “I refuse to believe she’s dead.” Thia’s sibling relationship with Tessa is supposed to be a poignant juxtaposition to Dek’s grief over losing his brother.
“Predator: Badlands” is mainly about how Thia and Dek go from being unlikely travel companions to each other’s protectors during this dangerous journey. They get another companion in a female creature that Thia names Bud (played by Rohinal Nayaran), a non-talking animal who resembles a mutant monkey with webbed feet. It’s a predictable way for “Predator: Badlands” to have a “cute” creature that doesn’t frighten impressionable young children and for the creature to be designed as the movie’s popular merchandising toy.
The visual effects for “Predator: Badlands” are stunning and believable for much of the terrain and the creatures. The movie’s fight scenes have some suspense, but they get to be repetitive and monotonous in some parts of the movie. A showdown near the end of the film is resolved in a very stereotypical way.
Thia’s bubbly personality goes against type and is the opposite of the usual emotionless robots that are in most sci-fi movies. Her non-stop yapping might be irritating to some viewers, but Fanning’s performance gives Thia enough charm that goes a long way in the story. By contrast, Tessa has an aloof personality. Schuster-Koloamatang’s performance as Dek is serviceable and gets the job done in showing the vulnerable side of this Predator.
By having Thia and Tess as creations of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, “Predator: Badlands” hints that there could be a more extensive crossover of the “Alien” and “Predator” universes. Let’s hope it’s better than the “Alien vs. Predator” movies. “Predator: Badlands” is a step in the right direction in rejuvenating the “Predator” franchise with better stories that still deliver the type of thrilling action that fans want.
20th Century Studios will release “Predator: Badlands” in U.S. cinemas on November 7, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie will be shown in U.S. cinemas on November 5, 2025.