TAGGED AS: Action, movies, Sci-Fi
The ninth feature film in the Predator franchise (including crossovers) opens this Friday, and the first reviews of the sequel are primarily positive. Once again directed and co-written by Prey helmer Dan Trachtenberg, Predator: Badlands takes the property in a new direction, as it teams up one of the titular aliens (played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) with an android (Elle Fanning) for an action-packed coming-of-age story. The movie is being called one of the best in the series, with great performances, stunning spectacle, and more heart than you’d expect.
Here’s what critics are saying about Predator: Badlands:
This is an incredibly rousing crowd-pleaser and a rollicking good time in the theater.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
This is the kind of blockbuster we don’t get anymore: tight, tactile, rough-edged, and not constantly winking at the audience with a checklist of references or tension-alleviating jokes. It believes in its own world and invites us to do the same.
— Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
Bold, bizarre, and unexpectedly moving, it’s the kind of risk-taking sci-fi we don’t see enough of nowadays.
— Linda Marric, HeyUGuys
It’s one of the most thrilling sci-fi adventures of the year.
— Andrew J. Salazar, Discussing Film
It’s one of the most entertaining films of the year.
— Kelechi Ehenulo, Movie Maker
It is sure to be the coolest film of the year.
— Daniel Baptista, The Movie Podcast
It’s the strongest film with “Predator” in the title since the 1987 original.
— Peter Debruge, Variety
It’s the series’ second-best installment and a rousing start to what appears to be a grand new franchise future.
— Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
Where Prey stripped the series down to its primal roots, Badlands expands it outward, introducing mythic themes of family, exile, and survival with an almost spiritual tone.
— Roberto Tyler Ortiz, Loud and Clear Reviews
For being a Predator movie, Badlands leans heavily into the science fiction of the [Weyland] corporation instead of the horror/action side of Predator and it did make this feel new and fresh in a way.
— Rachel Leishman, The Mary Sue
A fun, ambitious entry, but it’s hard not to feel that the thrill of the hunt may finally be wearing thin.
— Giovanni Lago, Next Best Picture
It taps into the pulsing artery of what makes movies like this so fundamentally compelling: a culture of necessity.
— Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
This series [is] better than it ever has been.
— Ross Bonaime, Collider
Predator: Badlands takes everything audiences love about the franchise and fuses it to a story with proper pathos.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
Some viewers might miss the macho brutality of Predators past, but Dek’s adventures in self-confidence and chosen family may well satisfy plenty of others.
— Richard Lawson, The Hollywood Reporter
It shows what happens when the Predator in question must… be humanized and made sympathetic and vulnerable and kinda nice? What happens is that it ceases to be the Predator.
— Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
Some Predator fans might be disappointed at the humor worked into their precious franchise in conjunction with the PG-13 rating.
— Jeffrey Lyles, Lyles’ Movie Files
Longtime Predator fans might miss the stripped-down tension of the earlier films.
— Linda Marric, HeyUGuys
Trachtenberg’s world-building here is astonishing.
— Roberto Tyler Ortiz, Loud and Clear Reviews
The world-building is next level.
— Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
It brilliantly expands the mythos whilst delivering high-caliber goods in the process.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
This entry very much seems like it could be the start of a full-on spin-off to the series.
— Jeffrey Lyles, Lyles’ Movie Files
The inevitable steering towards a more franchise-heavy focus is all but worrisome.
— Giovanni Lago, Next Best Picture
Putting Predator in Trachtenberg’s [hands] was one of the smartest moves this franchise has ever made.
— Ross Bonaime, Collider
Trachtenberg, now three for three in the Predator franchise, has emerged as something of a modern-day James Cameron, only leaner, less cringy, and frankly, more consistent.
— Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
I firmly believe the Predator franchise is in safe hands with Dan Trachtenberg.
— Roberto Tyler Ortiz, Loud and Clear Reviews
The allure of his vision for the franchise is beginning to fade.
— Giovanni Lago, Next Best Picture
Trachtenberg and writer Patrick Aison gift us with a smart story that feels revelatory.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
The script from Patrick Aison and Brian Duffield is lean, its pacing sharp as a Yautja edge.
— Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
Badlands is clever in how it adds depth to what has mostly been a one-dimensional character by expanding the origins and lore of this alien race.
— Ross Bonaime, Collider
One of the smartest decisions of the script is deliberately not making Thia an audience surrogate.
— Andrew J. Salazar, Discussing Film
Trachtenberg’s story (written by Patrick Aison and Brian Duffield) is a common machine with slightly unique bells and whistles.
— Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
The plot is not complex, but it is convoluted.
— Joonatan Itkonen, Toisto.net
Smart, seamless, and surprisingly elegant; the kind of crossover that makes you wish this shared universe had been the blueprint from both sides all along.
— Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
Trachtenberg makes Predator: Badlands the closest thing to an actually good Alien vs. Predator movie in years, and demonstrates that it’s time for these two brands to team up more frequently.
— Ross Bonaime, Collider
Whether or not Predator: Badlands is intent on setting up another round of Alien vs. Predator affairs, Trachtenberg’s intertwining of the two classic cine-series further enhances the scope and scale of his latest.
— Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
While obviously, the inclusion of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation from the Alien franchise is exciting for the potential of another Alien vs. Predator crossover, Dan Trachtenberg isn’t here to smash toys together for his own self-gratification.
— Andrew J. Salazar, Discussing Film
Every fight feels tactile, you can practically feel the mud splatter. The choreography carries the same polish you’d see in a top-tier Hollywood stunt reel.
— Anthony Whyte, The Movie Blog
The action scenes are edited cleanly, and the camera never loses sight of geography. When Dek fights, you feel every movement, and it pumps you with adrenaline.
— Roberto Tyler Ortiz, Loud and Clear Reviews
The action — especially the physical stuff — is visceral and inventive, blending primal brutality with kinetic grace. It’s easily some of the best physical choreography in the entire series.
— Linda Marric, HeyUGuys
The action in Badlands is crisp, brutal, and shot with real clarity, as is its stash of high-tech weaponry and various beasts to slay, but what makes these elements stand out is how seamlessly they all serve the story.
— Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
Predator Badlands has a fantastic final act that delivers all of the over-the-top, intense action sequences franchise fans would expect with a richer story focus.
— Jeffrey Lyles, Lyles’ Movie Files
Trachtenberg once again excels in action sequences, and these new creatures allow for some wild fights that are a blast to watch.
— Ross Bonaime, Collider
Action sequences are exciting, appearing at a quick clip. Fight choreography and stunt work are capably constructed and executed.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
The film is so violent, it’s kind of a miracle that it got by with a PG-13.
— Peter Debruge, Variety
The special effects are fantastic.
— Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
Studio Gillis, which provided the new creature suit, and the VFX wizards at Wētā deserve immense praise.
— Andrew J. Salazar, Discussing Film
Trachtenberg’s opening set piece is marred by the dull CGI murkiness that’s usually the province of Netflix.
— Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
Trachtenberg’s growing ambition with scale occasionally works against him, however, as some CGI-heavy sequences become visually chaotic and challenging to follow.
— Giovanni Lago, Next Best Picture
Often breathtaking to look at… Visually, the film is a knockwork.
— Roberto Tyler Ortiz, Loud and Clear Reviews
Visually, Badlands is breathtaking. Cinematographer Jeff Cutter captures alien deserts and neon storms with the grandeur of a fever dream.
— Linda Marric, HeyUGuys
This might be the most visually stunning and physically grounded Predator movie to date.
— Anthony Whyte, The Movie Blog
Establishing shots of the settings evoke a beguiling emotional pull all their own. Cinematographer Jeff Cutter and the VFX teams capture them with a painterly eye.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
The murky and underlit cinematography doesn’t help one bit. At times, it’s almost impossible to tell what’s happening on screen.
— Joonatan Itkonen, Toisto.net
Elle Fanning steals the movie in a dual performance as the androids Thia and Tessa.
— Roberto Tyler Ortiz, Loud and Clear Reviews
Fanning is perfection incarnate. She’s perhaps the most authentic-reading android in the series – all at once effervescent, vibrant, and radiant.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
Fanning is a sprightly breath of fresh air.
— Richard Lawson, The Hollywood Reporter
Her turns… verify, as did Ian Holm and Michael Fassbender before her, that there are few sci-fi roles as rewarding as a Weyland-Yutani ‘bot.
— Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
Every time she’s on screen, all the problems melt away. If there ever was a successor to Sigourney Weaver in this franchise, let it be Elle Fanning.
— Joonatan Itkonen, Toisto.net
Predator: Badlands is just about kept from flatlining by Elle Fanning’s effortless charm.
— Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
2025 is the year Fanning has proven she can pretty much do anything.
— Ross Bonaime, Collider
Schuster-Koloamatangi and Fanning’s chemistry makes the dynamic between Dek and Thia especially engaging.
— Giovanni Lago, Next Best Picture
What sells [the story] is the odd-couple chemistry between Fanning and Schuster-Koloamatangi.
— Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
In Fanning and Schuster-Koloamatangi’s excellent performances (particularly his emotional conveyance through a Yautja’s eyes), their on-screen chemistry empathetically drives the film.
— Kelechi Ehenulo, Movie Maker
So much of what makes Badlands work as well as it does is down to these two performances.
— Ross Bonaime, Collider
If there’s a real weak spot, it’s in how thinly written the human (or humanoid) characters are outside of Dek and Thia.
— Roberto Tyler Ortiz, Loud and Clear Reviews
If there’s a drawback, it’s that the movie moves so fast you barely have time to sit with the emotional weight it’s building.
— Anthony Whyte, The Movie Blog
While it’s only a slight complaint, and an issue that only crops up here and there, one of the most awkward sides of Badlands comes in the way it infuses more heart into a Predator story.
— Ross Bonaime, Collider
Its ambition occasionally trips it up — a few tonal shifts feel a bit out of sync with the rest of the story.
— Linda Marric, HeyUGuys
The franchise still has plenty of stories and fight within it. Roll on the next hunt.
— Kelechi Ehenulo, Movie Maker
Trachtenberg did another incredibly job with this franchise and I do hope we get to see more of how he balances the epic fight sequences with the lore of the Yautja moving forward.
— Rachel Leishman, The Mary Sue
Predator: Badlands opens in theaters on November 7, 2025.
