Writer/director Dan Trachtenberg is on fire. First there was his thrilling character-focused Predator film Prey (2022), followed by this summer’s animated entry (and equally awesome) Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) and now third Predator: Badlands, with which Trachtenberg flips the script. Instead of a human protagonist, we journey with Dek, the runt of his Yautja clan; and it’s going to take more than a basic kill for him to prove his salt and earn his cloaking device. So the young lad is off to “the Death Planet” Genna to hunt the Kalisk, a notoriously unwon trophy. For the first time, we’re focused and privy to a vulnerable Yautja, in fact Dek’s face is, at least at first, disturbingly maskless for the most part (unlike other Predator films) and without the usual kit and species specific advantages (e.g. the iconic shoulder cannon, plasmacaster, invisibility) being that he’s not yet an accepted clan member. It’s an underdog story, even the grass is razor sharp on Genna. And so the lone wolf reluctantly teams up with useful “tool” Thia (Elle Fanning, excellent as usual), the top half of a Weyland-Yutani synth who’s missing her legs, giving us an Empire Strikes Back (1980) impression with her strapped to Dek’s back à la C-3PO and Chewbacca escaping Cloud City. Now I’ve heard the complaints. Some critics moan that the film deviates from the usual menacing nature and what the apex Predator villain and franchise as a whole represents (to them at least), and that it holds the primal gore in favour of a PG-13 rating. Disagree. Yes, there’s a little Ewok kind-of-thing tagging along and though it’s the weakest element, it’s not Jar Jar Binks level. No human blood is spilled, helping to eliminate the R-rating some desire, yet in its place is an abundance of alien species goo, Yautja green blood or synth milky cybernetic hydraulic fluid/lubricant. Pretty genius if you ask me. The inclusion of Weyland synthetics screams that we may be treated to another Alien vs. Predator film in the near future, and, fingers-crossed, with Trachtenberg at the helm. Now, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) was a low-ish budget slasher that focused on a forgettable parade of randos in a small town, however the original AVP (2004) is criminally underrated. I know I’m not alone in wanting more from this offshoot should it get back on track, including family-friendly offerings such as Badlands. And might I add, to those of you who forget how old you were when they first saw Predator (1987), there’s a new generation of young teens, who like you years ago, don’t yet know how much they want to feel the rush of sci-fi fear and adventure that this world offers.

WATCH OR NOT: WATCH