Predator: Badlands (2025)

A young Yautja named Dek undergoes his initiation rite but loses to his older brother. Their common father sentences him to death, but Kwey manages to send Dek into space to the remote planet Gemma with one last request: to find and kill a creature called Kalisk—the only beast that even the Predators cannot defeat.

Dek lands on Gemma and quickly discovers: everything in this world is designed to kill. But he won’t give up; the young Predator needs a trophy to prove to his father that he deserves to live. And an unexpected ally might help him: a synthetic girl from the “Wayland-Yuttani” corporation named Tia. There’s just one small problem: she has no legs. On the other hand, she has boundless optimism and a wealth of useful knowledge that may help them survive...

If they learn to trust each other.

An excellent adventure film with a simple, linear plot and almost no twists—but none are needed. Our guides into the world where the universes of “Predator” and “Alien” collide are unexpected heroes: a Yautja who is too young to be a flawless killing machine, and a synthetic who is too empathetic to be the perfect corporate tool. Both Dek and Tia are functional errors in their systems, elements that were never meant to exist according to their creators’ design. A weakness to be eliminated for the sake of process optimization or tradition. This shared flaw brings them together and drives them along a path at the end of which even a Predator can understand his prey, find the strength to let it go, and claim a victory of honor rather than meaningless violence.

By the way, “Predator: Planet of Death” is clearly inspired by old-school book sci-fi on almost the scale of 1960s “Star Trek.” Bizarre, though harsh, landscapes; strange flora and fauna; a constant sense of danger... We view it all from Tia’s perspective, the emotional half of the duo consisting of a warlike simple humanoid and a broken robot girl, and their shared adventure manages to evoke a mix of wonder and delight. Yes, there are many recognizable elements here, including quite overt references to related films (how could they avoid paying homage to Ripley’s camerawork skills?)—but that’s not a bad thing at all.

Moreover, the new “Predator” by director Dan Trachtenberg turns out to be 2020s science fiction shot through the prism of 1980s fantasy.

And it’s not brutal action where a super-warrior hacks apart equally tough soldiers and it’s unclear who is hunter and who is prey. No, it’s truly a fantasy about the difficult path of a barbarian hero (a Yautja) in a new land (a wild planet), where he must defeat a dragon (Kalisk) with the help of a wise sorceress (an android) and a somewhat odd creature encountered along the way. Damn, this unexpected local companion with big eyes even visually resembles something out of a naïve children’s movie!

So the film will definitely subvert certain expectations, despite its cleverly arranged PG-13 rating: all the enemies are hostile fauna, evil synthetics, and other Yautja (there is brutality, but they slice up anyone except humans: the MPAA is satisfied). The overall tone of the film is rather ironic and light (!), and the abundance of cool scenes and interesting visual ideas doesn’t hide the fact: this is an extremely straightforward sci-fi action movie made within specific studio constraints—but by talented people with a clear authorial vision. And at times, it’s very pleasing.

Because—and this is another conceptual trick—“Predator: Planet of Death” is actually closer to “Alien” than to the film with Schwarzenegger. Dek finds himself a guest not only on an inhospitable planet but also in a setting that is “alien” to him: in the story, he will have to confront a base of that very “Weyland-Yutani” (who have not yet found the xenomorph eggs on LV-426). That explains what they are doing on Gemma: simply studying everything dangerous and wild they can get their hands on in search of profit and competitive advantage (as in the opening of the excellent and unconventional series “Alien. Earth (Season 1)”). So what we have here is not “Alien” inside “Predator,” but “Predator” inside a prequel to “Alien”—just without the “perfect organism” itself. And it works beautifully.

The film is excellently staged, with plenty of action and spectacular special effects. You can see that it doesn’t rely on an absurd amount of CGI: nothing superfluous, every scene serves the movement and the plot. Many visually amusing moments are tied to the main heroine, Tia—especially at the end, when her legs finally catch up with their owner and reveal themselves from an unexpected side. Very funny fight scenes (in a movie about a grim Predator, yes).

I also liked the music: dark, chant-like motifs and an epic soundtrack to remind us of the culture from which the main character emerged—a taciturn humanoid monster with mandibles, dreadlock-like tendrils gathered in a bundle, and living yellow eyes. His speech is always subtitled, and by the end you will definitely remember how “No” sounds in the Yautja language.

An excellent piece of evening entertainment—even if not quite what the trailers and marketing suggested. A pleasant expansion of a beloved universe with the analog aesthetic of interiors padded with soft panels, glitching robots with white serum instead of blood, unfamiliar planets, a sense of danger—and a young, inexperienced Predator in the lead role who must adapt to new conditions just as Schwarzenegger did in the 1987 film. A beautiful symmetry, in my opinion.

Rating: 7.6/10. Elle Fanning is adorable and smart, and the titular hero with his inhuman yet emotional face is also very cool, especially by the finale. Good adventure sci-fi that brings two worlds together for the first time since 2007 and does so almost perfectly. We’re waiting for a sequel (if there will be one)! The shared Alien and Predator universe is currently in excellent hands.

P.S. If you liked it, check out “Prey” (2022) by the same director (a Comanche tribe girl during the era of European colonization of North America encounters an alien Predator and is forced to challenge him): it’s more serious, more brutal, and closer to the roots of the series. If you want an expansion specifically of the Alien universe, then the recent “Alien: Romulus” (2024) by Federico Álvarez shows new heroes in the gap between “Alien” and “Aliens” and brings back one of the characters from the first film. A dynamic and vivid adventure horror set in hard science fiction with realistic space, dozens of xenomorphs, facehuggers lurking in the dark, and synthetics who once again shouldn’t be trusted blindly. “I won’t lie to you about your chances… but you have my sympathies.”