Predator: Badlands

I had such high hopes for this movie after Dan Trachtenberg drag the Predator franchise out of the gutter and restored it to its former glory with Prey. Well if Pray was Star Wars, Badlands is Episode II: Attack of the Clones. They tried to inject a lot of humour into this movie which just didn't work for me, and I didn't feel it should have had a place in this movie. I found some of it just ridiculous. The story is actually very good and could have been epic in the same way Prey was. Prey is an incredible movie in so many ways and I was expecting Badlands to be the same, sadly, for me it wasn't. There are good elements in this film such as gaining some insight into the Predators home world and culture. I also though Elle Fanning was fantastic in this movie. If Badlands had taken itself more seriously I would have liked it a whole lot more. I don't actually think the fault lays with Dan Trachtenberg This is a 12A in the UK and I'm pretty sure Disney were trying to make it appeal to children. So once again Disney take something wonderful and completely destroy it. I'd love to see Dan Trachtenberg original script and not the Disneyfied version.

So after the Disneyfication of Star Wars and Alien, we finally get around to the abject ruination of the beloved Predator series. True, Shane Black came mighty close with The Predator back in 2018 and best not mention Alien v. Predator: Requiem at all but, in the excellent wake of Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers, hopes were extremely high for whatever Dan Trachtenberg would come up with next.

And then this. Predator meets the Mickey Mouse club or Predator and Stitch. Whatever, you get the picture. What we have been dished up here is the very furthest thing we could possibly have been given from the Predator we know and love.

I won't go into the depressing details of what we actually have to endure for the sake of the poor suckers who are going to spend their hard earned sheckles seeing this mess but I just need to say that Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi give it their best... and that's about it. Too much CGI, not enough horror and absolutely no tension.

This is gonna take a lot of coming back from....

Whose idea was it to turn Predator into a beat-for-beat Disney-style adventure film? This is Predator in name only. There is virtually none of the horror, tension, or atmosphere from the original. It feels like a cardboard cutout, generic kids movie. It may as well have been a Disney Channel original.

I could not believe they included every stereotype: the quirky, annoying sidekick who asks endless questions while traveling, the cutesy creature the audience is supposed to adore, the forced found-family dynamic, and the overtly evil villains with shallow motivations. It's seriously reminded me of like this straight to dvd kids movies my parents bought for me when I was a kid. Unbelievable.

It's finally here, a Predator movie that doesn't take itself too seriously, yet remains incredibly well-made and thoroughly entertaining, Dan Trachtenberg, who already delivered the most serious and still the best Predator film to date with Prey, is clearly having a blast with Predator: Badlands, from the very first scene, the movie hooks you with one of the most exciting and promising intros in the franchise.

This is the closest we've ever gotten to seeing the Predator as an actual character, complete with personality, language, and depth, and it works remarkably well, adding to that, Elle Fanning is a great addition to the film, and the little creature named Bud also brings unexpected charm to the film.

Besides being one of the most excitingly entertaining films of the year, Predator: Badlands, in my opinion, the most wholesome buddy cop movie i've seen in a while, the beautifully shot, vast, and dark Predator world gives off Dune vibes for me, while the introduction of fascinating new creatures evokes a touch of Avatar, i genuinely adore the world building they've did in the film, it's visually stunning.

The action and fight sequences are exciting, and the Predator is as badass as ever, while the pacing slows down in the second half, overall, Predator: Badlands is pure fun, exciting, and wildly entertaining, i wouldn't mind another installment, as long as Dan Trachtenberg returns to direct it, because honestly, the best Predator movies are the last three, all under his direction.

The recent films have completely lost the suffocating horror and nerve-wracking tension that defined the first two entries. It feels like the writers no longer understand the true essence of the Yautja. In the original film, it wasn't just a mindless killer - it was a calculating hunter. Remember how it used its toxic dart to paralyze its prey before firing the plasma caster? Its weapon wasn't just for destruction; it could adjust its power and precision. That level of detail made the Yautja terrifying - a cold, silent, methodical predator who hunted one victim at a time, unseen, and only revealed itself when absolutely necessary or when its cloaking device was damaged.

Sadly, that cold-blooded patience and ritualistic style of hunting are gone in the newer installments. The creature feels more like a generic monster than the disciplined hunter that once embodied fear and intelligence. I truly hope Jim and John Thomas return to write, and that John McTiernan steps back into the director's chair. Only they can restore the primal fear, intensity, and cinematic tension that made Predator legendary.