Predator: Badlands Review: I Wasn’t Expecting The First Predator Movie Without Humans To Be The Most Heartfelt Of The Clan (On Top Of Awesome Action Sci-Fi, Too)

Elle Fanning as Thia and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Dek back to back with each other in Predator: Badlands.

Since the first Yautja landed on big screens back in 1987 for the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led sci-fi action film, the titular Predators have been recognized as an impressive, cool alien species obsessed with the hunt – and unmistakably the enemy to the hero. Now, not unlike many franchises before that have made turns to humanize villains (like Darth Vader, Joker and so forth), Predator: Badlands shifts the perspective and makes the extraterrestrial adversary the protagonist.

Predator: Badlands (2025)

(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

Release Date: November 7, 2025
Directed By: Dan Tratchenberg
Written By: Patrick Aison and Brian Duffield
Starring: Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi
Rating: PG-13 for sequences of strong sci-fi violence
Runtime: 107 minutes