Predator: Badlands Review — Dan Trachtenberg Reinvents the Hunt Again

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 out of 5 stars)

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg

Written by Patrick Aison

Starring Elle Fanning, Dimetrius Schuster-Koloamatangi

Release Date: November 7, 2025

A New Kind of Predator Story

For a PG-13 Predator movie, Predator: Badlands goes pretty hard. The film centers on Dek (Dimetrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a Yautja runt who defies his brutal clan to prove he’s just as fierce as any hunter. When his father orders his death and his brother sacrifices himself to help Dek escape, Dek flees to one of the most dangerous planets in the galaxy — Genna, a world where even the grass can kill you.

Here, Dek sets out to capture a beast so fearsome that even his father fears it. If he succeeds, he’ll avenge his brother and reclaim his honor. But things get complicated fast — the planet itself seems to hate him, his weapons are damaged, and his only guide is a cynical, half-destroyed synthetic human named Thia (Elle Fanning).