If The Mandalorian & Grogu movie trailer made you sigh in disappointment, Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator: Badlands might just be the film that gives you what that galaxy far, far away can’t. This is the Mandalorian movie we all deserve, a rollicking sci-fi action adventure that doubles as a character-driven epic about a creature trying to unlearn everything that defines him. It is big, sincere, and filled with heart, yet never forgets that this is still a Predator movie, where blood, brawn, and brute survival rule the day.
Trachtenberg’s affection for the Predator species runs deep. He loves these extraterrestrial trophy hunters more than most people love their own children, but what makes his take so special is that he also sees how ridiculous they are. No disrespect to the many warrior cultures that may have inspired the Yautja, but there’s something beautifully absurd about a species that mastered intergalactic travel yet still insists on proving itself through combat and bloodshed. Trachtenberg embraces that contradiction, celebrating their primal stupidity while using it as a mirror to our own flawed notions of power and pride.
His previous films, Prey and Killer of Killers, redefined what a Predator movie could be, giving the creature purpose as a mythic presence rather than just a monster. Badlands takes that evolution a step further, centering the story on a cast-out Predator who learns compassion and purpose through his bond with an android voiced with soulful melancholy by Elle Fanning. Together, they journey across a wasteland of unkillable beasts, broken machines, and lost civilizations in search of meaning beyond the hunt. It is a samurai tale disguised as a space opera, and it is exhilarating to watch unfold.
For a $120 million dollar blockbuster, Badlands looks astonishingly expensive in all the right ways. Every frame is bursting with scale, color, and texture. Trachtenberg’s reverence for video games shines through in his use of wide landscapes and tactile environments, evoking everything from Shadow of the Colossus to God of War. The choreography is tight and propulsive, the editing keeps the momentum alive, and the score by Sarah Schachner, mixing tribal Yautja chanting with sleek synth layers, gives the film a pulse that never quits.
Elle Fanning is wonderful, balancing dry humor and quiet empathy that ground the chaos. Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi is a standout too, matching the film’s physical intensity with a surprising emotional core. There’s plenty of humor here, often unforced and refreshingly natural, and even when the visuals tread familiar ground, Trachtenberg’s conviction carries it all.
Not every moment lands perfectly, and some of the emotional beats feel too streamlined for their own good, but when the film hits its stride, it soars. What begins as a creature feature becomes something richer and more mythic, a story about rediscovering purpose in a world that worships violence. Trachtenberg understands that the Predator mythology is not just about killing. It is about what remains when killing stops.
Every movie should be about Elle Fanning befriending an emotionally reluctant Yautja. Predator: Badlands proves that even the deadliest hunter in the galaxy can still have a soul worth saving. It is the most thrilling, heartfelt blockbuster of the year, and yes, I’m taking this as a win.
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