Ronit J

Predator: Badlands (2025) Synopsis:

First hunt. Last chance.

Cast out from his clan, a young Predator finds an unlikely ally in a damaged android and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.

Predator: Badlands (2025) Review:

If there’s one thing that Prey (2022) and Killer of Killers (2025) has taught me, it’s that I wholeheartedly enjoy whatever Dan Trachtenberg is doing with the Predator franchise. Instead of overcomplicating stuff to seem ‘smart’, Trachtenberg has identified the core basics of what made the original film so epic. Sticking to those principles, he’s made 3 very enjoyable films that are singular in their treatment and storytelling, but that is one very dedicated singular right there.

Prey is a very classic approach to Predator, albeit with a Native American touch. Killer of Killers tells 3 self-contained stories, each exploring a unique visual tone and combat style. But in their most simplest, they’re both action-packed films featuring the Yautja. Predator: Badlands, for a change, puts a Yautja in the protagonist’s seat. Demystifying some of the Yautja lore, we get a very humanised MC in the form of Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), the runt of his clan.

Dek’s father, Njhorr (Reuben de Jong) orders his brother, Kwei (Mike Homik) to kill him. However, acknowledging the time that Dek saved Kwei, Kwei decides to spare him. He goes so far as to sacrifice himself just so Dek gets a chance to do his own hunt and earn his cloak in the Yautja clan. Which is what brings him to Genna, the inhabitable planet with the legendary monster, the Kalisk.

But, on his journey, Dek encounters Thia (Elle Fanning), a damaged android belonging to the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. They decide to work together, Thia to be able to unite with her ‘sister’, Tessa (also played by Elle Fanning), and Dek to hunt and kill the Kalisk.

Scavenger’s Reign: Predator Edition

Scavenger’s Reign, if you remember, is one of the most unique explorations of alien flora and fauna to build a vibrant, scary world. I can’t help but imagine Predator: Badlands taking at least some inspiration from there, because the planet of Genna is quite unique.

Yes, previous Alien and Predator films did explore alien lifeforms, but the way Badlands integrates the flora and fauna into its plot has to be a nod to Scavenger’s Reign, no? Either way, it’s one of the many things that I loved about this film. The alien creatures, the life-threatening plants, and two separate groups (WYC & Dek) searching for the same alpha for their own selfish cause.

While the film remains a Predator film at its core, the twist of making the Yautja the MC works brilliantly, given the main conflict and the themes of found family that Badlands explores. Like Dek, even Thia is considered weak because she possesses empathy. Dek is practically exiled from his clan. He spends the large part of the film trying to find and kill the Kalisk just to be worthy of his clan. And yet, it’s only when he rejects his clan’s ways, finds his own clan with Thia and Bud (the monkey-like creature), and openly challenges his father, Njhorr, is when Dek finally becomes a real Yautja.

Frankly, the film is pretty singular and simple. But that’s the charm of it. You don’t need to sit down to identify every single easter egg and nod to the larger Alien-Predator franchise. You’ll enjoy this sci-fi action film regardless. And, it tells one simple, coherent story with believable character motivations, and an ending that’s perfect for what the film started out as.

Found Family, Flawed Communities, & the need for Validation

Just because the film is simple, doesn’t mean it has nothing to say. It’s just that the themes Badlands explores are simple and straightforward.

Dek is the runt of his clan. As expected of a predatory species like the Yautja, they’d want to cull their weak to remain on top of their extraterrestrial food chain. Even with space travel technology within their grasp, the Yautja remain backward and barbaric in their culture. The more you think about it, doesn’t that form the perfect metaphor for right wing extremism? You want to enjoy all the benefits of development, but refuse to break away from your conservative beliefs derived from nature’s beastly ways. Yet, even within the inhabitable planet of Genna, Dek finds his own family and companionship with Thia and Bud. Beasts seem more empathetic than the ‘cultured’ Yautjas.

On the other hand, you have the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, a technologically advanced community that, in the name of scientific development, resorts to unethical kidnapping and experimentation on extraterrestrial life forms just to make their shareholders happy. Whether you want to use the weapons manufacturing angle or the billionaires-need-to-stop-existing angle, the WYC presents the perfectly opposite problem to the Yautja. Where the Yautja are civilised in their technology but barbaric in culture, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation is apparently civilised in their culture but barbaric with their technology. The point being that extremes in either side of the spectrum only leads to destruction. Because in both these groups, empathy remains non-existent.

Only when you find balance, only when you find empathy and community built on creation and support can individuals thrive. This—despite being a simple message—is an absolute need of the hour in today’s day and age.

Predator: Badlands (2025) Ending Explained (SPOILERS)

Dek realises that Bud is really a baby Kalisk. While the WYC under Tessa’s orders are transporting the Kalisk (Bud’s mother), Dek uses the flora and fauna, as well as Thia’s dismembered lower body to prepare for a final battle.

He infiltrates the base and begins to kill of the soldiers. Thia connects with her lower half and joins the battle. As Tessa uses a powerloader (a nod to Alien), and fights Dek. However, Dek releases the Kalisk, which attacks Tessa. In the end, Tessa is swallowed by the Kalisk, but a freezing charge detonates inside the Kalisk’s body, freezing and blowing it to smithereens.

Thia is no longer part of the WYC, having understood that the corporation means no good (kinda like Murderbot). She joins Dek in his new clan, which also consists of Bud. They return to Yautja Prime to claim Dek’s cloak. Njhorr refuses, attacking Dek. But, Dek outsmarts him and kills him, claiming his cloak and revenge for Kwei. He also refuses his clan, preferring to stay with his found family.

However, his entire clan rises against him. In the distance, a larger Yautja ship approaches rapidly. When Thia asks who that is, Dek claims that it is his ‘mother’.

A sequel is sure to follow, and that will probably feature more of the Yautja lore as well as a matriarch Yautja, for a change.

Is this a cliffhanger? Yes, but one that comes after all plot points are resolved and the ending is complete. So, that’s a good example, in my opinion.

Is Predator: Badlands (2025) worth watching?

Yes. It’s not the most unique or creative film out there. But it delivers what it promises: a good time.

And the themes are actually relevant to our times, which is an added bonus.

In Conclusion:

Predator: Badlands (2025) by Dan Trachtenberg is a simple yet powerful sci-fi action film. Not only does it humanise the Yautja, but also tells a story that’s very relevant to today’s divisive political climate.

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