A young Predator seeks a trophy to prove himself worthy to the clan that considered him a runt and cast him out. Heading to planet Genna, where everything is deadly he seeks to kill the unkillable, a deadly apex predator known as the Kalisk. Along the way he finds half of a Weyland Yutani synthetic who offers him assistance and another seemingly friendly creature on the planet. 

After the success of Prey (2022) and animated feature Predator: Killer of Killers 20th Century Studios have given Dan Trachtenberg permission to play with not one, but two sci-fi classics. With both The Predator and Alien sandboxes to explore Trachtenberg sets out to have a lot of fun. 

He opens with a mini exploration of the Predator way of life. Or Yautja as we now know them. Their warrior existence is similar to ancient warrior codes in human societies and it allows him to briefly explore that before introducing the Alien franchise’s most interesting characters, the synthetic. The Alien films and television series and Prometheus films are constantly exploring the humanity that may or may not exist in a human creation and the juxtaposition with the Yautja is interesting. Which is more human? 

The fit is perfect. Alien’s Wayland Yutani Corporation is obsessed with biological weapons making their appearance on a world with a perfect killing machine easy to accept, whilst their partial knowledge of the Yaujta and further interest in them seems obvious. What could possibly be more interesting to them than a planet filled with killing machines? 

The main goal of this film though, aside from those dalliances with warrior codes, alien culture and corporate greed is simply to be cool. The sort of cool that anyone who grew up with these films are going to love. Whilst 1980’s machismo is long gone this film is all about science fiction vistas, flora and fauna that kills and maims in the most inventive manner and constant action filled with decapitations and evisceration. The fact that there are no humans involved and all the blood on screen is green or white allows for its 12A certification and a wider audience. The film is filled with landscapes that would be perfectly comfortable gracing the front cover of any sci-fi novel or poster. 

The other winning feature of the film is the team camaraderie created between two aliens and a robot. The machismo maybe gone but one of the best aspects of the original Predator is Dutch’s relationship with his team and the way they (try) to look out for each other. In this modern world the muscle flexing and bravado is replaced with a few jokes and some humour but the sense of a shared journey remains. 

In a film absolutely filled with CGI and creatures it is a joy that the closest thing that we get to a human character is portrayed by Elle Fanning. She lifts the film in a role that requires a little bit of everything, not least of which our guide to both the dangers of planet Genna and our plot exposition foil. She takes on both with aplomb and steals the show from the athletic motion capture of Yaujta actors Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi and Reuben De Jong. 

Badlands should be like mana from heaven for Predator fans and I would expect 20th Century Studios will never want Dan Trachtenberg to walk away from the franchise.