Disney’s Predator Movie Is So Good, We Forgive It For Not Being A Predator Movie
While Disney’s Predator movie barely even fit the definition of that phrase, the 2025 hit was so great that no one really cared either way. The Predator franchise’s movies paint a picture of a series that has never known where to go next. 1987’s original Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle pitted the action hero against the titular extraterrestrial human hunter in a sweaty South American jungle, but even that critically acclaimed hit wasn’t sure of its genre. Predator was a gory horror movie, a tense thriller, and a bombastic action movie all at the same time, and its sequels struggled to regain this unique genre blend. Predator II took the franchise’s action to a futuristic, crime-ridden LA, but its awkward blend of future-noir and gruesome horror made for a movie that sometimes felt like a Robocop sequel and sometimes seemed more like an Alien franchise outing. The less said about the universally hated Alien Vs Predator movies, the better. 2010’s Predators tried taking the action to an alien planet to freshen up the franchise formula, but the resulting story was more serviceable than inspired. Similarly, 2018’s reboot The Predator took the story of the series to the suburbs, but even The Nice Guys writer/director Shane Black couldn’t salvage the franchise. Ultimately, it was 2022’s prequel Prey that proved the Predator series could truly surprise viewers, and it was the same director’s 2025 follow-up Predator: Badlands that ended up completely redefining the franchise as a whole.
Predator: Badlands Isn’t A Traditional Predator Movie By Any Metric
Dek wields a weapon in Predator: Badlands.© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg revolutionized the series with Prey, the story of breakout star Amber Midthunder’s Comanche warrior Naru escaping the eponymous monster in the Northern Great Plains of 1719. Although Prey was the best Predator movie in decades, the prequel was a critical success primarily because it stuck to the formula of the first film, albeit with some clever alterations. Taking things back to the 18th century ensured Naru had none of the modern firepower employed by other franchise protagonists.
However, it was Trachtenberg’s 2025 follow-up, Predator: Badlands, that really broke the mold. In a complete reversal of the franchise’s usual setup, this movie focused on Dek, a Predator who was the movie’s protagonist instead of its villain. The Yautja runt works with Elle Fanning’s Weyland-Yutani synthetic Thia, who works with Dek to survive on a hostile alien planet. Through this unlikely partnership, Dek proves himself as a hunter and defies the odds to survive and return to his home planet.
Predator: Badlands Opened Up New Opportunities For The Series
By the end of Predator: Badlands, two things are clear about Trachtenberg’s movie. One, Predator: Badlands is nothing like the earlier movies in the franchise, and two, the success of its story opens up countless new opportunities for the series. The Predator franchise flirted with humanizing its monsters since its first sequel, since the Predator is a far more intelligent and thoughtful monster than, for example, the Alien franchise’s Xenomorph.
However, Predator: Badlands was the first movie in the series to make a Predator its protagonist, and the movie took another major risk by eschewing any major human characters. While Thia provides a solid audience insertion persona, the story of the movie is Dek’s coming of age, and it is astounding to see how much Trachtenberg leads viewers to sympathize with this alien protagonist. A genuinely fresh and original take on a franchise that had already lasted decades, Predator: Badlands proves that future additions to the series could offer a more nuanced and complex take on their title character than the 1987 original. Thanks to Trachtenberg’s success, Predator: Badlands can be the first in a string of Predator movies that radically reimagine everything viewers thought they knew about the monster.
Release Date
November 7, 2025
Runtime
107 minutes
Director
Dan Trachtenberg
Writers
Dan Trachtenberg, Patrick Aison, John Thomas, Jim Thomas
Producers
Brent O’Connor, John Davis, Marc Toberoff, Dan Trachtenberg, Ben Rosenblatt
Elle Fanning
Thia / Tessa
Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi
Dek / Father
Diterbitkan : 2026-06-16 22:32:00
sumber : screenrant.com
