Film review: ‘PREDATOR: BADLANDS’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
The Gen X franchise regeneration continues with a surprisingly entertaining addition to the sci fi action franchise Predator in Predator: Badlands.
As with the Terminator movies, what was once the otherworldly villain has now become the hero as the Predator known as Dek (New Zealand actor Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), who is a member of the a Yautja people, is at the centre of this film. His people are a very Klingonesque caste whose idea of polite conversation is grunting and shouting blokey pronouncements about what honourable bad asses they are. As Dek is smaller than the others in his family, his father who is also the clan leader, considers him the runt of the litter and wants him gone. To prove himself, Dek jets off to the treacherous planet Gemma where predators traditionally test themselves against its deadly monstrous inhabitants. Dek believes he can earn his father’s respect if he returns with the head of the gigantic beast the Kalisk. On Gemma, though, he finds another more sophisticated menace waiting for him which it would be a spoiler to reveal but suffice to say we’re not just dealing with the Predator franchise.
Director Dan Trachtenberg, whose career looked promising with his debut 10 Cloverfield Lane but who then seemed to fade from view, has successfully conjured a fun sci fi action romp here. There are plenty of marauding monsters and battle sequences and only brief lulls in the action. Without torpedoing the film’s sci fi action cred, Trachtenberg also includes some comic relief courtesy of quirky android Thia (Elle Fanning) and a slightly goofy looking CGI alien creature they name ‘Bud’.
Both Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi and Elle Fanning deliver better performances than we might have expected for the leads in this type of film. Dimitrius gives Dek a dynamic physically but also some sympathetic qualities. Impressively, the actor learned to speak the Predator language for the film. Fanning amusingly plays Thia’s kookiness against Dek’s samurai-like hard man seriousness.
While the pacing, the world building and use of tech is impressive, the film suffers an irritating flaw as Trachtenberg films too many of the action sequences in extreme close up and with furious wobble cam. The screen at times becomes a blur and it’s almost impossible to tell which creature is slicing, dicing or chomping on which. This is too often a problem in contemporary action films and directors need to go back and look at how action scenes were done in the 80s and early 90s.
Trachtenberg makes reasonable use of New Zealand’s landscapes for the planet Gemma but some murky cinematography means these vistas aren’t as stunning as they could have been.
Some slightly irritating issues aside, Predator Badlands is for the most part a decent blast of juvenile fun.
Nick’s rating: ***
Genre: Science Fiction/ Action/ Adventure.
Classification: M.
Director(s): Dan Trachtenberg.
Release date: 6th Nov 2025.
Running time: 110 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.
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