The Predator franchise has experienced an upswing in quality lately thanks to creator Dan Trachtenberg who directed the last two Predator films, Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers. Now, Trachtenberg has reached the creative peak with Predator: Badlands, the latest Predator film out in theaters. Not only is it a thrilling, action-packed and well paced, but unlike the previous films, this one stands apart for one very important reason.

What sets Predator: Badlands apart from the typical Predator film is that it is told from the point of view of the alien predator, the Yautja; in this film, that Predator is called Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) who is the runt of his Yautja clan. The film opens up in the Predator’s homeworld and Dek wants to go on a warrior rite of passage to earn his place in his family clan. To do that he has to travel to a deadly planet called Genna and bring back a trophy kill of that planet’s apex predator, the Kalisk. However, Dek’s father, the leader of the family clan (also played by Schuster-Koloamatangi), considers Dek to be a runt that should be culled. IOW, killed off. Before this can happen, Dek’s older brother, Kwei (MIke Homik), sacrifices his life to protect his younger brother and sends him off to Genna.

After crash landing on the planet, Dek is immediately beset and hunted by the vicious creatures inhabiting the primordial world. Even the plant life if deadly to him as some plants shoot paralyzing needles, while carnivorous vines nearly devour Dek. Basically, the planet makes Pandora look like a leisure world. Along the way, he encounters a synth called Thia (Elle Fanning), a highly advanced and empathic synthetic woman who is part of a mission by the company Weyland-Yutani Corporation (the same infamous company from the Alien franchise) to capture an animal specimen for research. Thia is missing her lower half due to an attack by a Kalisk that separated her from her synthetic associates during an attempt to capture it, which included Tessa (also played by Fanning).

Thia offers to function as Dek’s informational tool to hunt the Kalisk in exchange for transporting her to the site of the attack so she could reattach her legs. Dek is reluctant at first, but Thia’s knowledge of the terrain and deadly fauna is valuable so the two form an unlikely partnership as they traverse the deadly jungle forests. What neither realize is that Tessa was recovered and sets out on her mission with a cold heart and drive to capture the Kalisk and she will not let anything get in her way, including Thia and the Yautja.

Predator: Badlands works so well not just because it is stuffed to the gills with action or because of its impressive production and special effect, but because it develops the Yautja. We actually understand their alien culture which is a bit more complex than expected. They are not mindless killers but hunters with a strict honor code. We saw this in previous films, but this one literally takes us to their world and we get into their mindset as we learn to sympathize with some of the Yautja, especially Dek.

This Predator is clearly the film’s main character and it is not long before we are rooting for him at every turn as it is clear that he is the film’s hero. Part of that sympathy is because he is considered a runt, given his smaller stature. But Dek has the heart of a warrior and a relentless drive to succeed that he can’t help but admire. Just because Dek is smaller than the average Yautja does not mean he cannot hold his own in a fight. Much like Marvel Comics’ Wolverine, Dek is a savage fighter who will use any tool to defeat his foes or kill his prey. Speaking of fighting, the fight scenes are quite intense and brutal. The film surely would have earned an R rating if not for the fact that we never see red blood on screen. In fact, there are not any humans at all in this film, which is remarkable and helps set the film apart from nearly all live-action films.

While the film takes every step to flesh out the Yautja, it also does this with the synthetic people. In the past Alien films we saw the synthetics as either coldly evil or warmly human-like, and Predator: Badlands continues this tradition. There are hints throughout that the synthetics, mostly through Thia, have begun to develop their own sense of self and independence, which could be worth exploring in a future film or TV show that focuses on the synthetics. It is also worth noting that the camaraderie between Dek and Thia feels organic and although we know how their relationship will progress it is still enjoyable to watch as they form their own sort of clan.

Director Dan Trachtenberg clearly not only has the drive to explore the Predator’s culture and flesh out the aliens, but the skills to pull this off. He has a great visual style and sense of storytelling that instantly engages us with his stories while adding so much to the Predator lore. At the same time, he adds more to the Alien franchise without going overboard with references. He ties both franchises very skillfully but you can enjoy this film without having seen a single frame from the Alien films. He has plans for a third film if Predator: Badlands is successful enough and he also hopes to bring back the star of the original Predator, Arnold Schwarzenegger himself, which would be awesome considering the hints of possibilities Trachtenberg teased us with in Predator: Killer of Killers.

Predator: Badlands is clearly one of the best films in the Predator franchise, perhaps as great as the original, though the two films had very different tones. Given the film’s rich world building and the way it ends, we have to see more of Dek and Thia and the rest of the worlds in Predator: Badlands.

José Soto