The way forward for big franchises these days is to have a steward, someone who understands what makes the universe beloved by its fans. Someone who, at the same time, can keep things familiar and explore new angles and facets of the world the franchise operates in. For the Predator franchise, it may be directed by Dan Trachtenberg.

Trachtenberg was also behind the well-received film, Prey, back in 2022, and this year’s excellent Predator: Killer of Killers animated show on Disney+. Both took place in the Predator universe, and now, with the release of Badlands, he's cementing himself as the Predator Franchise’s guiding star.

Predator: Badlands begins with a straightforward premise. What if, it asks, the Predator is the lead? What if we tell the Predator’s story?

From there, Trachtenberg and co-writer Patrick Alson created a story that tries somewhat to humanize the Yautja (The Predator species) but still keeps them fearsome and deadly. The movie focuses on Dek, (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), the runt of his tribe, as he tries to prove himself worthy of the family name. Dek is a Predator with serious daddy issues, and through a twist of fate, he finds himself on Genna, the place his kind calls the Death Planet. On it is a creature even the Yautja fear and have failed to kill, and so he sets out on his first hunt, setting his sights on the most impressive trophy of all.

On Genna, the predator is suddenly the prey, as Dek fights not for trophies, but for his own survival. The ecosystem of the planet is wonderfully thought out and closer to what you’d expect from a jungle or forest, where one misstep with anything from the largest carnivore to the smallest insect, and often even the flora and fauna, can be fatal. Think the polar opposite of Pandora of Avatar, and you have an idea of what Genna is like.

Stumbling through the alien landscape where, not unlike his planet, everything is out to get you, Dek finds help from a totally unexpected source in the form of Thia (Elle Fanning), a Weyland-Yutani synthetic who was attacked and separated from her unit. And yes, for those wondering, that’s the same Weyland-Yutani from the Alien movies, reinforcing the fact that these two great sci-fi films happen in the same world.

Thia is wide-eyed and perky, with a cheerfulness and inquisitiveness that is unaffected by the fact that the Kalisk, the beast that Dek is hunting, previously ripped her in half. She brokers a deal – He helps her get back to her legs and find her twin synthetic, Tessa, and she’ll lead him to the Kalisk. Fanning does a fine job of being the cheerful foil to Dek’s somber demeanor, proving to be his guide through the dangers of the planet.

They end up in what is essentially a buddy cop movie on a hostile alien planet, where what begins as a partnership of convenience slowly grows into something approximating a friendship. The film explores themes of belonging and family, with Dek’s issues within his clan and Thia’s own search for her sister, a synthetic twin named Tessa, whom Fanning also portrays. They speak of the ties that bind but thankfully don’t lean into being very preachy.

While the violence is still very much a part of the movie, excessive gore is not. Many creatures died, yes, but no humans lost their lives in this one. It reminds one of the issues with the old Mortal Kombat game, where the red blood was changed to blue sweat in response to the uproar about video game violence in the mid-90s.

Here, no humans are beheaded, but a large amount of synths spill their blue fluid, which earns Badlands a PG rating instead of the usual R. It does lose its edge a bit, but it also makes the Predator franchise more accessible to more people. And the choice of making Badlands a standalone film was the right one, as audiences who watch are not bogged down by too much of the lore.

Overall, Badlands is a welcome change to a well-worn formula, flipping the narrative on its head and delivering a fresh story, while also opening up enough opportunities for further exploration.