One of the best sci-fi movies of 2025 is finally available to watch this week

Here are our thoughts on the latest entry in the blockbuster action sci-fi franchise.

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, Badlands is a stand-alone sequel to the filmmaker's previous acclaimed Predator films: 2022's Prey, which took the series back in time to 18th-century America, and last summer's Predator: Killer of Killers, an animated anthology that jumped between Viking times, early 17th-century Japan and World War II.

Like with those previous movies, Trachtenberg is taking the Predator franchise to exciting new territory with his latest.

All six films in the sci-fi action series (were not including the Alien vs Predator crossovers) have focused on humans facing off against deadly members of a mysterious alien race, who, over the course of the franchise, we've learned have built their culture around identifying, hunting and killing the deadliest warriors in the universe.

What makes Badlands different is that it is entirely from the perspective of one of these Predators.

Our protagonist is Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a young Predator seen as the runt of his clan. Narrowly escaping death at the hands of his father, who believes the weak need to be culled, Dek escapes his home planet and travels to Genna, a world notorious for being lethal to visitors.

His goal there is to slay the Kallisk, a supposedly unkillable beast, in order to prove himself.

Quickly, Dek finds himself struggling to survive on Genna. But he also discovers Thia (a wonderful Elle Fanning, A Complete Unknown), a chatty, cheerful android who lost her legs in an attack by the Kallisk.

The Predator initially turns down Thia's offer to help kill the beast. This is because his clan typically hunts alone.

Dek eventually reconsiders, however, seeing the android not as a person, but a "tool", meaning he is not breaking tradition.

Strapped to Dek's back, Thia joins him on his dangerous quest.

Predator: Badlands Review

JOE is delighted to report that Predator: Badlands is one of the best entries in the sci-fi action series to date.

Trachtenberg maintains the mean-and-lean 'gang on a mission' storytelling that made Prey a surprise hit, but places it amidst a more dazzling, fun and inventive backdrop.

It's a blast to watch the odd couple dynamic that develops between Fanning's lively, legless but more knowledgeable robot and Schuster-Koloamatangi's deathly serious, stubborn alien hunter. This is as they navigate both the killer fauna and flora of Genna, as well as other threats, which we will not spoil.

Long-time fans of the Predator franchise may bristle at Badlands' 15A-rated toned-down violence (there actually is plenty of bloody action, although the victims are exclusively aliens and androids) and for portraying the extraterrestrial hunters in a more sympathetic light.

Yet, it's hard to truly care about this, especially since we have had plenty of supremely gory and sweary entries in the series already, like 2010's Predators and 2018's The Predator.

Seven movies in, and most viewers probably want to see something new and Predator: Badlands delivers and then some on that front.

On top of being an action-packed adventure, Trachetenberg's latest tells an oddly sweet and emotional story. It's about family and how being emotional can sometimes be its own form of strength, truly new territory for this franchise.

You wouldn't think it would work, but it actually does with flying colours, thanks to the performances and the thoughtful approach.

Predator: Badlands Interview

JOE were lucky enough to interview director Trachtenberg and actors Fanning and Schuster-Koloamatangi ahead of the sci-fi action flick's release.

According to reports, after the success of Prey, the filmmaker had several ideas for sequels that became the basis of both his animated anthology Killer of Killers and Badlands.

As such, we asked Trachtenberg what it was about the initial idea for Badlands that made him think: "This is the live-action feature."

In response, he said: "[We] really wanted to ensure that if we're going to make a live action movie, let's do a thing that had never been done before.

"We had done a different time period in live action [with Prey] and it felt like we could explore more there in the animated setting and express action in a way we hadn't before in that format.

"But to do the creature, the monster, as the protagonist of the movie is something that hasn't been done in movies."

Indeed, Fanning tells JOE that she joined the project for similar reasons. She wanted to do something new and she had never been part of such an action-packed franchise.

The actress said: "Super 8 was sci-fi, but not a huge franchise like this, and I don't like to be put into a box as an actor.

"I've been working a long time, but I like to challenge myself, and I don't want people to ever expect or know what I'm going to choose next. I think that this felt like a surprise.

"The story was so new. I loved Prey that Dan directed, and I was really excited with how he was going to push this franchise into a new direction and make it for a new generation as well.

"I think OG fans will love it, but a new audience is going to be introduced to this film. You don't have to have seen the previous films to love this one, and I wanted to be a part of this very special movie that feels fresh and like something we've never seen before.

"I'm also a very physical person. I grew up in a family of athletes, so I'm pretty athletic. I played a lot of sports in school, and I wanted to show my athletic side and challenge myself in that capacity."

Speaking about playing Thia and another android clone of hers named Tessa, Fanning added: "Then it's also an acting challenge. I play two different parts. I'd never done the Lindsay Lohan Parent Trap thing.

"So that's a bucket list for an actor as well.

"And Dan is so great at balancing both action and this emotional core that is in this movie, which is unexpected. So, I just loved all of it."

As for 24-year-old Schuster-Koloamatangi, this is his first Hollywood movie.

Asked about being chosen to be the star in this iconic, long-running franchise that also filmed in his home country of New Zealand, the young actor told JOE that he feels "very blessed and humbled".

That said, he did share a humorous anecdote about the moment he found out he was cast.

"It was funny, I was actually on a date when I got the call that I was going to be in Predator [Badlands]," he revealed.

"That's a good way to get a girl," Fanning then laughed, before Schuster-Koloamatangi confessed: "I felt bad. I had to leave because they were like: 'Oh, Dan wants to call you. Will you be available in like 20 minutes?'

"I was like: 'Hell yeah, I'll be available in 20 minutes.' So I had to go and tell her that I was feeling sick and leave.

"I know that's terrible, and she didn't message me back after that," he added, before Fanning said cheekily: "She will now."

On how the story and themes of Badlands developed in the writing, Trachtenberg told us: "What was there from the beginning was this character [Dek, the Predator] proving himself and... him finding some other outcasts from their tribe as well and joining forces, reluctantly.

"That was there initially, but the other [more emotional] shades of the story certainly took shape as we poured more layers on the script."

Trachtenberg has now directed three acclaimed Predator films, each with their own iconic characters.

Given Fanning's characters in Badlands are Weyland-Yutani androids, he has also crossed over with the iconic Alien sci-fi series.

Plus, in Killer of Killers, Trachtenberg teased the future return of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Glover's characters from the first two entries in the Predator franchise.

When we ask the director what he wants to do next with the series and if he's planning a big team-up at some point, he tells us: "All things are awesome, you know?

"I've loved making the movies I've been making and have been able to express myself in so many different kinds of genres and stories, despite them all being inside the Predator franchise.

"There's definitely way cooler things to make still with it all, so it would be fun."

Predator: Badlands is in cinemas on Friday, 7 September.