Holding an 86% Rotten Tomatoes score, the 2025 film stars a recent Oscar nominee.

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, Badlands is a stand-alone sequel to the filmmaker's previous acclaimed Predator movies: 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 entries, Trachtenberg takes the Predator franchise to exciting new territory with his latest.

All six films in the sci-fi action series (we're not including the Alien vs Predator crossovers) have focused on humans facing off against deadly members of a mysterious alien race. We've learned, over the course of the franchise, that this alien race has built its 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.

Predator: Badlands Trailer

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, Sentimental Value), 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 is one of the best entries in the sci-fi action series to date and one of JOE's favourite sci-fi movies of recent years.

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.

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

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, recent Oscar-nominee 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."

How to watch Predator: Badlands

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Predator: Badlands is streaming now on Disney+.