Predator: Badlands could have been epic if it ditched all the goofy bits and the forced feminist messaging. But the clowns at Disney still can’t help themselves.
This is the bozo version of the Predator I grew up with — the same franchise where a Predator laughs while nuking Arnold Schwarzenegger — except now it’s filtered through Disney’s “Baby Yoda-fied everything” mindset.
Disney bought Star Wars, Marvel, and Fox because their brand was drowning in tiaras. You’d think they snagged those IPs to inject some testosterone. Nope. They dragged their Disney Princess mentality into the boy brands and wrecked them. And the Disney Princess fans certainly didn’t migrate over.
Imagine being a filmmaker with a cool idea and Disney tells you to add Baby Yoda/Baby Groot nonsense, make every female character a flawless super-genius, and make the male characters incompetent or evil. That’s Disney’s entire playbook. Zero imagination. Fire all of them.
Note: Spoilers below.
Going In Blind
I didn’t watch the trailers. I only knew Dek the Predator was the runt and that Elle Fanning was a synthetic. I’m not a hardcore Predator fan — I like the first Arnold movie and that’s about it.
Like Prey, I had zero intention of seeing Badlands, but the split reviews caught my interest: a bizarre THR review vs. a glowing one from Tyrone Magnus. I figured I’d see where I landed. Turns out I’m somewhere in the middle.
Is Predator: Badlands Woke?
It definitely has a heavy feminist message.
Dek is cool and badass at times, but look at the pattern:
- Dek’s entire biological family — all dudes — hate him and want him dead.
- His “new family”? All women.
- The creature they nickname “Bud”? Yep, also female.
- Bud’s parent? A single mom.
- The synths? Female-coded. They answer to “mother.”
- The male synths? Canon fodder.
- And who shows up at the end? His mom — because apparently Predator parents are divorced now.
It’s not subtle.
The Problems Hit Fast
The alarm bells went off early during Dek’s fight with his father and brother. His facial expressions — bulging eyes, scared looks — felt engineered to “humanize” him for the Disney fanbase they hope will show up.
Then Dek lands on the alien planet… and instantly loses all his weapons. Why? So he can rely on a handicapped synth and a Baby Yoda/Groot wannabe. Of course.
And that synth? Wow. How many Marvel-style jokes can you cram into a Predator movie? It was cringeworthy and didn’t belong.
The Baby Yoda knockoff creature wasn’t any better. They do give it a story reason, and it’s not terrible — but it didn’t need to be cutesy.
The Thia Problem
The Thia–Dek dynamic gets overbearing fast. The director seems aware because he literally shows Dek sleeping through her monologue. I related. I didn’t care about the synth either.
She talks about her other synth almost like they were in love. Maybe that’s what THR was reacting to. But then Dek announces they’re “sisters.” Feels like a late rewrite.
Story, Fights, and the Big Issues
I like the underlying story: Dek wanting to prove himself to his family. I will say his father killing his brother was genuinely unexpected.
But if you think about it, the power levels make no sense: Dek is the runt, weaker than his brother, who was weaker than the father. Yet Dek kills all of them, including two more powerful clan siblings, before killing his father? All after getting adopted by his all-female support squad?
Right.
Then Mom walks in. Is she there to scold him, or to meet the new family? Your guess is as good as mine.
What Works
To be fair:
- The VFX are excellent.
- The fight choreography is strong.
- The creature designs (minus the cutesy Bud aesthetic) look great.
- The score is solid.
The movie has entertainment value. It’s just buried under tone-deaf messaging and Disney-tier silliness.
The Verdict
Predator: Badlands is the Disneyfied Predator. Plenty of action, some cool moments, but way too much goofiness and heavy-handed feminist messaging. I didn’t hate it — but I can’t stop thinking about how good it could have been without the Disney interference (the director’s first idea was to have the Predator vs Nazis — now that woulda been cool, but of course would have been R-rated!).
Score: 6/10.
