PREDATOR DOUBLE FEATURE REVIEW (Part 1)

When I first heard there would be not just one but two new Predator movies in 2025, I didn’t care. Prey 2 was the initial rumour, and I didn’t feel the need for it. I liked Prey well enough, and recognized it was a far simpler, better constructed, more satisfactory Predator movie than the previous The Predator, but upon a rewatch, it didn’t quite thrill me as much as Predator 2 or Predators.

Now, here we are, with two new Predator movies (both from Prey director Dan Trachtenberg) and they are both worth celebrating! Neither ended up being Prey sequels, and both were surprising in their own ways. Predator: Killer of Killers released on Disney+ in Canada back in June, and Predator: Badlands came out in theatres this past weekend, breaking the box office record for a Predator movie’s theatrical debut. I held back on reviewing Killer of Killers until now to deliver a combo review, and I have so much to say about them that I’m going to split it into two parts, starting with spoiler-free reviews of both, then getting into a spine-ripping spoiler-filled second part!

 

Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) Review

I was curious about an animated spinoff film when the nature of this secret second Predator movie was revealed, and sold on the concept when the trailer confirmed it was going to retain the same gritty, ferocious nature of the best films before it. Killer of Killers is a smorgasbord for Predator fans, rolling three ideas for period piece hunts a la Prey into one (partial) anthology film with nonstop bloody action. It also takes some of the best elements of 2010’s Predators and somehow all of it gels to make for one of the best Predator movies in the entire franchise, even in spite of not being in live action.

It breaks down into four parts, with the first three parts showing three different hunts in different eras of human history on earth. The Shield is about a brutal, bitter battle to the end between a female Viking warrior named Ursa and a hulking Yautja with a mechanical punching arm. The Sword features opposing brothers Kenji and Kiyoshi in feudal Japan up against a sleeker, samurai-inspired Yautja. This is perhaps my favourite of the four stories, with some of the best characterization across the whole Predator franchise. The Bullet features WWII fighter pilot Torres in an aerial battle with a one-eyed Yautja in a hunting craft, and the action feels fresh and unique for the series, but not jarring and cheesy like the opening space skirmish of The Predator.

My only real complaint up to a point in the film was that the predators seemed to be too easily defeated, but then that becomes a plot point itself in the fourth and final story, The Battle, when it ceases to be an anthology and ends with the fulfillment of the title (again, I’ll avoid spoiling too many specifics). Even though the movie addresses its own issue, it does still feel like the overall narrative is a bit hampered by the elite nature of these human killers and their inexplicable superiority over the clearly superior predators, regardless of which era the hunt takes place in.  

The animation is detailed, and the sound design lends to the motions of characters and objects feeling like they have weight and texture. It’s a pastiche of a little Spider-Verse, a little Arcane, and the Predator Dark Horse comics, with a water colour quality that’s clear in closeups and wide shots. The action is nonstop but well paced, and the format of the story works to make it feel new. It would’ve been too expensive and uncanny looking at times had it been made in live-action, and while there were times I wished it was, it also would’ve lost something in the artistry of it being in animated form, which adds a visual energy that’s been missing from pretty much every other Predator movie made in the 21^st century. In summary, Predator: Killer of Killers is the only real Predator movie, in my eyes, to compete against the greatness of the original, for how sound it is in all of its entertaining aspects—yes, even over Predator 2, Predators, and Prey.   

 

Predator: Badlands (2025) Review

This movie is insane. Keep in mind, I’ve seen Killer of Killers twice as of writing these reviews and Badlands only the initial time. I rewatched Killer of Killers right before seeing Badlands, and I think they are good companion pieces, despite being quite different in narrative structure, subject matter, and tone. I was skeptical of Badlands from the start, but so intrigued by the idea of the predator being the protagonist this time and elements of the Alien franchise once again connecting the two series of films for the first time since Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, that I went into it ready to buy into whatever craziness would transpire.

Badlands starts out with Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a weakling in his clan, battling his superior brother, Kwei, on Yautja Prime (the Predator home world) in the far distant future, placing the story further into the future than any Predator or Alien film before it. Their father, the elder Yautja Njhohrr, wants his inferior son killed, but Dek intends to prove his worth by going to the planet Genna and hunting one of the deadliest creatures in the universe: the unkillable (sort of) Kalisk, which is also wanted by the Weyland-Yutani corporation, probably because they can’t seem to ever obtain a xenomorph specimen. They’re smarter about this mission, though, sending only synthetics to obtain it, led by the doppelganger duo of Thia and Tessa, both played by Elle Fanning. Dek begrudgingly accepts the help of Thia’s functional upper torso, and the unlikely pair journey across Genna on the hunt for the Kalisk, though both carry with them very different motivations and their own family issues. Also, Dek literally is carrying Thia for like half of the movie.

I definitely enjoyed Predator: Badlands, but I can’t say I loved it. I have nothing but respect for Dan Trachtenberg trying something bold and sticking to it. I didn’t know if I could take the predator seriously as the protagonist, but Dek is cool, badass, and sympathetic. He also looks pretty good, with a bit more of a humanistic quality without losing the familiar look and feel of the traditional creature. Thia was a far more eccentric character than I was expecting, and when she enters the story, the tone shifts to a much sillier, lighter one, which might lose some fans, but I adjusted pretty well…until “Bud” entered the picture. The cute little creature is the least Predator-like of any character, human or alien or synthetic, to ever be in any of these movies. Luckily, she has a meaningful purpose in the story, and didn’t completely ruin the narrative for me.  

The essential elements of a Predator story are still present even with the former villain now occupying the hero’s role, and what I most enjoyed was how it didn’t retread the same old hunter-becomes-hunted narrative the way Prey did, even though I recognized familiar moments that were twisted into new versions of old ideas. Badlands has a reasonably compelling if simple story and leans right into the sci-fi nature of it, with explosive action that’s well directed and supported by pretty consistent visual effects. The planet of Genna was intriguing, full of surprises, and actually felt like thought had gone into designing the ecosystem to be original but still logical enough.

One of my main complaints, without spoiling anything, is the overall softening of the predator toward the end of the story. In addition, the humour sometimes felt overdone and inappropriate throughout, but surprisingly, there were many intentionally funny parts that worked well to enhance the characterization and added some unexpected entertainment value. It didn’t feel like tacky Marvel humour, and it wasn’t the same kind of tactless comedy that was part of what made The Predator so hard to sit through. The lack of humans and surplus of androids and weird creatures did sometimes make the movie feel like a cliché sci-fi adventure, just featuring the predator. In the end, I think I actually appreciate Badlands more than Prey, just for how it transposes the story to another world and explores the Yautja culture in live action in ways that remind us of the vast potential within the simple concept that spawned so many sequels and crossovers in the first place.

I think that’s about it for the spoiler-free first part of my Predator double feature review, so to sum up, both Predator movies delivered (one more than the other for me) and next time I’ll get into spoilers for both!