Predator: Badlands

Well, that was more fun than it had any right to be, and it's much better than it looks.

Going in, all I really knew about Predator: Badlands was that the internet hated how the young Yautja looks. Some didn't like his hairstyle, others complained that his face was CGI instead of practical. The complainers are idiots. Assuming all Yautja wear their hair the same way is borderline racist, and the CGI looks a lot better in context.

I give this movie lots of points for actually doing something different with the Predator franchise. Let's face it, the first Predator was just "Alien in a jungle," and its sequel was "Alien downtown." The further sequels played more with the formula, but they still felt like retellings of the same story. Even the best Predator movie, Prey, had a plot that wasn't too different from the original.

But now (potential spoilers ahead), we get to see a Predator movie from the monster's point of view. For the first time (I think), we get to see them talk to each other with actual dialogue (in subtitles), and understand more of their culture.

At its core, it's a coming-of-age story, about a tribal warrior having to kill his first dangerous prey. Stylistically, it feels very Star Wars (it even opens with what's basically a lightsaber duel). But the Yautja themselves feel very much inspired by Star Trek's Klingons.

While there are no xenomorphs in this movie, Weyland-Yutani plays a big role in the story. Alien/Predator fanboys argue incessantly about what is and isn't canon to each other's universes. As I understand it, the Alien films don't take place in the same universe as the AvP and Predator films. I'm not sure if the AvP films are canon in the mainline Predator films, nor do I really care. The point is, Badlands does acknowledge that the other universe exists.

Anyway, it's fun film, with lots of sci-fi gadgets and strange creatures. The ending does open up potential for a sequel, but I doubt they'll follow up on it. This feels like more of a one-off to me, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

New ranking order:

1. Aliens (1986)
2. Alien (1979)
3. Prey (2022)
4. Predator: Badlands (2025)
5. Alien: Romulus (2024)
6. Predators (2010)
7. Predator (1987)
8. Predator 2 (1990)
9. Alien vs. Predator (2004)
10. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)
11. Alien Resurrection (1997)
12. Prometheus (2012)
13. Alien: Covenant (2017)
14. The Predator (2018) 
999. Alien 3 (1992)