Predator: Badlands - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

When playing within a franchise's lore, one of the biggest risks a filmmaker can take is breaking the established mold. While we may never see a feminist pacifist James Bond as an international middle manager of mystery, I wasn’t fully prepared for a Predator film in which our titular beast is the main character, with a name, a personality, and a mission. If you’d read enough comics over the years, that’s not much of a surprise, but for the average theater-going fans, I’d wager most never read the Dark Horse or even Marvel’s recent run of panelled adventures. I've been reading the comics for over 30 years, and it was wild to see a Yautja speak its own language. Hell, it was wild to hear them actually referred to as "Yautja"! After the successful franchise rebirth with Prey in 2022, Dan Trachtenberg delivered a damned near perfect Yautja double feature in 2025 with the exciting animated Predator: Killer of Killers (no word yet on a physical media release there, we’ve asked), and the surprisingly effective franchise formula rejigger Predator: Badlands. 

Rather than finding some hapless band of random humans in a slightly different location with another Predator armed with a different but cool assortment of weapons, Trachtenberg introduces us to Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi). The smallest of his Yautja clan, he was to be killed by his brother Kwei at their father's orders. Repaying a lifedebt, Kwei gives his to protect Dek from their father’s wrath, allowing the young Yautja to prove himself worthy by killing the most fearsome creature known to their clan. Now an outcast, Dek will utilize a dismembered human-made android, Thia (Elle Fanning), to help him bring the ultimate prey back home. That is, of course, if he survives Genna, the deadliest planet in the galaxy. 

On paper, Predator: Badlands shouldn’t work. Well, at least not as a film. It’d work great as a comic book adventure, as fans have seen plenty of Predators take center stage in their own stories on the printed page and/or team up with humans or other humanoid beings. We've even seen them take on Superman and Batman in the comics! But Predator films have long had a prescribed formula that’s been tough to break out of. Filmmakers have changed time periods, changed locations, and even moved the action to different planets, but the formula essentially stayed the same.

Shane Black first tried to shake things up with The Predator, but the final version of that thing was such a mess of ideas (almost all of them bad) that it was impossible to know what the hell they were shooting for (I’d love to see a real Director’s Cut of that one without the obvious stupifying reshoots). After that bleak entry, Trachtenberg was handed the reins and took the franchise back to bare bone-crunching basics with a freshening “prequel” of sorts in Prey. He then delivered the straight-to-streaming animated film, Killer of Killers, an anthology of stories that expanded the lore while tying together three of the original live-action feature films. Most impressively, Trachtenberg managed to pull off the near-impossible feat of not just shaking up the franchise film mold, but outright breaking it with Predator: Badlands. 

I went into the theater wary but hopeful and came out excited about what was next for this franchise. At the start, I was really excited to see the Yaujta home planet and get to experience some of their culture within a fraught family dynamic. It certainly was weird to see a Predator with a name, personality, and emotions, but it worked. When the main story got underway, I was very nervous when the plucky android Thia was introduced via her pre-programmed dictorobotor, but Trachtenberg managed to quickly make the characters empathetic companions on a shared journey of redemption. I liked it! Enough so that I went back a second time for IMAX 3D and had an even better time. Once more at home and I’m cemented that this is a damned great Predator movie, certainly not the best, but far far from the worst. It was a great time - but it can’t be the formula for future films to come. 

As Trachtenberg is still attached to more Predator projects (despite his recent three-year first look deal with Paramount), I’d like to see more of Dek and Thia, but at the same time, the franchise can’t stray too far from its roots and hold together. An action/adventure take with some solid suspense sequences worked this time; I just cannot see it becoming the norm. There have been Predator “team-ups” in print and film before, but at its heart, the series is a slick blending of science fiction and horror. They skirted around the PG-13 rating with this feature because there weren’t any humans and therefore no red bloody bodily dismemberment, but future films can’t be all robots and strange new creatures with purple blood. We need bloody skulls (with or without spinal columns) ripped violently from the cadavers of once breathing hapless humans who had no idea what they were up against. I'll accept another round with Xenomorphs in there, but again, skulls with or without spines being processed into new trophies for the deadliest hunter in the galaxy is essential.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
Predator: Badlands rips a fresh and bloody 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital physical media release out of the robust corpse of its franchise record box office run. The discs are housed in a standard case with identical slipcover artwork. The 4K is pressed on a BD66 disc with a BD50 reserved for 1080p and the bulk of the bonus features. Each disc loads to a language menu before letting you move right into the main feature or segue into an animated main menu with standard navigation options. The included digital copy is Movies Anywhere compatible and should port to all connected services. 

As much as I would have absolutely shelled out a hefty penny for a 3D Blu-ray release, I can’t deny that this 2160p Dolby Vision transfer of Predator: Badlands is a beast. Shot digitally and finished on a 4K Digital Intermediate, the transfer delivers impressive details that are often striking to look at. The makeup effects for the practical creature effects, make-up VFX, and dismembered android pieces are quite something. I was really impressed with the blend of practical makeup and digital effects for Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as the helmet-free Dek. Just as impressive was the combination given to Elle Fanning as Thia. Obviously they didn’t cut her off at the waist and throw her on his back (they could have done that but I think she’d like to keep her real legs…). That’s when the care and attention to blending practical and digital approaches are most effective. If I had to knock this transfer for something, it’s that the higher resolution and HDR grade can negatively highlight some of the more weightless CGI effects shots. But where it counts, it’s a great-looking image. Depth is appreciable throughout (again, I’d have loved a 3D disc, because this was a lot of fun in IMAX 3D). The Dolby Vision grade gives black levels and shadows a healthy boost, especially for the opening sparring session between Dek and Kwei, which is quite dark and could otherwise be difficult to discern what’s going on. Primaries get plenty of time to shine. Given there isn’t any human blood here, all the other colors are given a splash while red is reserved for the various energy weapons utilized by your young Yautja.

Every great Predator movie deserves a dynamic audio mix, and this Atmos track for Badlands came to play. Right from the jump with the score by Sarah Schachner (who also did Prey) and Benjamin Wallfisch (who did Alien Romulus), the Atmos hits the LFE ground running. Then we get to that first opening fight between Dek and Kwei, and the mix is delivering a fully immersive experience with activity coming from the sides, rears, and overhead while the Yautja language provides its own low guttural rumbling out of the front channels. This rolls onward to when the action moves to Genna and there are any number of beasts in the trees and on the ground stomping away on top of a legion of heavily-armed androids. Dialog in Yautja and dictorobotor-English is clean and clear with no issues. Given all of the action set pieces right through the big final battle, the soundscape remains fully engaged. A great mix to run loud and have fun!

The Included Blu-ray only rolls in with DTS-HD MA 7.1, as per usual for any Disney-owned release. It’s a fine mix; it’ll serve its purpose, but it doesn’t take long to feel like it’s the weaker option than the 4K Atmos.

On the bonus features side of things, Predator: Badlands enjoys a decent assortment of extras. The meatiest piece is the informative commentary with Dan Trachtenberg and his crew. That many voices ensure it’s a lively discussion, with a lot of emphasis on the “how” of achieving a particular shot, effects sequence, or story choice. The featurettes are interesting, but sadly, they are just too short. You see a number of faces pop up, but given the talent pool, they obviously had a lot more to say about their respective roles or jobs on set. These extras are worth checking out, but a full documentary would have been much more exciting. After the commentary, the most interesting extra will be the lengthy deleted and previsualization scenes showing alternate ideas to various plot beats while also highlighting excised moments, likely cut for time and pacing. If you want to see a great interview with Dan Trachtenberg, check out his sitdown with Ed Larson on Last Podcast on the Left

4K UHD

• Audio Commentary featuring Dan Trachtenberg, Ben Rosenblatt, Jeff Cutter, and Jacob Tomuri

Blu-ray

• Audio Commentary featuring Dan Trachtenberg, Ben Rosenblatt, Jeff Cutter, and Jacob Tomuri
• Embodying The Predator (HD 5:43)
• Authentic Synthetics (HD 6:41)
• Building the Badlands (HD 6:53)
• Dek of the Yautja (HD 6:11)
• Deleted & Pre-Visualization Scenes w/ Optional Commentary (HD 27:37 Total)
• Sand Trap
• Squirt Canyon
• Tessa vs Abe
• Razor Grass
• The Outpost
• Super Power Loader Extended

Like any franchise, Predator has seen some ups and downs over the years. But three films after one of its lowest points, the deadliest hunter in the galaxy is enjoying a franchise-high haul from the global box office. Predator: Badlands was a big swing, breaking the franchise mold and pushing the series into new territory. Trachtenberg again proves he’s an impressive talent, deftly bringing new lore and culture of the Predator to life while weaving in exciting potential storylines for future films. Will we see a direct sequel? A new Alien vs Predator? Who knows! Only time will tell. Taking the series out of the Sci-fi/Horror blend and going with an action/adventure formula was a big gamble, but I think it paid off. I don’t think it’s something to hinge on for too many future films; they can’t all be bloodless PG-13 adventures, but it worked well this time. On physical media, Predator: Badlands hunts down an excellent 4K disc release with a robust Dolby Vision transfer and a killer Atmos audio mix to match. The extras may not be lengthy, but they’re at least informative and interesting. Hopefully, we’ll get Killer of Killers on disc soon, and the wait for another theatrical Predator film won’t be too long. Highly Recommended