Predator: Badlands is the latest entry in the long-running Predator franchise, but it struggles to recapture the terror that made the original 1987 film a classic. Fans hoping for a horror sci-fi reboot akin to Terrence Malick’s Badlands will be disappointed. Instead, the film delivers a convoluted story with an oddly sympathetic Predator. Elle Fanning’s charm is the film’s saving grace, but it cannot fully rescue a story that weakens the Predator by making it human, vulnerable, and almost likable. By stripping the villain of its lethal identity, the film forces a new character to fill the Predator role. This role falls to a young Predator named Dek, played by New Zealand actor Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi in heavy prosthetics. Dek, marked by the franchise’s signature terrifying mandibles, is portrayed as soft and inexperienced. He faces potential death at the hands of his stern father but escapes to embark on a mission to reclaim his honor by confronting the fearsome Kalisk, a monster even his father fears. Dek soon encounters two robot-human bioclone twins, or “synths,” both portrayed by Fanning. One is the whimsical, fallible Thia, whose odd-couple friendship with Dek brings lighthearted moments. The other is a lethal, emotionless Stepford-style synth who ultimately becomes the main hunter, undermining the franchise’s traditional predator dynamic. The film’s plot is scattered and often pointless, leaving little room for suspense or genuine horror. Even Fanning’s star power and performance cannot overcome the narrative issues and the loss of the Predator’s terrifying identity. Predator: Badlands is scheduled for release on November 6 in Australia and November 7 in the UK and the US. Fans of the franchise should temper expectations, as the movie struggles to balance action, horror, and emotional storytelling, ultimately diluting what made the Predator iconic.