After watching “Predator: Badlands,” I couldn’t stop an intrusive thought from popping into my head. “Predator: Badlands” is fun. It’s entertaining. It’s the perfect excuse to head to the theaters and eat an entire bucket of popcorn. In short, it’s everything that “Tron: Ares” should have been, and it proves that a legacy sequel doesn’t need to suck.
Now, before the genre police come for me yes, I get that my declaration that “Predator: Badlands” is a legacy sequel could be a matter of debate. After all, we just got a Predator movie back in 2022 (“Prey”), a far cry from the nearly 15-year gap between “Tron: Ares” and its predecessor “Tron: Legacy.” However, if you’ve seen this latest installment in the Predator franchise, or read my colleague Alix’s wonderful review of “Predator: Badlands,” you’d know that this movie isn’t really a sequel to “Prey.” It’s set far in the future and totally disconnected from the previous installments in the franchise. It’s more accurately a legacy sequel to the original “Predator” movie, though you could argue it shares the most in common with the 2010 movie “Predators.”
Malcolm McMillan
Malcolm has been with the Streaming team at Tom’s Guide since 2023, reviewing dozens of movies each year so you don’t have to watch the bad ones.
But regardless of how you feel about my taxonomy, one thing is undeniable: “Predator: Badlands” is good. It’s not perfect; it gets far too cute for its own good at times, including the inclusion of a CGI buddy for our bloodthirsty protagonist. But there are stunning visuals, a killer score, fun characters who have chemistry together and a few kills reminiscent of “John Wick.” There are genuine laughs in this movie, and I came out of my screening glad I saw it in a theater, because seeing it with other people was an enjoyable experience.
The same can not be said for “Tron: Ares.” Yes, the sequel to “Tron: Legacy” has stunning visuals and a killer soundtrack that merit going to a theatre, but the movie is devoid of a compelling story or compelling characters. “Predator: Badlands” may have a thin story, but you’re at least compelled by its characters and rooting for the protagonist to succeed.
Ultimately, when you come out of a movie, you should at a minimum understand why it existed. With “Predator: Badlands,” it’s clear that director Dan Trachtenberg had a vision for a different take on the Predator franchise, ditching its survival thriller/horror roots for an action-adventure two-hander that was a genuinely fun time at the movies. As far as I could tell, the only reason “Tron: Ares” exists is because Trent Reznor needed an excuse for an album and Disney didn’t want the copyright on “Tron” to lapse (I’m mostly kidding about that last part).
It remains to be seen how this disparity is borne out at the box office. At the moment, critics seem to have sniffed out the cynicism of “Tron: Ares,” which is a dismal 53% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes. “Predator: Badlands,” meanwhile, is riding high at 85%.
Audiences seem to have spotted the b.s. as well. On Rotten Tomatoes, “Badlands” is winning the race with a 95% rating versus a surprising 85% for “Ares.” At the box office, moviegoers seem to be declaring that they prefer the new Predator movie as well, as it made around $3 million more in its opening weekend despite opening in fewer theaters.
The moral of the story? Stop making bad legacy sequels. There’s no reason “Predator: Badlands” and “Tron: Ares” can’t both work, at least not in principle. We, the audience, are suckers for a Yautja donning a helmet and cloaking itself while doing a lot of killing, just like we’re suckers for a techno-futuristic landscape in the digital world with a thumping soundtrack. But we’re not stupid. You give us junk, we’re going to spot that it’s junk. You give us a good legacy sequel, and we’ll gladly eat it up.
So stop making the bad, cynical ones, and just give us something that manages to be familiar, yet also new. Give us something that plays on nostalgia but also feels fresh and exciting. “Predator: Badlands” just proved it can be done.
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