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With the release of any new movie in a beloved franchise, you’ll always see the fans hating or loving on the new guy, and this is definitely true for Predator: Badlands. So it’s time to join in on the fun and share the only Predator movie ranking you need from Hate to Love.
To rank all the Predator movies, I watched them all in order, with the exception of the Alien vs Predator movies.
If you are confused about the order of the Predator movies, that’s okay because it is …well…confusing. The titles are absolutely no help.
The order the Predator movies were released: Predator (1987), Predator 2 (1990), Predators (2010), The Predator (2018), Prey (2022), Predator: Killer of Killers (2025), Predator: Badlands (2025).
Now, let’s get into those rankings.
9. Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)
This movie was bad on every front. It was unreasonably dark, so I couldn’t tell what was happening most of the time. I mean dark as in brightness; I even tried adjusting the brightness on my television, but it wasn’t my television, it was this movie. This was the only Predator movie I could not stand. If there was a plot it was lost in the darkness, and this movie deserves no more of my or your time.
Rating – 3.5
8. Predator 2 (1990)
Most of the Predator movies have some other fight or war going on, which gives the Predator an ‘in’ to start killing as they please. Predator 2 had a gang war in LA, but also a cop who doesn’t play by the rules (Danny Glover), and some new guy who flirts with another cop, and some federal guy (Gary Busey) ruining the city cop’s investigation, and a little kid in a graveyard offering Predator some candy. All this to say that the plot was convoluted, which wasn’t hard to follow, but too much stuff was happening and it made it boring. Requiem made little sense and bored me, but Predator 2 just bored me. There’s no need to watch this movie. Maybe watch the clip of the little kid offering the Predator candy because that is the only thing I took away from this whole movie.
Rating – 5.7
7. The Predator (2018)
Now we’re getting into the rankings that are so bad they are good. When I was watching this movie, I hated it, but in retrospect, it’s actually kinda funny. It’s a good-bad movie, which is similar to how I feel about Alien vs. Predator. In The Predator, we get to see some Predator on Predator action because some Predator is hunting another Predator. And we get an 11-foot tall Predator! That’s right: 11 feet tall. We learn from some really bad science, that the Predators have different DNA, which means Predators are going around splicing their DNA with various creatures. Even more terrible, yet entertaining plot happens, but I’ll just tease you with an 11-foot tall Predator.
Rating – 6.3
6. Alien vs Predator (2004)
This is another movie that is terrible, but I laughed for the entirety of the movie. We learn that Predators made Aliens in this movie. Why would they make Xenomorphs? To hunt them of course, duh! Also, all those people who have conspiracy theories about aliens building the pyramids, this movie confirms it was the Predators who helped humankind with this. There are so many funny scenes that do not make sense in this movie, but are fun to watch, and the Alien and Predator lore within this movie is top notch.
Rating – 6.5
5. Predators (2010)
Predators is where we really start to see that Predators are more interested in hunting hunters and other killers for sport, rather than just killing to kill. In Predators, a group of human killers are kidnapped and dropped on a planet that is under Predator control, so the Predators can hunt them. It plays out like a game reserve, but the game (AKA: human beings) were allowed to keep their weapons. The intermingling stories of the characters is enough to keep interest, and as a big bonus this cast has a lot of all-stars: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo, and Walter Goggins. Watch as your favorites slowly die away or turn out to be something other than they appear.
Rating – 7.6
4. Predator (1987)
This movie is a classic and quintessential Arnold movie. I believe if I were an important person, putting this movie at 4 in this list would cause outrage, but 4 through 2 were very hard for me to rank. This movie is full of memorable quotes, such as “Get to the choppa!” and “You’re one ugly motherf**ker!”, and is the origin of our beloved handshake meme (strong arms provided by Carl Weathers and Arnold Schwarzenegger). It’s hard to rank a bunch of movies that I feel were well-done and enjoyed, so I decided this one fell short because I didn’t care about any of the characters. The characters in Prey and Killer of Killers were more thought out, and didn’t hide from Predators by covering themselves in mud, which is not how body heat works (but is entertaining for a silly movie).
Rating – 8.0
3. Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)
I love an anthology! Some of these Predator movies seemed to drag with a story line following only one person or group of humans (looking at you Predator 2), but this movie never gives a story enough time to drag. Three humans from various parts of the world and timelines converge in a reluctant gladiatorial battle that the Predators have forced them into. Who wins? Are there any winners?
Rating – 8.5
2. Predator: Badlands (2025)
Dude-bros are going crazy all over the interwebs claiming the Predator franchise has been ruined because it has been “Disney-fied”. While I do not disagree that Predator was a bit “Disney-fied” in this movie, I am going to disagree that this made the movie bad or trash. Before watching Badlands, I was aching to learn more about Predators, and to learn what they call themselves. Humans call them Predators, but Badlands teaches us they are called Yautja. The main Yautja, Dek, becomes disillusioned with his family, and sets out to show them he is more than a runt by hunting the unkillable killer on a planet full of death. There’s lots of funny moments and tons of action, and while the action may not be as brutal as Prey or other Predator movies, it is still entertaining. This fresh perspective on the Predator franchise is a great movie to watch to trick your friends into watching more Predator movies with you.
Rating – 8.7
1. Prey (2022)
While I had to think deeply about how to rank the previous 3 movies, there was no second thought about what the best Predator movie was going to be. The characters in this movie had depth, the cinematography was beautiful, and the Predator in this movie was the most brutal of all the Predators in any of the movies. On top of that we get super satisfying deaths of many white colonizers, and the main character goes John Wick on the colonizers for kidnapping her dog. Even the threat of someone hurting her dog puts her in a bloody rage, which I identify with heavily. If someone hurt or threaten my cats, I would suddenly become a target of a Predator.
Rating – 9.2
What do you think? How would you rank the Predator movies?
TL;DR: Here is my tiered ranking of the Predator movies.
