All 9 Predator Movies, Ranked From Worst To Best

The "Predator" timeline is truly expansive, spreading over centuries and across the cosmos. It's a testament to the series' adaptability that almost anyone can find themselves face to face with a Yautja, assuming they make a worthy adversary, of course. 

Going back to 1987's "Predator," the franchise typically involves a powerful alien warrior, known as a Yautja, encountering humans and making quick work of most of them. Hunting is at the core of Yautja culture, and they all want to prove themselves worthy of respect. Humans have often been a key target, but we've also seen them battle other aliens, including the "Alien" franchise's Xenomorphs on a couple of occasions. 

That's not to say every Yautja outing is worthy of being put on a mantle. But when you go back and revisit each installment, it's impressive how consistent the films have been in keeping up with their core concept. As of right now, the "Predator" movies haven't gotten too bogged down with lore or trying to explain where the Yautja came from. They show up, kick butt, and probably die at the hands of a human who used their wits to emerge victorious. Many of these films are pure popcorn entertainment, but let's weed out the weaklings by ranking every "Predator" movie made so far. 

The problems with this first entry begin right with its title — "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem." Why is "Aliens" pluralized but "Predator" remains single? It's a clunky title for a clunky film that never once feels like it's finding its footing.

The film takes place immediately after the events of "Alien vs. Predator," which isn't exactly capital-C Cinema itself, but it at least seems to understand its place as dumb B-movie fun. There's nothing fun here, as a Yautja is dispatched to Earth to kill a half-Xenomorph, half-Yautja hybrid, known as a Predalien. At least that's what I think happens in the film, as so much of it is too dark to see much of anything. The reason why "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem" is so dark is because the directing duo of Greg & Colin Strause thought the monsters would look terrible in broad daylight. It feels like they wanted to create a "Jaws" effect where barely seeing the creature enhances the tension, but instead, it's a purely frustrating experience.

It's a shame because the idea of a Predalien is the thing of nerdy dreams. And I understand no one's going to these movies for nuanced human characters, but there's zero to latch onto here as far as the human cast is concerned. It's easily the worst "Predator" movie, as well as the worst "Alien" movie, ever made. It'll be tough for anything in either franchise to be worse.

You can actually see what's going on in "AVP: Alien vs. Predator," meaning it's already a vast improvement over its sequel. Still, that's not saying much, as the film is still plagued by a host of other issues.

A team of human scientists descend into a pyramid buried underneath Antarctica, only to discover it's home to Xenomorphs, including a Queen in cryostasis. They're soon joined by a group of Yautja who have been coming to Earth for millennia to partake in a ritual that sees them sacrificing humans to serve as host for Xenomorphs for them to hunt, creating a steady supply of the most dangerous creature in the universe and, therefore, the most valuable game to hunt. Fans may have waited for decades to see these two movie monsters duke it out, and there are certainly fight scenes aplenty here, but that's about it.

It's best to assume the "Alien vs. Predator" movies aren't canon, because they would really mess up what else we know from both franchises. However, the worst sin this movie commits is getting a PG-13 rating. Previous "Predator" and "Alien" movies were rated R with ample gore and action to satisfy audience's bloodlust. But at PG-13, "AVP: Alien vs. Predator" feels toothless. It's less of a proper crossover and more of an excuse to bang action figures together. 

Before Shane Black delivered fun action romps like "Lethal Weapon" and "The Nice Guys," he had a small role in the original 1987 "Predator." His character, Hawkins, is the first to die, and that's because Black wanted to focus more on acting than being used as an uncredited script doctor, so the producers killed him off. But decades later, he'd be brought back to helm 2018's "The Predator." It should've been a slam dunk idea that instead turned into a basketball circling the hoop until it unceremoniously falls out of the basket.

The film involves Yautja now splicing their DNA with other species to make themselves stronger. They've now come to Earth to acquire the DNA of Rory (Jacob Tremblay), a young boy with autism, believing it'll be the next stage of their evolution, and this all leads to an all-out battle between the Predators and a group of soldiers battling post-traumatic stress disorder. There's a lot going on here with topical themes, like how society treats those with neurodevelopmental disorders and veterans. But it's either poorly fleshed out at best or downright offensive at worse. 

"The Predator" also feels like an attempt to "Marvel-ize" the franchise with goofy quips all the time. There's nothing wrong with a little humor, but Black goes overboard. There could've been something really cool about using broken soldiers as the protagonists, in contrast to the buff renegades from the first film. It could've shown how the people society neglects still have the power to change the world, but all that gets lost in a meandering mess.

"Predator 2" is the most underrated entry in the "Predator" franchise, and it doesn't get enough credit for truly setting the template that all future movies would follow. It would've been easy for "Predator" to follow the same trajectory as "Alien" and turn Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from the first movie into this franchise's Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). Instead, "Predator 2" takes us to Los Angeles and makes Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) the protagonist with Dutch nowhere to be found. It's just another adventure that happens to involve Yautja. 

The urban setting of LA presents new opportunities and challenges for both the Yautja and the people trying to figure out where all these deaths are coming from. Considering his previous work in "Lethal Weapon," Glover slots in perfectly as an overworked, exasperated cop. There's also some slight social commentary that would've been great to see more of. In one scene, a group of commuters on the subway all pull out guns as a gang tries to rob an unassuming man. It envisions a future where violence runs so rampant that everyone's packing, turning the future into an NRA dream come true. 

Still, it's hard not to see "Predator 2" as a product of 1990 culture. Many of the gangs feature people of color, and there's the drug lord who believes in voodoo, leaning into a racial caricature. "Predator 2" may have some muddled politics, but it gave future filmmakers leeway to do whatever they wanted with their own "Predator" stories, namely just find a cool time and place to drop a Yautja into and run wild. 

Following the disappointment of the "Alien vs. Predator" duology, the franchise desperately needed to be reintroduced to general audiences. The solution was a classic shoot-em-up with a sci-fi twist in 2010's "Predators." Instead of a Yautja arriving on Earth, the film sees a group of human killers get dropped on a strange alien world that turns out to be a game reserve for Yautja. 

"Predators" gets something right that hasn't been done since the 1987 original: The cast is top-notch. There's a great mix of actors here, including Adrien Brody, Mahershala Ali, Walton Goggins, Lawrence Fishburne, Oleg Taktarov, and Danny Trejo. We don't have the cool, calm commandos of "Predator" here who are on their home turf. These people are confused and disoriented, and they have no idea how to get back to Earth or where to even begin. 

You can tell "Predators" has a lot of reverence for the original film. Even though they're on a different planet, it's still a jungle setting like that first film. But any machismo gets dropped. The humans always feel like they're one step behind, and that's because they're playing by the Yautja's rules. We've gotten glimpses over Yautja society before, but here, we get a sense of their societal hierarchy and how they behave when just a group of them are together. It's a "Predator" film that deserves more love other than a bit of trivia where people go, "Really? Adrien Brody was in a 'Predator' movie?"

If "Predators" hinted at what Yautja culture is like, "Predator: Badlands" finally gave audiences a true Yautja story. Everything here is sci-fi to the max, as a young Yautjanamed Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) wants to prove himself to his skeptical father by killing a giant alien on a horrific world. He teams up with a broken android, Thia (Elle Fanning), to complete his mission but winds up questioning whether hunting solo is truly the way to go. 

I know I've said previously that a PG-13 "Predator" film is lame, but here, the rating makes sense since all the violence is toward aliens and androids and no human blood is spilled. It doesn't skimp on the action, and in fact, we wind up with something of an odd buddy dynamic between Dek and Thia. Ultimately, you see how these are two beings abandoned by those who were supposed to be their family, but they've found friendship with one another. 

Humans are always at a disadvantage against some powerful Yautja. It's a fun inversion to see one that's considered a runt and not very good at this whole hunting thing. It makes you realize how other Yautja may have struggled to earn the respect of their clan, and it's the most fully realized lore we've seen yet in a "Predator" film. "Predator: Badlands" even sets up a sequel that I hope explores more of this side of the franchise. 

"Predator: Killer of Killers" scratches an itch none of us knew we even had. The assumption has always been that Yautja have visited Earth over millennia, fighting the strongest humans around, and we get a smorgasbord of Predator battles here. "Killer of Killers" is an animated anthology film that sees Yautja taking on Vikings, two brothers trained in the art of the samurai, and World War II fighter pilots. It was probably always too much to ask for a feature-length film where Yautja fight samurai (despite what fans desperately asked for after "Prey"), but here, we get cool fight scenes and an array of battle styles. 

But the thing that really puts "Killer of Killers" over the edge of something like "Badlands" is it's ending. You go in thinking you're going to see these three stories only to get a surprise fourth chapter where the heroes of all three installments are then brought to a Yautja world, tasked with fighting to the death. Again, there's this extra wrinkle that Yautja genuinely want to fight the toughest warriors in the universe, and that includes past "Predator" protagonists. "Killer of Killers" added a post-credits scene featuring Dutch from the original "Predator" in cryostasis. implying that he's still out there and being used for the Yautja's amusement. 

It's great to see another franchise take some cues from "The Animatrix," which expanded "The Matrix" universe with an animated outing. It complemented the live-action films, and that's what we get here. "Killer of Killers" is a blast that simultaneously adds to the lore while offering action that could be too tough to pull off in a live-action setting. 

Dan Trachtenberg directed "Predator: Killer of Killers" and "Predator: Badlands," but his tenure within the franchise began with the unassuming "Prey." After "The Predator," it's safe to say the series needed a rebrand, so instead of adding more firepower, Trachtenberg took the series back to its roots. This time around, the setting is 1719 with a young Comanche woman, Naru (Amber Midthunder), wanting to prove her worth as a warrior. But instead of fighting colonialists, she has to fight a giant alien. 

"Prey" isn't so much concerned with upping the action to where there are more explosions and more bloodshed. Instead, it wants to get at the heart of what a great "Predator" movie should be. The Yautja is solely concerned with proving itself and taking out worthy adversaries. Similarly, Naru wants to prove herself to her tribe even though she's outmatched, not just by the Yautja but also French fur trappers who capture her within a bear trap. She has to figure out how to turn these opponents' strengths intoweaknesses, and in the end, she outsmarts the Yautja, just like Dutch did. 

"Prey" is proof that "Predator" movies aren't solely about firepower. You can strip all the bombs and spaceships away and just have a good, old-fashioned predator vs. prey story where the tables frequently get turned. "Prey" isn't just the second best "Predator" film ever but one of the best science-fiction movies of the 2020s in general. 

Ranking the original installment of the franchise as the best one is a bit of a cop-out, but when it comes to "Predator," it's easy to see why no other film has managed to top it. So much lore has come from an amazing alien design with some cool weapons. And every movie to follow feels like it's riffing off of the core concept of the boldest, most arrogant dudes around finally meeting their match. 

An elite paramilitary squad is sent to rescue hostages in the rainforest, but the true danger lies with the Yautja. Steadily, each member meets their demise until it's just Dutch versus the ultimate hunter. The movie plays with audience expectations, bringing in the most macho actors of the '80s, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura, and Carl Weathers. However, all their firepower and machismo is for naught, as the Predator is the far superior hunter, so the film becomes an inversion of what we would expect from hyper-violent '80s action flicks. The buff guys become the prey. 

Whether it's a Yautja against a Comanche woman or a stubborn cop, smarts always win the day. Even in "Predator: Badlands," a Yautja has to unlearn his culture and realize that it's good to forge alliances and make friends. The best "Predator" movies dismantle the idea of toxic masculinity, making the fact the first one came out in 1987 pretty revolutionary. It stood apart from other action movies that were all explosions and no deeper commentary. "Predator" is about as perfect of an '80s action flick as you can get with some great horror thrown in. If nothing else, the movie gave us an incredible meme with Schwarzenegger and Weathers performing the most macho handshake ever.