Review: Who knew a 'Predator' movie could be this fun?

The “Predator” franchise receives an unexpected blast of fun — and a healthy dose of humor — in “Predator: Badlands,” one of the year’s most thrilling, lively action movies. Surprised? Same here. Who knew what this nearly 40-year-old series needed was a solid deployment of jokes?

Director Dan Trachtenberg, who is nothing if not driven to prove the malleability of the “Predator” series — he made 2022’s sparse survival thriller “Prey” as well as this year’s viciously violent animated feature “Predator: Killer of Killers” — takes a hard left here and goes the buddy comedy route with “Badlands.”