ThePredatorfranchise has always been an interesting beast, and that’s really been the case since the franchise’s inception in 1987. While it might be hard to believe now,John McTiernan’s original feature film starringArnold Schwarzeneggerwas critically panned when it was first released, but has since gone on to become an endlessly quotable fan-favorite for action, horror, and sci-fi fans. Things just went downhill from there, withPredator 2andPredatorsfalling squarely into the “just okay” pile, but the saga didn’t truly hit rock bottom until the disastrous soft-reboot that is 2018’sThe Predator. After decades of not getting a film that got even close to living up to the original, a little cleverly titled prequel film calledPreyappeared practically out of nowhere from10 Cloverfield LanedirectorDan Trachtenberg.
2022’sPrey, which boasted the ingenious new setting of pre-colonial America, where a young Comanche hunter faces a more primitive alien hunter, is without a shadow of a doubtthe best film in the series since the 1987 original.That’s becausePreyunderstands that thePredatorformula works best as an anthology, where a new person in a dramatically different setting goes toe-to-toe with a ferocious invisible alien. Now, Dan Trachtenberg and co-directorJoshua Wassungaim to dramatically reinvent the franchise yet again withPredator: Killer of Killers— the first-ever fully animated film in the series that tells not one, not two, but three ambitious stories.
What Is ‘Predator: Killer of Killers’ About?
Predator: Killer of Killerstells three distinct stories spread across wildly different periods and locations. The first follows a bloodthirsty Viking warrior (Lindsay LaVanchy) taking her young son on a quest for vengeance amid a grueling Slavic winter. The second sees a disgraced shinobi (Louis Ozawa) seek to reclaim his lost honor by leading a one-man crusade against his ancestral home in Feudal Japan. Finally, the third segment steps away from the vengeful hunts to focus on a plucky young recruit (Rick Gonzalez) who aspires to become a pilot as his country becomes embroiled in World War II. Of course, all three of these characters have one thing in common, asnone of them are prepared for when their lives are upended by the arrival of horrific extra-terrestrial monsters known as the Yautja(more colloquially known as Predators) — vindictive, calculated, and technologically advanced killers who hunt the galaxy’s deadliest lifeforms purely for sport.
The originalPredator,Prey, andevenPredator 2partially work as well as they dobecause they largely hold off on the bulk of the alien-hunting action until the second half, instead wisely choosing to introduce the stories' human characters in their soon-to-be-upended comfort zones. Even with the much more limited timePredator: Killer of Killershas to tell these stories, Trachtenberg and Wassung find a way to pace things incredibly well. All three stories manage to make you care about the three human protagonists' plights very quickly, with the first being a simple yet powerful mother-son story, the second being a stylistic homage to Japanese filmmaking, and the third being a classic underdog tale. The Japanese storyline in particular stands out as it manages to tell its revenge narrative all through little to no dialogue.
Where anthology storylines tend to go awry is when there’s an attempt to have them converge, as we saw a few times with Marvel’s promising butoverall bloatedWhat If…?series. Going into details would enter major spoiler territory, but yes, these three mostly unrelated tales do converge at some point, but thankfully,Predator Killer of Killersmakes it work. Not only doesthe surprise final part of the film do what manyPredatorfilms have tried and failed to do, and introduce some very intriguing aspects toPredatorfranchise lore, but it also might even set up future developments for the upcomingPredator: Badlands, or perhaps even another animated anthology flick.
‘Predator: Killer of Killers’ Is the Most Visually Striking Predator Film Yet
Some may call it unfair to compare an animated anthology’s visuals to a more linear live-action feature film, but it’s still hard to deny thatPredator: Killer of Killersis the most beautiful film in the franchise to date.Sure, the variety of locales helps, but theSpider-VerseandArcane-esque animation helps the entire film stand on its own from the other installments. Again, each segment feels like it has its own distinct visual style, with the Viking segment being cold and brutal, the samurai segment being calm and regal, and the World War II segment being grimy and colorful. Trachtenberg himself even admitted to being heavily influenced by concept art that typically never makes it to the screen, and the aesthetic makes for a visual feast.
ThePredatorsaga has always played around with genres, and while sci-fi and horror are among the most prevalent, its roots are in the action genre. We’ve talked a lot about the great human elements that really are on par with Naru’s (Amber Midthunder) story inPrey, but if you’re here for some brutal Yautja action, you’ll get that too. Fairly enough,Predator: Killer of Killerscontinues the bloody, bone-crunching spectacle ofPrey, with both the humans and the Predators getting in some gasp-worthy kills. The Predators themselves also continue this great rule of thirds pattern that’s been alluded to above, with each of the alien killers having a design that fits each story to a tee. The first is a massive and hulking berserker who feels he has escaped from Helheim itself; the second is a patient and calculated assassin who observes his opponents with callous indignation; and the third is a cunning and bloodthirsty pilot who — to be perfectly honest — is cheating even byPredatorstandards with his war machine of a ship.
The discourse around the next chapter in thePredatorsaga,Predator: Badlands, has been somewhat mixed, and that’s honestly baffling considering the work Trachtenberg has put out thus far. WithPreyand now withPredator: Killer of Killers, Trachtenberg has more than earned his status as the franchise’s new steward, as he has consistently demonstrated a fundamental understanding of why we as sci-fi/horror/action fans love thePredatorseries (even when most of the movies aren’t the best).Predator: Killer of Killersencapsulates much of what made the original such a classic, with surprises around every corner and characters that are easy to root for. The only main difference is a good one, withKiller of Killers' stunning animation and riveting action scenes making it everything but an “ugly motherfucker.”
Predator: Killer of Killersdebuts on Hulu on Friday, June 6.
Predator: Killer of Killers
If you ain’t got time to bleed, you certainly have time to watch ‘Predator: Killer of Killers’ — another sensational Predator spectacle from Dan Trachtenberg and Hulu.
Three of the fiercest warriors in human history become prey to the ultimate killer of killers.
