Predator: Killer of Killers
Three warriors face an intergalactic threat they never imagined in this animated anthology action movie
Kenji prepares to battle an otherworldly foe in Predator: Killer of Killers
A species that values warriors and a good hunt over everything else, the Predators visit Earth often. They’ve found a world where violent people are plentiful — it has become their favorite hunting ground. The Predators seek out the best killers, people they can keep in stasis and release into their fighting rings as entertainment.
Their first contestant is Ursa (Lindsay LaVanchy), a Viking warrior hellbent on avenging her father. Ursa is leading a raiding party into enemy territory to find the man who murdered her father. Though Ursa finds the man, she also finds a giant alien who’s looking for a battle challenge.
The second contestant is Kenji (Louis Ozawa), a shinobi who seeks vengeance against his family. The Predator arrives just as Kenji is breaching the fortress holding his brother, where he will exact his revenge.
The final contestant is John Torres (Rick Gonzalez), a Navy Fighter pilot in World War II who’s about to find more than enemy planes in the air. Trying desperately to warn his fellow pilots that there’s a creature and a spaceship hunting them, Torres must fly into battle with a broken plane and fight it out with a vastly technologically superior species.
Can Torres evade an airborne threat from another world? What will happen to all the contestants in the Predator’s game?
Billed as a secret film directed by Dan Trachtenberg (who blessed us with the excellent Prey) and Joshua Wassung, Predator: Killer of Killers is an anthology film that captures three vastly different stories and offers us more glimpses at life on the Predator's home world.
Like most anthologies, some stories are better than others. The middle story, Sword, involving Kenji and his vendetta with his brother, is almost completely silent and easily the most compelling narrative. There’s humor, pathos, and excellent action compiled into a 10-minute short. The story of Kenji and his brother could have been a really intense feature film had Trachtenberg decided to flesh out his Predator-verse a bit more.
The other two pieces of the anthology are good, but not quite as interesting. I also am not convinced that Predators, who love their hand-to-hand kills and trophy taking, would be happy having a WWII dogfight with pilots. They’re easily destroying the ships, so there’s no challenge, and they get no trophies to speak of. It just doesn’t seem like the choice for a species that basically views Earth as a big game hunting preserve.
And while the storytelling is strong, the animation…looks like something you’d find on a PlayStation 2 game. The predators all get interesting looks, but the humanoid animation leaves a lot to be desired. It would be more of a distraction had the stories not worked so well together. But if you’re looking for distinctive, interesting animation, this will likely disappoint.
The best part of Predator: Killer of Killers, however, is the world of possibilities it opens up. Trachtenberg is set to release Predator: Badlands soon, so he’s clearly gearing up for a bigger Predator cinematic universe. So far, Trachtenberg’s vision has been promising, and I’d be interested in seeing how more stories expand the Predator Cinematic Universe in a meaningful way.
Verdict: Though there’s a clear standout in this anthology, this is a fun expansion of the Predator universe.
Predator: Killer of Killers is rated R and is available on Hulu.
