For almost 40 years, fans of science fiction/action movies have gravitated towards the Predator franchise. Beginning in 1987, when the Jim and John Thomas (Behind Enemy Lines) penned film about an extra-terrestrial, humanoid hunter who stalked humans in the jungle first appeared in theaters, the masses have been drawn to it. The success of the original movie spawned comic books, novels, video games, and four additional films, with two more on the way this year. While the latter movie, entitled Predator: Badlands, will hit theaters in November, the first of the two films is an adult, animated, stand-alone piece coming to Hulu in the United States and internationally on Disney+ beginning on .
Predator: Killer of Killers is broken into three separate vignettes set in different locations and during different time frames. The first story deals with a female, Nordic Viking, and her army set out to find the man who murdered her father so she can get revenge. However, unbeknownst to them, a creature lurks in the shadows, watching and waiting. Once he pounces, her whole team, including her son, are dead, and she is enslaved.
Story number two involves two brothers somewhere in an ancient Asian country. As their father pits brother against brother, one lays down his sword while the other attacks, winning his father's praise. The loser of the battle runs away from the kingdom, only to return 20 years later to confront his sibling. Little did they know they would need to team up to defeat the unknown entity trying to kill them.
Finally, the last vignette includes a young American man being drafted during World War II. His dream is to be a pilot, but he is relegated to mechanic. When he is handed a weapon from the alien being, he tries to figure out what it is, and when he does, he takes to the sky in an old fighter plane to warn the other pilots that what they are fighting against is not human. Ultimately, the three "survivors" end up on a different planet and are forced to fight each other, but when they team up, they end up fighting the predators instead.
Writer/director Dan Trachtenberg, who brought us 2022's Prey, once again helms this feature film, and he does so beautifully. His take on the alien creatures gives audiences a unique story brought to life in a different way than any of the other Predator movies. He includes plenty of blood splatter and gore, but also presents the Predators as intelligent and scheming.
I will admit I'm not a huge fan of the "watercolor"-like technique used in the animation, as it blurs the lines, making the picture perhaps not as sharp and clean as it could be. While this tends to add a bit of softness to an otherwise cold and hard movie, it seems somewhat out of place with the harshness of the plot. It isn't an anime style of animation, but it seems to be in the same family.
Predator: Killer of Killers remains solidly within the realm of the other Predator films, which makes it familiar without getting mundane. It skirts the edge of the forest while venturing down a less-traveled path, making it recognizable and different all at the same time. As an audience, we become invested in these characters, which makes the film enjoyable.
In the world of Predator, this movie stays true to the source material but gives us something we didn't know we needed. It is a nice intermezzo between Prey and Predator: Badlands and whets our appetites for more.
Grade: A-
