Predator: Killer of Killers - Review

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

HAVING successfully revived the Predator franchise with his excellent Native American-based entry Prey in 2022, Dan Trachtenberg now looks to build on that success with the release of animated short story collection Predator: Killer of Killers. The results are similarly impressive.

Comprised of three shorts that feed into a bigger picture scenario, the ensuing film thrives on its rich visual style that rivals the likes of Arcane and Pacific Rim: The Black for epic scope and visceral beauty.

The trilogy opens with a Viking chapter, named The Shield, set in AD841, in which a mother warrior and warlord named Ursa (voiced by Lindsay LaVanchy) lays waste to a rival village, together with her son, as part of an ongoing revenge mission for a historical wrong that was committed against her.

Her retribution is cut short, however, by the arrival of a predator, known her as Grendel (possibly in a nod towards the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf), which quickly targets her as a worthy adversary. And so, as with all of the Predator films, Ursa and Grendel go head-to-head in a fight to the death, which eventually finds Ursa consigned to a surprise fate aboard a mystery space ship.

Chapter two, The Sword, switches the action to medieval Japan and follows two rival brothers - one a deadly assassin named Kenji and the other a brutal lord named Kiyosho (both voiced by Louis Ozwa) - as they are forced to put their ill-feelings towards each other to one side to combat another alien invader.

Once more, the inevitable confrontation between Kenji and the beast results in the former being consigned to the same spaceship as Ursa.

Chapter three, The Bullet, moves things forward to WWII Florida, where wannabe pilot Torres (Rick Gonzalez) bids to make a name for himself by taking on the airborne aliens in dogfighter style combat.

Once again, the finale has a degree of inevitability about it, before Trachtenberg brings the fate of all three victors together for a grand competition between them and a forum full of predators who are high on their own blood lust.

Given the time periods in which each of the stories exist, there is - as you might expect - plenty of room to indulge the richly detailed visual style that Trachtenberg and his creative team have gone after. Vikings, Samurai and fighter pilots make for some arresting (not to mention iconic) imagery, and the film doesn't disappoint in offering some striking variations on classic tropes, which more than compensate for the somewhat repetitive nature of the format.

Trachtenberg, as he did with Prey, almost finds inventive ways for his protagonists to work against the predators, without holding back on the savagery and gore that's now implicit with this franchise. If anything, the animation could best be described as offering brutality as high art - and while that may sound morally dubious, you have to figure that viewers shouldn't be entering the fray expecting anything less.

The only other limitation of the format, though, is that action does come at the expense of character - with none of the three segments really long enough to delve deeper into back story or emotional journeys, while also skimping on the intensity and mystery of the Predator's arrival (something achieved so effectively in both John McTiernan's 1987 original and Trachtenberg's own Prey). This is all-out action, with very little breathing room.

The finale also feels somewhat overlong and underwhelming - a variation on the same kind of over-sized smackdowns that are the reserve of too many modern franchises (whether superhero-based or even Fast & Furious). 

That being said, Trachtenberg is a savvy enough writer to ensure that he sprinkles enough humour and franchise nods to keep viewers invested and hungry for more - with a last minute reveal sure to set tongues wagging and other bits of comedy nicely referencing past films in the back catalogue or other genre traits.

Killer of Killers is a stylish entry into a 40-year-old franchise that ensures there's plenty of life in it yet.

Certificate: 18

Running time: 90mins