Dan Trachtenberg continues to reshape the Predator universe into something interesting. The strangely enduring sci-fi series, which has also gone on a side quest with the Alien franchise, has gotten as far as it has with arguably only one good movie, that being the 1987 original starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. That is, until Trachtenberg made Prey in 2022, finding untold amounts of awesome in the story of a young Comanche woman fighting off the titular alien in the early 18th century.
Trachtenberg is making another live-action Predator movie set to hit cinemas in November, but in the meantime, he’s presided over the animated Predator: Killer of Killers, a Hulu original streaming on Disney+ in Australia, as did Prey. If you saw the Matrix universe anthology movie The Animatrix, this feels a bit like that, only its three stories ultimately weave together in a way we shouldn’t spoil, and they all use the same animation style.
The first story concerns Viking warrior Ursa (voice of Lindsay LaVanchy), who’s looking for vengeance against the malevolent Chief Zoran, a long-time foe who has subjected her people to great misery, including murdering her father. The second story takes place in feudal Japan and features a rivalry between swordsmen and brothers Kenji and Kiyoshi (both voiced by Louis Ozama), who both want to succeed their father as samurai warlord. The final story shifts forward to World War II, where mechanic Torres (voice of Rick Gonzalez) aspires to be a pilot but has been grounded by his superiors on the aircraft carrier where he’s stationed.
The three stories have the common element of, you guessed it, a predator, who shows up in the middle of the conflicts that are otherwise occupying these characters – perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not so coincidentally. Purposefully uncloaking its invisibility, the predator immediately becomes a far greater and more urgent foe than any these characters had been facing – but their brute physical strength, skill with weapons or cleverness with machinery may allow them to defeat this extraterrestrial menace.
As is the case with most animated films, the primary prerequisite for success is how the art looks. The script is usually secondary. And that’s quite definitely the order in which Predator: Killer of Killers should be assessed, which is not a bad thing. It doesn’t so much matter what Ursa, Torres and Kenji are pursuing in their A story, which exists only as an excuse to put them in the path of a sophisticated, frequently invisible alien warrior with the strength of a kaiju and weapons the likes of which they’ve never seen. Watching that unfold is another satisfying realisation of the genre mashup mentality behind the making of Prey.
And let’s talk about that art. It’s from a company with an extensive history in “previsualisation, postvisualisation and virtual reality,” according to Wikipedia, called The Third Floor. It strikes one as generally in the same neighbourhood as anime, an impression strengthened by the Japanese setting of one of the stories. It’s clean and angular and always beautiful to look at, and for fans of adult animation, it’s chock full of gore. In all its incarnations during nearly 40 years of existence, the Predator franchise has always remained for adults, which has been to its benefit.
The predators themselves remain interesting stimuli. Though they were cast as the good guys in the Alien vs. Predator movies – definitely the lesser of evils when compared to a xenomorph – they have continued their predominant role of villain in the main franchise entries, including Prey and now this movie. We extend them a grudging respect because we know, unlike a xenomorph, they are advanced, intelligent life forms capable of combat strategy, rather than just deadly efficient killing machines. We see a little of their society here, and Killer of Killers tantalises us with what seems to be an open-ended conclusion, suggesting there’s more to come here.
In fact, the existence of Killer of Killers was kept a secret until only a couple months ago, as it is now clear the events play some role in the next film in the franchise, November’s Predator: Badlands. In the space of a few short years, Trachtenberg, who is also a writer on these films, has taken a moribund franchise that was flopping around through half-hearted reboots, and promoted it to event movie status, replete with surprise reveals and the generation of buzz. We won’t want this series to be put out of its misery as long as Trachtenberg keeps loaning his creativity to it.
Predator: Killer of Killers is now streaming on Disney+.