More “Predator” isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not an Earth-shattering thing either in the animated film “Predator: Killer of Killers” (Hulu). Co-director/co-writer Dan Trachtenberg, who has taken the franchise reins with 2022’s “Prey” and this year’s “Predator: Badlands,” adds to the mythology in a major way by the end. I got used to the animation, which is in that “3D” style of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” but it’s rudimentary enough that characterization consists of types more so than complexity.
That will likely be acceptable to most “Predator” fans – especially since they got the “real” movie “Badlands” soon after — and I found slightly more of value here than in 2019’s series of “Alien” shorts and the (purposely) crudely animated “Alien: Isolation.” We see a level of violence that would’ve been unthinkable at Disney before it acquired Fox. It is certainly not pulling punches with the “Predator” license, although of course the beheadings and eviscerations are easier to take in animated form.
Structurally, this is three short films using the most basic of “Predator” premises: A generic Predator comes to Earth to scout who is the best warrior among a group, then tries to kill that person in battle. An intriguing twist then ties the stories together in the fourth segment.
“Predator: Killer of Killers” (2025)
Directors: Dan Trachtenberg, Joshua Wassung
Writers: Micho Robert Rutare (screenplay, story), Dan Trachtenberg (story)
Stars: Lindsay LaVanchy, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Rick Gonzalez
Bleakness is the overarching theme. In “The Shield” in 9th century Scandinavia, a Norse warrior band fights another Norse warrior band. Why? “Because they still live,” mother Ursa (Lindsay LaVanchy) tells her son, whom she is training. The most viscerally scary moment is when Ursa is under the ice but finds a tiny pocket of air to breathe. That horror trope always gets me.
After the stark, stereotyped view of Vikings, we get a stark, stereotyped view of feudal Japan when a Predator drops in on the 17th century in “The Sword.” Kenji and his brother Kiyoshi (both voiced by Louis Ozawa Changchien) dutifully hate each other. The final shot of how they team up to defeat their common enemy is very cool. But again it’s a portrayal of a proscribed way of life rather than break-out individuals.
‘Bullet’ time, and a hill of Biehns
“The Bullet” is the best of the three, as Torres (Rick Gonzalez) – an American pilot who is more interested in flying than taking care of his engine – is drafted into World War II. As squadron commander Vandy, an unrecognizably voiced Michael Biehn completes his “Terminator”-“Alien”-“Predator” trifecta, joining Bill Paxton. The choreography of how the Predator’s craft takes out fighter planes is just as brutally bloody as on-the-ground Viking and samurai fighting; no escape of impersonal distant explosions. Definitely no parachutes floating to safety in the distance.
(SPOILERS FOLLOW.)
Each segment ends by showing the human alive in the hold of a Predator ship; automatic intrigue mounts. The three warriors from different eras are thrown together when Torres is thawed out from cryo-freeze. This is new to the on-screen Pred-verse; the web tells me it had been shown in the comics. Since “Alien’s” humans have cryo-sleep, it makes sense that the Predators – who exist in the same universe – would have similar or even superior tech.
Set on a dusty world that’s not Earth, “The Battle” is a rousing final segment, nicely handling the logistics of three heroes who don’t share a language figuring out how to work together in a “John Carter” type of arena battle. The baddie is some sort of uber-Predator. It’s not enough to overcome “K of K’s” roteness, but it’s a suitably big conclusion.
Kenji and Torres fly off in a Predator ship with enemies pursuing them, and Ursa is cryo-frozen again. It’s disappointing that the story doesn’t really end. It suggests that Trachtenberg thinks the style of “K of K” is the point; I needed more. A pan through the warehouse of cryo-pods shows Naru, Amber Midthunder’s character from “Prey.” Neat. Another cool continuity note: Torres is given the gun from “Prey” in the arena battle.
(END OF SPOILERS.)
“Killer of Killers” has nice – perhaps even essential — continuity; this isn’t “Filler of Fillers.” I’m surprised by that in a good way, but the animated movie as a whole leaves me feeling like I expected. It’s 75 percent fighting by harshly realized one-dimensional characters.