Predator: Killer of Killers
Review by Mark Woodring
After the successful reboot of the Predator franchise with Hulu’s Prey, director Dan Trachtenberg returns to expand the universe even more with an inventive, animated battle royale.
**NOTE: You can read Mark’s review below, then listen or watch as he and Ryan discuss the film (along with a couple of other interesting films) in more detail. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
85 Minutes, Rated R
Written by Micho Robert Rutare, Jim Thomas, Dan Trachtenberg
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, Joshua Wassung
Synopsis:
Three of the fiercest warriors in human history become prey to the ultimate killer of killers.
Predator has been a loved/hated franchise among science fiction fans since the original sequel, Predator 2, hit theaters in 1990.
Since then, it’s been a generally lukewarm series of films, including the various, maligned crossovers with the venerable Alien franchise (itself also undergoing a bit of a renaissance after some lackluster entries).
Animation is an excellent choice for the Predator universe, as it reduces overall cost over conventional special effects, as well as allowing for a more expansive look into the character inhabiting it.
And Killer of Killers takes full advantage of that versatility, introducing us to three warriors from Earth’s history: a fierce Viking Queen, a Samurai, and an American soldier taken by the Predators during World War II operations in the Pacific.
Each is given a solid 20 minutes to tell their story, and the Viking and Samurai put together really solid stories, outlining the harshness of their respective times in human history, as well as amply demonstrating what made each of them so devastatingly effective as warriors.
I have to admit, the third segment is the weakest link for me. It’s about a young man in World War II who wants to be a pilot, but his conventional warrior skills seem slight, at best. He’s kind of a mechanic, but not necessarily a very good one, and he survives his encounter with a Predator ship over the Pacific due more to luck than anything else.
Once the three are together in some far-flung future (the previous two having been kept alive through some form of suspended animation, though the motives are unclear why they had to wait over a thousand years for the American to show up), they are brought into an arena and told to fight until one remains – to be the Killer of Killers – to combat the lead Predator in single combat.
Combat ensues, though the American tries desperately to communicate their to team up as opposed to slaughter each other. Eventually, they all get on the same page (language barrier not withstanding), and a group combat exists.
As a rousing and inventive look into a wider Predator culture, Killer of Killers is a fun romp, though the aforementioned narrative and character issues do hold it back from being truly great.
Regardless, Predator: Killer of Killers is definitely worth your time if you’re a fan of the franchise or even of animation in general.
Check it out.
Predator: Killer of Killers is now streaming on Hulu (and/or Disney+) and features the voices of Michael Biehn, Lindsay LaVanchy, Louis Ozawa , and Rick Gonzalez)
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