When the correct filmmaker attaches themselves to an existing franchise, the fireworks that usually result tend to hit with the force of a Predator’s exploding wrist gauntlet. Just think back to what Christopher Nolan did for Batman, or the synergy that Sam Raimi managed to have with Spider-Man, or how about the wonders Christopher McQuarrie pulled off with Mission: Impossible and you’ll get what I mean. However, a pairing that positively screams to belong to this illustrious list surely must include what Dan Trachtenberg managed with Prey – his 2022 Predator prequel that boldly remained a spluttering, but beloved franchise – but as impressive as his efforts were, the best part of it was that it only seemed like he was getting started.
With its rippling camouflage tech, the clicking, hunt-happy brutes known as Yautja have been sneaking up on their prey since they first took their bow in 1987, however, they pulled off a more impressive trick by managing to appear in a largely secret animated anthology movie that’s stealthed it’s way in almost out of nowhere. Can Trachtenberg manage to do the double and pump yet more vigor into this world of alien hunters?
The first segment, entitled The Shield, sees us thrust into the middle of a Viking war party in the year 841 AD as grizzled warrior queen, Ursa, leads her forces and her son, Anders, to finally gain revenge on the rival lord, Zoran, who killed her father many years ago. The battle is brutal and bloody, but nothing seems to stem the broiling rage that still exists within the breast of the woman known as the Valkyrie of the Northern Seas as she slices, guts and beheads all in her path in order to achieve her goal. However, taking in all the chaos and waiting for the perfect time for it to strike, an alien big game hunter interjects in order to test Ursa’s mettle for itself.
We then zip forward to Feudal Japan for the story called simply,The Sword, that sees two young brothers, Kenji and Kiyoshi, forced to fight each other by their domineering father for the right to rule the kingdom. The winner takes his place by his parent’s side and the loser flees into exile, but twenty years later, the sibling clash again with the exile now highly trained in the art of the ninja. Of course, with such capable adversaries dueling right in front of it, an observing Yautja simply can’t help but stick it’s mandibles in to see which one truly has the goods.
Finally, in The Bullet, we travel to the middle of the North Atlantic in 1942 that sees wannabe fighter pilot, John Torres, told by the stern but fair, Commander Vanderberg, that he hasn’t the discipline needed to achieve his dream. However, when a Predator ship rocks up and starts taking potshots at American fighters to see who can rule the sky, Torres hops into his rickety, dilapidated plane, The Bullet, to try and even the odds.
However, a final fourth story not only reveals that their clashes with the Yautja aren’t yet over, but it reveals more about the Predator culture than we’ve ever seen before.
When it comes to this new phase of Predator movies, Dan Trachtenberg just gets it. While numerous sequels threw themselves into trying to match the stylised, perfected machismo of the burly original, the Prey director swooped right in and nailed the franchise by realising one, basic truth: the Predators are naturally one of the most versatile villains in sci-fi history insofar that you can put them in any situation in any period in history and you have a near-limitless stockpile of possibilities. In an effort to make up for nearly 40 years of missed opportunities, Predator: Killer Of Killers wallops us over the head with three completely separate time periods for the price of one.
The result is actually something quite special that follows in the footsteps of recent animated shows such as Arcane, Love Death + Robots and Secret Level to take the Predator mythos to places its never been outside of the comics that Dark Horse once published. For a long time devotee of the mean green (blooded) mothers from outer space, there’s something incredibly cathartic about the franchise finally fully embracing the period route after Prey and the fact that it’s proved to be well worth the wait is just an extra trophy for Trachtenberg’s case.
The secret behind the better entries in the Predator cannon is that the human stuff should be strong enough to sustain its own movie before a hulking, dreadlocked thrill killer rudely plonks itself into the middle of the existing drama and the trio of tales manage this nicely while sticking to their own, distinct styles. The Shield contains all the stark brutality you’d expect from a Viking story and the section set in Feudal Japan manages all the slick fluidity that comes a tale that features a ninja and a samurai, but it’s the WWII story that stands out as the boldest as its dogfighting, Red Baron, Yautja utterly changes the game of what a Predator hunt can truly be.
At times I was reminded of the franchise expanding stories of the Animatrix (remember that?) and there will be at least one moment throughout this movie where you’ll have a slight pang of regret that each of these stories wasn’t each delivered as their own, live action movie, to create a whole new arm of the franchise. Others may bemoan that each story only has a twenty minute runtime each, or that the whole enterprise is nothing more than an extended commercial for the upcoming Predator: Badlands (also directed by Trachtenberg), however, I have to argue that such complaints are a bit unfounded when you consider that we’ve had two of the best movies of the entire franchise within a three year period. Besides, when it comes to feral bloodletting, new Predator toys to enjoy (the arm-mounted sonic jackhammer is a keeper) and an honest to God trip to what I suspect may be the Yautja homeworld, Killer Of Killers is essentially the Predator animated experience I’ve always wanted.
The movie carries some nifty fan service too with multitudes of callbacks to previous sequels popping out everywhere. That damn ornate pistol from both Predator 2 and Prey pops up again, the notion that the Yautja have been harvesting formidable humans (a la Predators and the recent Marvel comics) has been expanded on and we even get Louis Ozawa (the Yakuza from Predators) returning to voice both Kenji and Kiyoshi and Michael Biehn finally joining Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen in that elite group that’s had the misfortune to be bothered by both the Predator, the Alien and the Terminator.
Don’t let its direct to streaming, animated visage fool you; Predator: Killer Of Killers is not only a worthy entry to the Predator universe that simultaneously manages to keep things simple while expanding what the franchise can be capable of, it’s actually far more satisfying than some of the live action entries too. Bring on the Badlands, baby.
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