Predator: Killer of Killers, 2025.
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg and Joshua Wassung.
Featuring the voice talents of Lindsay LaVanchy, Louis Ozawa, Rick Gonzalez, and Michael Biehn.
SYNOPSIS:
Three of the fiercest warriors in human history become prey to the ultimate killer of killers.
Director Dan Trachtenberg is 2/2 in cooking up fascinating premises utilizing Predator lore. Frustratingly, with Predator: Killer of Killers, it takes until the last 20 minutes to make the concept worthwhile; otherwise, it functions as a relatively bland anthology of different cultures encountering the heat-seeking Predator creatures, only coming alive during the gory parts.
The entire project comes across as an animated extension of Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey, centered on a Comanche tribe’s battle against the titular monster, this time venturing into other civilizations and eras. In theory, that’s fine, especially as a placeholder to his upcoming Predator: Badlands, but there is also a half-baked feel to everything here, ranging from the generic stories and protagonists of each anthology section right down to the sequel-bait ending and post-credits stinger.
It’s also no surprise that Disney likely didn’t want to commit to such an anthology in live-action form, which would have inflated the budget; however, the animation here is serviceable at best. There is a blending of 2D and 3D components, with some highly detailed character models and facial expressions, despite the intentional cartoonish approach. However, the environments themselves are lacking in richness, whether set in Old Norse times, World War II, or 18th-century Japan.
The film never shakes the feeling that all of this came to fruition via cutting corners, which is insulting considering Dan Trachtenberg has demonstrated he knows what he’s doing with this franchise. That’s also not to say Trachtenberg (co-directing alongside Joshua Wassung with a screenplay from Micho Robert Rutare) is flawless in his creative decisions here. Again, the structure doesn’t quite work since it is a series of short stories that takes until the surprise final act to engage with the Killer of Killers concept. Those stories themselves – ranging from Valkyries and samurai and soldiers briefly dealing with personal drama before being thrust into a life-or-death situation against a Predator – are entirely forgettable and can’t stand on their own as Prey succeeded.
When the above obligations are out of the way and it becomes about survival and carnage (each anthology section is modeled after a specific type of battle prop related to the era, such as shields, swords, and bullets), those cat-and-mouse games regularly thrill even without much to chew on. Although there is minimal dialogue, the voice acting from Lindsay LaVanchy, Louis Ozawa, and Rick Gonzalez is solid for their respective characters, but no instantly iconic badass is born here, similar to Amber Midthunder’s breakout role in Prey. Of course, the presence of Michael Biehn is pleasant and doesn’t come across as aggressive fan service since it’s a small role unrelated to his previous character.
The fact remains that much of the table-setting for the showdown introducing the Killer of Killers concept is somewhat blank and often disengaging. There isn’t enough substance to the scenarios, with bursts of bloody action not enough to sustain interest in investing in what this is until it becomes clear what is happening. Predator: Killer of Killers is dead for the majority of its running time (and it’s already only 84 minutes), but that climactic jolt is almost worth trudging through the tedious hour.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd
