Predator: Killer of Killers Review

 

Alright, a new Predator movie! Let's get right to it!

Predator: Killer of Killers is an adult animated sci-fi action horror anthology and it's also sixth film in the franchise, eighth if you count the two Alien vs. Predator flicks. While Hulu distributed, production was done by 20th Century Studios, 20th Century Animation, Davis Entertainment, and The Third Floor, Inc. Dan Trachtenberg directed alongside Joshua Wassung and Dan also wrote the stories with Micho Robert Rutare.

The story is, we have three stories of three fierce fighters. One a viking raider on a bloody quest for vengeance, one a ninja fighting against his brother in a battle for succession, and the last being a World War II pilot who's out to prove himself. Three different warriors, three different journeys, three different time periods, but they all of one thing in common. They'll have to fight for their lives against the ultimate killer.

Initial Reaction

At first I had no plan to review this, not because I thought it was gonna be bad it's just I didn't know it was a thing. I didn't know about it until I was reading up on another and probably more well known Predator film that being Predator: Badlands. So because of reading about that movie I came across this one and waited for June 6th to come around.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

The middle ground stems from the story. Now let's get to the good stuff. All of the stories offer different but exciting tales. Each segment gives our characters something. For Ursa (the viking) it's revenge, for Kenji (the ninja) it's honor, and for Torres (the WW2 pilot) it's about survival. Each story is highly entertaining and I enjoyed each of them. But the slight issue comes in the form of the final act. There's little bit of tonal shift, I found it especially noticeable with Torres. Now sure he had his funny moments in his story segment [The Bullet], but during the final fight he was way too comedic.

Pros

Let's start off with the thing we all come to see when it comes to Predator films, the action! Folks this brings you plenty of bloody and gorey goodness. The action is a blast. When Ursa goes to the castle to kill the man who killed her father, she has this awesome shield-wielding and slashing scene. I loved it! There's also more creativity with the Predators and their weaponry. One Predator fights with sonic hand cannon, another fights with some badass chain sickles and lastly we get a Predator in an aerial dog fight. Then there's the pacing. Now it's not long to big with, clocking in at an hour and thirty minutes, but I didn't feel like I was sitting on my couch for that. Even with commercials (by the way those were fun to have with your movie. Isn't streaming just totally the better alternative to cable? 😒) I didn't feel like I was watching for an hour. It felt more like only a couple of minutes went by. The last thing I'll praise is the animation. The blending between 3D depth and 2D textures was great. Here's some screenshots I was able to take.

These alone are visually stunning. But what you'll also like about them is how each environment is different. For "The Shield" it's very moody and frost laden, "The Sword" is mostly told during a beautiful night setting but also incorporated daylight that had ink wash inspiration. And "The Bullet" is filled with a fiery yet vibrant look to it. Combined that with fluid movements and you've got a great looking movie.

While it has some problems, I was still surprised with how good this was and I'm greatly I became aware of it during research of Badlands.

My final rating is, Good.

That'll wrap everything up for tonight. Come back on Monday, Jun 9th, for my review of the John Wick spin-off movie, Ballerina. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.