People have been getting the Predator franchise all wrong for nearly 35 years. With the exception of some (admittedly fun) comic crossovers (Batman Versus Predator, Aliens Vs. Predator, etc.), the series’ legacy has all but entirely been mired in a swamp of lackluster sequels, middling video games, and abortive spin-off attempts.
It wasn’t until 2022’s Prey that the series was resuscitated from the brink of irrelevance, thanks entirely to director Dan Trachtenberg’s choice to zero in on the one detail that so many others before him had either obfuscated or ignored outright when tackling the franchise. The events of John McTiernan’s original 1987 film were not an unprecedented fluke, but just one example of the Yautja, a warrior race of ruthless alien hunters with advanced technology, using Earth as a proving ground to test the mettle of its fiercest killers.
Predator: Killer of Killers, Trachtenberg’s animated follow-up to Prey and the first of two films in the franchise set to release this year, leans wholesale into that premise with giddy aplomb. Told across three vignettes set in different time periods, the film embraces the franchise’s renewed form as a historical fiction anthology, pitting a trio of warriors, assassins, and stalwart survivors from across the expanse of human history against a cadre of Yautja vying for the ultimate title of “Killer of Killers.”
Each vignette, clocking in at a little over 20 minutes, excels at establishing the emotional and narrative stakes of its respective protagonists while following through on the promise of seeing their wits, brawn, and guile locked in mortal combat with otherworldly adversaries from beyond the stars. The first segment, “The Shield,” follows Ursa (Lindsay LaVanchy), a Viking shieldmaiden who embarks on a bloody campaign to avenge her father’s usurpation at the hands of a Krivich invader in 841 A.D. The second, “The Sword,” centers on Kenji and Kiyoshi (both voiced by Louis Ozawa Changchien), twin siblings in 1609 who are pitted against one another for the right to inherit their father’s title of Shogun. The final story, “The Bullet,” follows John Torres (Rick Gonzalez), an American mechanic and aspiring fighter pilot whose cruiser is assaulted by a hostile UFO in the Pacific theater circa 1941.
While best viewed sequentially for strictly narrative reasons, each piece in Predator: Killer Of Killers offers something unique and gratifying in its own way, either in the form of dramatic action set pieces or in their visual presentation. There’s little to no fat to be found in this film; it’s a lean, mean action-thriller that threads the needle between speculative storytelling and brutal sci-fi carnage. Many of the action sequences—particularly the first two segments, which include scenes where Ursa bludgeons her way into a stronghold while wielding a pair of shields, and a bristling, fleet-footed face-off between Kenji and Kiyoshi atop a castle—inspire comparisons to 2023’s Blue Eye Samurai for their frenetic violence and novel cinematography.
That comparison isn’t all that far off. While co-produced by 20th Century Animation and Davis Entertainment, the bulk of the animation work was performed by The Third Floor, a previs studio whose previous credits include Mad Max: Fury Road and Avengers: Infinity War. Each of the Yautja designs in Predator: Killer Of Killers boasts a form of technology or skill set that uniquely makes them the, well, apex predator of their respective era. The Predator seen in The Shield is a muscular brute with a propulsive sonic emitter grafted onto its severed arm; The Sword’s Predator is a skulking ninja-like hunter with a retractable spear and serrated chain-sickle; and The Bullet’s Predator is a crackshot pilot boasting an arsenal of weaponry that feels specifically tailored to prey on the hapless aviators of a less-advanced planet. Each of their fighting styles is a perfect match for their opponents, delivering a series of encounters that both stand out on their own yet perfectly compliment one another. Likewise, the aesthetic of the stories are cohesive as a whole, albeit each boasting visual effects that reflect the climate and terrain of their respective locales.
Perhaps the biggest departure in this respect is in the film’s final act. Predator: Killer Of Killers culminates in a gladiatorial brawl that features not one but two callbacks to Prey as it lays the foundation for what one can only assume is a narrative throughline that will later be expanded upon in Trachtenberg’s upcoming live-action film Predator: Badlands. The film’s climax leaves little doubt that the reins of the franchise are well-placed in Trachtenberg’s capable hands for the foreseeable future. But even if the future of Predator were only animated films of this caliber from here on out, it’d be well worth the excruciating three-decade wait for someone to finally come along and crack the series.
Director: Dan Trachtenberg, Joshua Wassung (co-director)
Writer: Micho Robert Rutare
Starring: Lindsay LaVanchy, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Rick Gonzalez, Michael Biehn
Release Date: June 6, 2025 (Hulu)
