Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)

Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)

This is an American animated action and science fiction anthology film for adults, directed by Dan Trachtenberg, co-directed by Joshua Wassung and written by Micho Robert Rutare.

A rather original anthology that revisits the Predator franchise. Produced by 20th Century Studios, 20th Century Animation and Davis Entertainment, it is the sixth film and eighth instalment in the Predator franchise. In October 2024, Trachtenberg, who had already directed Prey (2022), made a secret film in the franchise, which was to be released before Predator: Badlands (2025), which is now the ninth instalment in the franchise.

The success of Prey reassured Disney (and Hulu, which distributes it in the US) that they can still capitalise on the Predator licence. So they’re not going to pass up the opportunity to do so. Those who hated Prey will just say, ‘It’s more of the same. Welcome to Disney!’

So… what can I say?

Once again, like a broken record, I’m going to reiterate that the first one remains the best and the undisputed champion. Basically, if you’ve seen the original Predator, the one from 1987, that’s more than enough. Although I also love the third one, from 2010.

This animated feature film has some very good and some very bad elements. Which makes it very average! If it had been a live-action film, it would have been ridiculous. But since it’s a cartoon, it’s okay!

I didn’t adore anything about it! The characters are interesting, but not necessarily believable. The aviator is quite annoying. The first three stories come together to create the fourth… in a very illogical way.

The drawings aren’t always exceptional. Sometimes, I felt like they were filming comic book panels. But that’s because hybrid animation is in vogue, combining computer graphics and traditional drawing to create a rather immersive visual effect. But still… it’s not my favourite! Visually, I find it breaks the momentum.

Predator: Killer of Killers is not a film I will watch again. I’m not even sure if I’m glad I saw it. It’s far from essential to the universe of one of cinema’s most stylish, terrifying and interesting monsters.

As much as I loved actress Michelle Trachtenberg (R.I.P.), Dan Trachtenberg has never made a perfect film! 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) was a failure, but I’m not objective, since I hate all the films in the Cloverfield trilogy.
Here, we bring together a Viking, a ninja from feudal Japan and a Second World War pilot, and they face the killer of killers. So? Interested??

It sounds like pure fan fantasy. A clash with the alien hunter in Viking times, a duel between the beast and a samurai, then the highlight of the show in World War II. You have to admit, it sounds tempting. Unfortunately, the contract is only half fulfilled.

The fights are as bloody as you could wish for, and care has been taken to create very different atmospheres between 9th-century Scandinavia and 17th-century feudal Japan. Finally, the main characters have classic but perfectly drawn trajectories. At best, we shudder with surprise at the very heavy-handed approach of a Predator who is usually much more subtle. This is clearly not for long-time fans.

Yes, the film is incredibly violent, with a story that could be summed up in two lines for a few more brainless teenagers. Then we wonder why young people are violent, eh?!

That said, those early fans will also think that for decades the monster has been getting weaker and weaker, compared to the very first one that decimated an entire team and left one completely broken. But that’s just one point of view.

The three segments are unrelated, apart from the fight against a different Predator each time. But the grouping of the three must have been invented by fourteen-year-old screenwriters. What else can be written that is more intelligent about such a silly animated film?

I wasn’t expecting anything, and yet I’m still disappointed!!!

Spoilers: a woman gets away with a huge stroke of luck: a wave that explodes entire ships ricochets off her small wooden shield, a ship pulverised by a small aeroplane engine, a clumsy human who knows, almost instinctively, how to use alien technology…

No, I couldn’t suspend my disbelief enough to make sense of this story, because it’s riddled with details that take us out of the contract.

2,5