This year, 20th Century Studios gives us not one but two Predator movies, beginning with the animated anthology film Predator: Killer of Killers co-directed by Prey’s Dan Trachtenberg and Joshua Wassung. The latter marks his feature-length directorial debut after cutting his teeth making a short film and handling visualizations for movies like Pokémon: Detective Pikachu and It: Chapter Two.
The anthology film covers three stories in different timelines, tracing way back to the Viking era in 841 AD subtitled The Shield as we are introduced to an angry, middle-aged Norse warrior queen Ursa (voiced by Lindsay LaVanchy). She’s on the quest for vengeance to take down her enemy but her mission is somehow interrupted after a Predator appears, forcing her to re-direct her attention to the otherworldly invader. This leads to a bloody fight against the more advanced Predator while trying her best to protect her son, Anders (Damien Haas). The first chapter moves at a brisk pace and the story is as simple as it goes as Trachtenberg and Wassung are more interested in showcasing how the human protagonist overcomes such an adversary as formidable as the Predator.
I enjoy the fluidity of the action sequences and the R-rating means we get to see plenty of blood, gore and violence. The fight is brutal and the Netflix’s Arcane-like visuals are uniquely stunning to look at. Ursa is the type of classic, no-nonsense warrior queen character that I wish the story would have spent time developing her arc, much like how Trachtenberg did his best to have me rooting for Amber Midthunder’s Comanche warrior Naru in Prey. I understand each chapter has a limited running time due to the nature of the anthology format. But the perfunctory approach in presenting the character makes it difficult for me to stay invested in Ursa and her son’s plight while facing the seemingly unstoppable Predator.
Predator: Killer of Killers soon moves on to the next chapter subtitled The Sword and this time, it takes place during the feudal-era Japan as the story zeroes in a rivalry between two brothers, Kenji and Kiyoshi (both characters are voiced by Louis Ozawa). Their grudge leads them to a fight-to-the-death match, only to be disrupted by the presence of a Predator. The second chapter fares better here with its predominantly dialogue-free approach speaks volumes in evoking a sense of dramatic tension. The visuals are both lyrical and gorgeously rendered while the battle of clanging swords is exquisitely choreographed.
It gets better with the third chapter in The Bullet, which is set during the World War II era in Florida and the North Atlantic in the early 1940s. A young Latino mechanic named Torres (Rick Gonzalez) lands an opportunity to fly a fighter plane and engages in a dogfight against a state-of-the-art spaceship with a Predator hunting down the pilots. The mid-air action is thrilling, showcasing everything from the fighter plane’s evasive maneuver to the hail of bullets and the way the Predator takes down a human pilot in an uncompromisingly brutal fashion. What makes the third chapter more intriguing is how quick-witted Torres turns out to be amid the chaos while facing an unusual enemy. I like how he improvises every possible situation in an attempt to outwit the Predator’s spaceship. At one point, he finds out something important about the Predator’s spaceship, allowing him to come up with a risky, though ingenious plan. The third chapter also features Michael Biehn, who voiced the grizzled squad leader, Vandy and here’s the interesting trivia: He is now joining the late Bill Paxton in crossing over the three iconic movie franchises from Terminator to Alien and Predator.
Each of these three different stories is connected to each other, bringing them all together to an action-packed finale. Watch out for some Easter eggs, which I’m sure fans of Predator movies will enjoy spotting them in this anthology film. No doubt the idea of devising three different time periods in each chapter brings out thematic and historical significances from the Viking to the samurai and a World War II pilot’s point of view and how they face a Predator.
And while it may have been a hit-and-miss affair, particularly during the first chapter but Predator: Killer of Killers remains an ambitious effort worth checking out. There’s another movie coming out later this year, currently slated for a November release with Trachtenberg returning to the live-action feature titled Predator: Badlands.
