The Franchise Goes Animated To Spectacular Results

Dare I suggest that studios tend to overthink franchises these days? With all due respect to the “Predator” movies — which I happen to enjoy more often than not, thank you very much — it’s not exactly the most difficult concept to grasp. You gather a bunch of overmatched human characters in an interesting setting, throw a hyper-violent Yautja or two into the mix, and sit back and watch the carnage unfold. It’s as simple and straightforward a premise as it gets, standing firm against the typical studio thought process of making things unnecessarily convoluted with each and every installment. That’s not to say it’s always worked out that way in practice, of course. After “Predator 2” took the action from Central American to the concrete jungle of Los Angeles to mixed results, the one-two punch of “Predators” and especially “The Predator” in the 2010s mostly just helped define the limitations of this material. (If you’re feeling brave, there’s the bizarro “Alien vs Predator” sub-franchise and its diminishing returns to deal with, too.) A reimagining and change of pace were most definitely in order, and Dan Trachtenberg responded with an exclamation point through the back-to-basics, no-frills thrills of “Prey.”

Trachtenberg wasn’t quite done performing minor miracles, as it turns out, and his latest one (co-directed by Josh Wassung) comes in the most unexpected of packages – “Predator: Killer of Killers.” A direct-to-TV animated movie for a series that’s never ventured into those waters before has typically been a risky proposition, running the gamut from something as bold and influential as The Wachowski Sisters’ “The Animatrix” to, uh, the forgettable nonsense of 2008’s “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.” For an IP that had only recently rebounded in a major way, the idea of following the widespread acclaim of “Prey” with an anthology film dumped on Hulu felt like a curious choice at best. At worst, it might have given fans and wider audiences alike reason to pause.

Instead, the future of “Predator” has never felt brighter in the wake of “Killer of Killers.” Unlike the Yautja’s active camouflage, all those promising trailers have proven to be no illusion at all. Trachtenberg’s precise direction and attention to detail continue to be some of the shrewdest weapons this franchise has ever had at its disposal, making for a spectacular tableau of action sequences and grounded emotion to rival any of its live-action counterparts. But it’s the dazzling work of Wassung’s animation studio The Third Floor (a visual effects company founded by ex-ILM employees making their animated film debut, mind you) that ends up stealing the show. With the two joining forces, “Killer of Killers” is as vital, brutal, and visually stunning as any “Predator” film before and a thoroughly unique addition to the franchise.

Many a “Predator” fan has daydreamed about how freakin’ cool it would be to set movies in various moments of Earth history; luckily, “Killer of Killers” is here to show why we were absolutely correct to do so. Where “Prey” used its 1700s America setting to full effect, co-directors Dan Trachtenberg and Josh Wassung ensure that their new film truly lives up to its billing as an anthology. It’s one thing for writer Micho Robert Rutare’s screenplay to split the action into three distinct chapters (plus a fourth that’s simply too good to spoil here), all taking place in different historical periods and occupying very distinct genre spaces — a Viking epic of mythic proportions, a decades-spanning saga in feudal Japan, and an aerial World War II drama. It’s another thing entirely to tell multi-act, character-based stories within each self-contained arc … all of which are already compelling works of human drama on their own, long before the invisible Predator observers make their presence known and transform each story into the purest distillation of sci-fi schlock imaginable (complimentary).

Clocking in at a tight 84-minute runtime, “Killer of Killers” immediately grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go. Counterintuitively, every segment exercises an impressive amount of patience. In the capable hands of this creative team, it eventually becomes clear why they choose to highlight the mother/son dynamic between Viking warriors Ursa (voiced by Lindsay LaVanchy) and Anders (Damien Haas), the bitter rivalry between samurai brothers Kenji and Kiyoshi (Louis Ozawa), and the high-flying dreams of aspiring ace pilot John Torres (Rick Gonzalez). But by steadily getting us invested in the human figures at the heart of these vignettes, the creative team gives themselves plenty of breathing room to unleash ungodly amounts of gore and violence — and, most importantly, make it feel meaningful. In short, “Killer of Killers” puts countless bigger-budget blockbusters to shame and turns into a lean, mean, blood-soaked machine.

And when I say “blood-soaked,” I truly mean it. Had lesser talents been in charge, the sheer amount of carnage and mayhem here could’ve easily resulted in a nonstop, empty-calorie action fest. You know the type: The more it drags on, the more of a mind-numbing slog it becomes. “Killer of Killers” deftly avoids this trap at every possible turn. Each set piece feels fine-tuned for the medium of animation and maximized for full impact, delivering viscerally nasty sequences of beheadings, dismemberments, impalements, beheadings, and more beheadings. (Seriously, folks, there are so many beheadings.) Yet, tonally, it never once tips over into upsetting or cynical territory. Fully-rounded characters exist for far nobler and dignified purposes than to end up as simple Yautja fodder … even when many do, in fact, end up as Yautja fodder. Trachtenberg and Wassung carefully pick and choose moments to inject heart and humor into the middle of the mayhem, livening up what could’ve been a grim and joyless affair. Rest assured — at no point does this film forget to be anything less than a fan-friendly, crowd-pleasing romp.

With all that said, it takes little effort to picture the downsides of such a stripped-down and streamlined approach to this streaming release. After all, rival platform Netflix has achieved algorithmic dominance with precisely the kind of fast-paced slop designed to bludgeon viewers into complete submission. The artistic and creative confidence apparent in every frame of this “Predator” movie, however, couldn’t feel like more of an antidote to its own Hulu release. Not only is the film’s “Arcane”-indebted animation a sumptuous feast for the eyes, but Trachtenberg and Wassung bring a genuinely inspired sense of blocking and staging to the proceedings, seamlessly carrying the eye from one sequence to the next. In stark contrast to the rise of “second screen” brain rot and clunky dialogue meant to catch streaming audiences up on whatever they missed while scrolling on their phones, “Killer of Killers” demands your undivided attention every step of the way lest you fall behind. In fact, one standout segment remains almost completely wordless from beginning to end — both a testament to the trust the creative team places in our collective attention span, and an act of throwing the gauntlet down and letting one painterly visual after another do all the talking.

That’s probably why it feels like such an egregious waste to banish such grand, cinematic verve to the digital wastelands of Hulu. Full disclosure: I was fortunate to catch a proper theatrical press screening for the purposes of this review. And, like “Prey” before it, the craftsmanship on display only emphasizes its big-screen bona fides all the more. Though some may be tempted to dismiss the (relatively) small-scale nature of this project, its ambition actively punches above its weight class. Classic touchstones and references include everything from Kurosawa to Spielberg to “Star Wars.” And though the animation may be two dimensional, the action frequently takes place in all three — throwing all sorts of clever staging, neat reversals, and unexpected setups/payoffs at viewers to keep them on their toes. Animation is cinema and worthy of respect, to quote Guillermo del Toro, and “Killer of Killers” is a perfect reminder why.

Even that glaring misstep isn’t enough to take the shine off the whole enterprise, however. Popping with vivid colors, immersive sound design, and style to spare, “Killer of Killers” sets a high bar for any movie in the series to follow … including Tractenberg’s own “Badlands,” a new live-action entry due to hit theaters later this year. To anyone bracing themselves for a blatant IP-grab effort, the final result is as emphatic a counterpoint as it gets. If Trachtenberg was auditioning to take a leading role in the “Predator” franchise with “Prey,” then “Killer of Killers” proves beyond a doubt why he’s the man for the job. At a time when franchise fatigue has rarely felt more prevalent, leave it to the most pleasantly surprising film of the year to point the way forward.

/Film Rating: 8 out of 10

“Predator: Killer of Killers” streams on Hulu June 6, 2025.