It has actually been a few weeks now since I watched Predator: Killer Of Killers, an animated entry in the franchise that seemed to delight many fans. I found a decent amount here to enjoy, but, if I'm being completely honest, I also found the very last act to be quite forgettable. I'm also a bit reluctant to give so much praise to something so obviously designed to please fans. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with pleasing fans, but there are times when this feels as if it is moving in a direction that is allowing the fans to think they have too much say and control in the direction of the franchise.
What you get here is an anthology that makes use of some ideas bandied around after the success of Prey. There are four main sections - The Shield, The Sword, The Bullet, and The Battle. The Shield is centred around a Viking warrior named Ursa (voiced by Lindsay LaVanchy). The Sword is all about a Japanese rōnin (voiced by Louis Ozawa) battling his brother. The Bullet shows is John J. Torres (voiced by Rick Gonzalez), a mechanic who ends up piloting a fighter jet in World War II. All of the main characters find themselves in trouble when they encounter a Predator, and things tie together nicely in last act.
Written by Micho Robert Rutare, developing a story co-written with director Dan Trachtenberg (sharing his directing duties with Joshua Wassung), there's nothing wrong with the ideas here. The animation is generally well done, although it took me a bit of time to get used to the style, the voice cast do good work, and it's not a film I would criticise when it comes to the technical side of things. It's just a shame that all of the anthology segments show the potential that everyone seemed aware of after the success of Prey, yet also shows a disappointing lack of confidence in great premises that could have easily been fleshed out into at least three separate features.
Although LaVanchy, Ozawa (who voices both of the main characters in his main segment), and Gonzalez all do what is asked of them, the dialogue is very much secondary to the set-pieces that feel ripped from the pages of some top-tier comics. It's good to have voice performances not distracting viewers with any familiarity (stunt casting would have been an irritation), although a small role for Michael Biehn subsequently feels a bit misjudged, and in line with just another fan note . . . adding an extra name that can be said in answer to a popular movie trivia question from the past couple of decades.
This is good. It was also a welcome surprise when it appeared on streaming, giving fans something to enjoy until the next live-action Predator movie hits cinema screens later this year. It's not great though. A couple of the big moments don't land as well as expected, and I have a niggling feeling that the very end of the film kind of undermines the endings of a few of the other movies in this franchise.
Some people won't watch this just because it's animated. They'll miss out. They won't miss out on anything unmissable though. This is fun and cool, but it's also arguably more disposable than any of the movies featuring this iconic sci-fi beastie (even the ones that are subjectively worse).
7/10
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