Predator: Killer of Killers Movie Review – The Franchise Finally Finds Its Spine Again

Remember when we all had to pretend that the Predator franchise was still relevant and cool? Yeah, those days are over. Predator: Killer of Killers, which arrives on Hulu and Disney+ today, isn’t just good, it’s shockingly good. The R-rated, three-part anthology film, which many thought would be a throwaway film for fans until Badlands arrives, pits the galaxy’s favourite alien dreadlocked hunter against a Viking shieldmaiden, a pair of samurai siblings, and a WWII fighter pilot in beautiful, bloody and gory animation. Yes, Dan Trachtenberg has done the impossible. He’s made the Predator cool again.

Each story in Killer of Killers has its own flavour and theme. The first short, The Shield, is set in Viking times and follows Ursa, a shieldmaiden who’s trying to turn her son into a warrior while avenging her father. Mid-battle, after they’ve already fought off a horde of enemies, the Predator arrives like the third party in a boss fight.

Then there’s The Sword, set in 1609 Japan. Twin siblings Kenji and Kiyoshi are duelling to inherit their father’s title of Shogun. There’s real tension, honour, and emotional weight here. Then, bam, in comes the Yautja with his retractable spear, trying to snatch the W when everyone’s already nearly dead.

The Bullet, set during WWII, follows John Torres, an American mechanic turned fighter pilot who gets caught in an aerial dogfight against a Predator ship with weapons way beyond Earth’s tech. It’s fast, chaotic, and genuinely intense. Here, we see something we’ve never seen in the franchise before: a fight in the skies.

But what makes Predator: Killer of Killers work is that it isn’t just action for action’s sake. The Shield tackles legacy. The Sword dives into family and rivalry. The Bullet is about courage in the face of hopeless odds.

The film’s epic climax ties together all three stories in a way that we’ve never really seen before, and without tripping over itself. Killer of Killers cleverly pulls back the curtain and ventures off into an area never explored in any of the previous movies. It’s here that the filmmakers reveal clever callbacks, Easter Eggs, and a finale that’ll make longtime fans grin.

The real MVPs of the film are the animators, of course. They’ve done a great job of ensuring that every single frame draws viewers into the world. From blood-drenched Viking battles to foggy Japanese forests, it’s all so meticulously crafted you’ll forget you’re watching pixels die. And die they do. Pretty horribly, actually. The filmmakers never shy away from the brutal kills. Heads roll, limbs fly, and the gore goes full Mortal Kombat.

What also seals it is how each Predator is uniquely designed and adapted to their era. The Viking-era Yautja is a hulking brute. The samurai-era hunter moves like a ninja. And the WWII Predator is a sharpshooter in the sky. None of them feels recycled.

If Predator: Killer of Killers is a glimpse into the future of the franchise, we finally have a reason to be excited about Predator again.

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