A visceral anthology that mixes brilliance, brutality, and a bit of chaos.
When Prey came out on Hulu in 2022, it brought a dying series back to life. Prey showed that the Predator could still be smart, lean, and dangerous, even after years of subpar sequels and movies that failed to meet expectations. In the year 2025, Trachtenberg goes all out again with Predator: Killer of Killers, an animated collection of short stories that isn’t afraid to try something new.
It is a big step into stylized animation and the first time the Predator world has been explored in this way. Disney’s 20th Century Studios made it. The movie wants to be a mix of The Animatrix and Love, Death, and Robots. It combines three different stories from different times in history that all revolve around the same scary idea: what if the galaxy’s most dangerous hunter followed humanity’s greatest fighters through time?
Some fans were not sure at first. The animation style and tone of the ads seemed off. It makes sense after you sit down and watch it work. It’s much smoother, more fluid, and movie-like than the ads made it look. This isn’t just another Predator movie; Trachtenberg has reimagined the franchise’s DNA in a creative way.
At its core, Predator: Killer of Killers is a collection of three separate stories about life and violence that come together to make one brutal ending. Each story looks at how the Predator mythos connects with the fighting spirit of people from different times. The first story, “The Shield,” is set in Scandinavia during the time of the Vikings. Ursa, a tough Norse fighter, sends her son Anders into battle to get revenge for the death of her father.
It leads to pure blood and anger. The tone is set as soon as the Predator comes down from the sky: primitive, wild, and unyielding. It’s a great beginning that sets the tone for how violent and emotional the collection is. Under all the bloodshed is a theme that is surprisingly deep: why do people fight? And for the Predator, it’s the thrill of the hunt. For Ursa, it’s getting even.
Personally, I think that the best story in the collection is the second one, “The Sword”, which takes place in feudal Japan. Two brothers, the sons of a warrior, are torn apart by duty and honor. Years later, the brothers who had grown apart fight each other again, but this time they are stopped by a new enemy: a Predator who wants to see how good they are.
Following this, a stunning fight ensues that feels both personal and operatic. Since there isn’t much dialogue, the story is mostly told through images and atmosphere. This animation really shines, with fields that are wet with rain, cherry blossoms, and the way the Predator’s hiding makes steel shine. It’s beautiful and scary, and it might be one of the best animation scenes in the franchise’s history.
“The Bullet,” the last short, takes place in World War II and is about a brave pilot named Torres who is attacked by a Predator ship that destroys his unit. This part is more like pulp action, with dogfights, chaos in the air, and moves that defy gravity. It’s crazy, not believable, and fun, even if it feels more like Fast & Furious than Predator at times.
Michael Biehn voices Torres’s superior officer, which is a nice nod to his action movie career. It has the weakest story of the three, but it’s still full of energy and old-school heroics. The plot then takes a surprising turn: all three warriors escape their fights, but they all wake up hundreds of years later in cryostasis, trapped on the Predator homeworld.
They are thrown into a gladiator cage and made to fight for the entertainment of a huge Warlord Predator. He is the real “Killer of Killers,” and the last person standing will face him. It’s a bold, story-expanding ending that literally ties the collection together, even if it makes people disagree. Some people think it’s an exciting buildup for Predator: Badlands, which is coming out later this year, while others think it’s too much and not necessary.
When the Warlord Predator comes out of the shadows, trophies and spines all over him, it’s a legendary moment, even if it doesn’t make sense.
There is a different tone and culture in each part, with Norse myth, samurai honor, and WWII grit, but they all ask the same basic question: What happens when the world’s worst killers meet their match?
This movie isn’t your typical “soldiers vs. monster in the jungle” Predator movie; it has a lot of different themes. Each warrior’s fight isn’t just about staying alive; it’s also about honor, grief, and defiance. Thanks to the way the collection is set up, Trachtenberg is free to explore the Predator as a cosmic judge testing the limits of human cruelty.
The story about old Japan makes the movie better. Its emotional tension, choreography, and silent story give it a poetic edge that isn’t often seen in this series. Ursa’s story adds sadness and human weight, and Torres’s chaotic ending gives you pure adrenaline.
The main plot in Predator: Killer of Killers, in which the Predators collect the deadliest warriors from mankind, is controversial but undeniably brave. It adds to the story in ways that fans have been guessing about since the end of Predator 2, which hinted that the species had been to Earth before.
It seems like someone has finally remembered what was interesting about the Predator: not just its weapons, but also its core ideas.
Predator: Killer of Killers is beautiful to look at. The animation uses Unreal Engine, but it doesn’t have that fake, uncanny valley look that a lot of Netflix CGI shows have. It’s more painterly, textured, and strangely grounded than that. Lighting is very important, making the Viking raids bright and fiery, the alien tech shiny and glowing, and the samurai duels misty and dark.
Each time period feels different, and the color schemes reflect that. For example, cold blues and reds show how cruel the Norse were, while deep golds and blacks show how tragic feudal Japan was, and steel grays show how chaotic WWII was. Each fight scene has a technique that is razor-sharp—dynamic but easy to follow, even when chaos is going on.
Some parts are hard to believe, like when Torres flies his plane sideways through a town, but animation gives you more freedom than live-action ever could. In stylized form, something that might seem silly in real life sounds like an opera. It’s the kind of excess that makes you smile instead of frown.
When animated, the impossible turns into something exciting instead of silly, and Killer of Killers really hits its stride in that way.
Predator: Killer of Killers’s smaller successes are its sound design, which is also one of its few flaws. i have noticed that the sound mixing is strangely low, and that background noise can sometimes drown out the conversation. Still, it’s beautiful when the score builds up.
Sarah Schachner, a composer who has worked on games like Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty, takes Alan Silvestri’s famous “Predator” theme and changes it in a subtle way by adding familiar beats to new versions that change with the times.
The Predator theme can be heard in the Viking chants, the Japanese songs played on the shamisen, and the WWII brass. This reminds you that the hunter is always close, no matter where you are. The clicks, the cloaking hum, and the famous roar that are used to identify the Predator are all perfect. And when the final fight starts on Yautja Prime, the music builds up until it’s full-on operatic chaos.
Each scene has the bones of the original Predator theme beating beneath it, like a heartbeat of danger that never stops.
Predator: Killer of Killers is a bold experiment that adds to the legend and sometimes goes too far. It’s both a success and a disappointment. Even though some people won’t like how it ends, this is the best Predator movie since the first one.
Putting together an anthology gives a brand that has been stuck in repetition new life. When Trachtenberg looks at history through the eyes of the Predator, he finds new stories to tell and new heroes to fight. The animation lets you be creative in ways that live-action movies could never do, even if the ending doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Some fans will think the last act is too much like Marvel, with jokes and heroes who don’t seem to be very brave. Some people will love it because it’s brave and showy. It makes you want more in every way: more worlds, more times, and more hunts. If you liked Prey or shows like Arcane and Love, Death, and Robots, you need to watch this. It’s violent, beautiful, and full of heart beneath the blood.
