Predator: Killer of Killers Is World-Building Anthology Romp — With A Twist

If you love violent, animated action, Predator: Killer of Killers will almost certainly be one of your favorite movies of 2025. The animated film, set in the Predator universe, is certainly a triumph for a very specific kind of world-building and feels a bit like this franchise’s answer to something like Star Wars: Visions. That said, the meta question of Predator: Killer of Killers is somewhat harder to answer at this point. And that question is simple: Does the Predator franchise need nitty-gritty installments like this? Is it, like Alien, capacious and compelling enough to tell different kinds of stories?

With Killer of Killers, the answer is mostly yes. But it’s not really until the fourth and final piece of the movie that its power is truly felt.

As trailers and press releases have made clear, Predator: Killer of Killers tells three different historical tales about specific people getting into scrapes with Predators, while set against the backdrop of big historical events. In essence, this means Killer of Killers has three primary protagonists, who all have a shared fate, which is teased very early on. The movie opens with Ursa (Lindsay LaVanchy), a bloodthirsty Viking warlord. Then, we get Kenji (Louis Ozawa), a samurai warrior in feudal Japan. And finally, and perhaps most satisfyingly, Torres (Rick Gonzales), an aspiring fighter pilot in WWII.

It’s not a huge spoiler to say that seeing the famous Predators in historical settings is the novelty that drives most of the movie. And in that way, the WWII section is perhaps the most exciting. While the first two sections are mostly focused on gruesome physical combat, the story of Torres and his ill-fated WWII comrades is the most dynamic and interesting. If you’re worried that Killer of Killers is just Predators attacking people with physical might, the WWII section takes to the skies and gives this universe an almost Independence Day feeling. If there’s one section that feels like it deserved to be in live action, it’s probably the last one. And, to complete the kind of 1980s nostalgia vibe, that story, which is called “Bullet,” also stars Michael Biehn (aka Reese in The Terminator) as Vandy, a grizzled pilot who serves as the de facto mentor and commander of Torres.

But is Killer of Killers really a Predator movie in the classic sense? Well, yes and no. Arguably, since 2010’s Predators, the franchise has dabbled in reinventing itself in several different ways. The most successful reinvention was, of course, the 2022 film Prey, which, like Killer of Killers, took place in the past, specifically in 1719. The concept of Prey — what if 1700s Comanches battled alien warriors— is essentially the template for Killers of Killers, too.

This means that, like Prey, the vast majority of Killer of Killers isn’t revealing more about the Predators themselves, but rather, fuels its narrative through the lens of the embattled humans from each time period. If you’re looking for massive revelations about the origin or motivations of the Predators, this is not your movie. Like Prey, each of the individual stories works because of the people, not the Predators. And the final act is perhaps the most tender and human story of anything else that happens in the movie. Among all the video-game-esque violence, there’s actually a very hopeful theme that emerges, one that you probably won’t expect based on the opening of the film.

But, when it comes to nitty-gritty canon stuff, Killers of Killers will raise several questions about the basic logistics of the Predators, and will almost certainly reignite old fan theories about whether or not these aliens are capable of time travel outright. It also very clearly connects to the continuity of Prey with one surprising revelation, all of which seems to possibly set up a bigger spiderweb of canon for the upcoming film Predator: Badlands. None of this is particularly distracting nor does it prevent you from enjoying the movie, but if you’re taking mental notes, it does seem as though Killer of Killers is your extra credit in the vast world of Predator homework. One last final twist in the movie will almost certainly change everything, and possibly be a big deal going forward.

With this movie, director Dan Trachtenberg seemed to want to make something that he enjoyed, and as such, Killer of Killers does feel like more than just a spiritual sequel to Prey, it feels like almost a victory lap for that movie, and a reminder of what made it great. To be clear, Killer of Killers isn’t trying to be better than Prey, nor is it even trying to. It won’t be anyone’s favorite Predator movie ever, but again, that’s not the point. Instead, this animated romp is trying to get your blood pumping and make you wonder what it would feel like if a Predator were right outside your window, or if your grandparents were stalked by it. And in that way, as a kind of weird bedtime story, Killer of Killers is a total success.

Predator: Killer of Killers streams on Hulu on June 6.