In the first of three stories, The Shield, its 841 A.D in Scandinavia and we meet Ursa, a Viking shield maiden out for revenge for the death of the family patriarch. Along with her young son and assorted warriors she tracks down and attacks the object of her vengeance. Just when it seems things have been set to rights a honking big Predator makes itself known and Ursa is in the fight of her life. She eventually does defeat her intergalactic foe through finding a weakness in the Predator’s defences. Flash forward to Feudal Japan in 1609 and our second story The Sword introduces two Brothers, Kenji and Kiyoshi are pitted against each other by their warlord father. This doesn’t go to plan with Kenji fleeing and become a ninja I guess and Kiyoshi taking over warlord duties. During a battle between the two brothers they come under the attention of a Predator, with the brothers eventually winning though Kiyoshi falls in battle. And finally its North Atlantic 1942 and our final story The Bullet sees pilot Torres and a flight of allied fighter pilots taking on a Predator space ship, naturally the allies are outgunned and have little chance but Torres turns it on and uses the Predator technology against his opponent. Unfortunately for all three human victors seems their trial and tribulations have been some sort of testing ground, as they discover they are thrown into a colosseum on an alien planet. They are expected to fight to the depth amongst themselves, until the final winner gets to take on a Predator elder. Unfortunately for Predator sensibilities, not everything is going to go to their plan.

“Go forth among the stars and seek only the strongest prey. They shall be your trophy. Become the killer of killers.” Yautja Codex 0522/74

Since taking over the Predator franchise the House of Mouse has seemingly decided to throw the property at the feet of Dan Trachtenberg and see what he can dream up to keep things happening in the Yautja universe. His initial foray into the franchise, the grossly overrated Prey (2022), was at least an order of magnitude better than the preceding The Predator (2018), so some promise there. However, there is always a danger in putting a franchise in the hands of one person, *cough*Star Wars*cough*, in that the vision that person might have may not sit right with fans of the franchise. Thus far I reckon Trachtenberg is batting above the expected average with his first couple of movies, this one included, but I can see fan approval cooling if we are simply going to get historically set movie after historically set movie. Though of course in having said that the live action flick Predator: Badlands is already set to break the mould the Director had fashion for himself. So enough of the background lets breakdown a surprising cartoon adaptation that at least takes the franchise somewhere new.

The three stories in the movie are each different enough from each other to have the viewer glued to the screen throughout. I kind of dug the first story, the Viking orientated The Shield that seems to not have found favour what a lot of viewers. We start with a Predator ship making the scene on Planet Earth, which kind of called to mind JC’s The Thing, anyways we are in the middle of Viking on Viking action, and the blood is naturally flowing. The animation here is crisp, and the story moves along with barely a breath being taken though the cuts between scenes might be a tad quick for some. When we get to see the Predator it sure is a monster, dude hold the front page this is like the Charles Atlas of Yautja or something. Anyways shield maiden Ursa goes one on one with the Big Ugly, discovers some weaknesses in the seemingly invincible monster she calls Grendel, and finally uses whatever is at hand to overcome. For her troubles she loses her son and gets snatched up by other Predators, not seen happens off screen with an almost fade in to what we suppose is another Predator ship.

I quite liked the transition between stories with the camera focus going from the previous character to a new character and then switching into the story proper, it’s almost cinematic and wouldn’t be out of place in a live action flick, absolutely stunning would be my call.

Anyways the second story, The Sword, is perhaps the most luscious visually of the three. We are in feudal Japan and the whole poetry in violence is captured outstandingly through falling Japanese ginkgo leaves. The action comes hard and fast here, and the two brothers who are enemies manage to overcome the Predator who has come to the party with some gnarly weaponry. One brother stands at the end of the story, and hey Predators really shouldn’t take on Japanese swordsman it never ends well for them, see Predators (2010), and for his troubles is scooped up by the Predator capture program.

Our final story heads into World War II at the height of the transatlantic fight, and sees U.S airmen taking on a Predator ship. Once again we have some cool weaponry on display, and the U.S fighter pilots are out gunned by almost ancient weapons, though modern firepower comes into play when needed, which had me wondering about that famed Yautja code. Anyways we have one cocky pilot in Torres, who like Ursa finds some chinks in the Predator armour and eventually wins his ultimate dogfight. And, no prizes for picking what happens next, Torres is added to the growing list of abductees. I particularly liked the action and pacing in this final story, there’s almost a frantic pacing to the air battles going down.

And just when you think you are down and dusted we get a final wrap up story. All three of our victors find themselves in a colosseum with an audience of blood thirsty Predators. We learn that it’s a fight to the death between the three using weapons from their respective age and culture. Ursa gets a battle axe, Kenji a samurai sword, and Torres a certain flint action pistol. Hell yeah, it’s Raphael Adolini’s pistol last seen in the hands of Native American warrior Naru, in the Prey movie. Naturally Torres has zero idea how to lock and load this ancient piece, which I guess points out that we are in some sort of continuity here and Yautja research is about as competent as a Donald Trump economic policy.

Now I know people will be musing that the Predators have time travel as well in their arsenal but nope there’s another explanation. Seems anyone or anything that defeats a Predator in open combat is worthy of Elder attention, and the Intergalactic Hunters have been collecting said individuals throughout history, putting them on ice in Cryosleep, and then clearly thawing them out when they need some light entertainment on the home world. Pretty nifty idea for mine, and hell makes for an intriguing number of possibilities going forward in the franchise. Two thumbs up to Dan Trachtenberg with this narrative development.

Before closing I wanted to make mention of a little continuity score the movie makes towards the closing credits. We discover there are literally hundreds of Predator killers waiting for their chance to take on an elder, and what do we discover in close up in three of the cryo chambers, a Xenomorph, what could have been Dutch from the original movie, and Naru from Prey, excellent stuff and explains the pistol Torres received.

I’m just going to come out and say it, Predator: Killer of Killers is now the best sequel ever made in the franchise. The movie might be a cartoon but it raises itself above that medium and engulfs the viewer in the action, narrative development, and some damn fine characters. I’ve watched the movie three times now, and it only dropped yesterday, and for sure will be getting the 4K release to add to my collection. Can’t wait for the next instalment, Dan Trachtenberg has nailed the requirements here and breathes new life into what was increasingly becoming a stale franchise.