Predator: Killer of Killers
As part of getting ready to watch the TV show Alien: Earth I decided to watch the current Alien/Predator universe films in chronological order.
Recently Predator: Killer of Killers was released onto DisneyPlus and two of the periods that have stories in this are the earliest appearances of either of the aliens.
The film is broken down into three sections all dealing with a different time on Earth when different Predators came to hunt the best that Earth has to offer, starting with:
The Shield is set during the Viking raiding period in 841AD, we see (), her son, and her raiding band searching for a human monster from her past whilst being followed by a huge hulking Predator.
The action scenes are bloody and brutal, especially the attack on the longhouse, the yautja is bulky but still fast with a very interesting weapon, and () uses all her skills to fight it.
The Sword sees two brothers in 1609 Japan, heir to a Lord’s domains and they fall out. Years later when the Lord dies the brother who left sees a chance for revenge.
The yautja in this episode is more lithe than the previous one, rangier and with weapons befitting the period they were in.
I then paused to watch Prey as that was next in chronological order and after that there was;
The Bullet set in WWII for me was the was the weakest of the three, it didn’t feel like a challenge, it wasn’t a hunt as such, not in the classic Predator way but the set up from this in the finale was funny, as was the little bit where he gets abducted from the garage after the war.
Each episode and the finale are all extremely well written and conceived, but I’m really not a fan of the Unreal Engine animation used throughout the feature, a lot of the animation felt extremely flat which took away a lot of the tension and gore that the Predator franchise is famous for.
I’d watch another animated feature like this but would temper my expectations if they use Unreal Engine again.
7.5
