In 2022, Disney subsidiary Hulu surprised everyone by unveiling an original film based on the Predator: Prey license. After years and just as many feature-length films of destruction, the franchise finally regained (in our opinion) its former glory in the hands of an inspired Dan Trachtenberg. It was obvious to the studio that this could only be a trial run and it was immediately decided that the filmmaker would quickly get his hands dirty again. For the beauty of art-gent.
And while the man will expand his universe on the big screen at the end of the year with Predator: Badlands, a film set this time in the future with a crossover with the Alien universe, he was also at the head of a secret project directly for Disney+. A project that was revealed last April as an animated film, still centered around our extraterrestrial hunter. No sooner said than done, Predator: Killer of Killers is out this month on the platform and here's what we remember.
The story of Predator: Killer of Killers
Predator: Killer of Killers is an anthology feature film following the journey of three warriors in three different eras. A Viking chieftain leading her son on a quest for revenge, a ninja confronting his samurai brother in feudal Japan, and a young mechanic and apprentice pilot trying to warn an Allied squadron of an invisible threat during World War II. Three stories with one thing in common: all these characters will become prey to a much greater danger from space.
A franchise that knows how to renew itself...
While in comics, our beloved creature has crossed swords with characters like Batman or Wolverine, the films have tended to try too hard to seduce the work of John McTiernan or to go off on a tangent. As if no one could grasp what made the first film a success and that they were trying to reproduce the recipe at random. Prey had the refreshing thing about it that the return to the roots seemed understood and was accompanied by a truly original proposition by taking a leap into the past.
A concept renewed here with three eras where Trachtenberg and his co-writer Micho Rutare, will take advantage of the animation to be generous in action and hemoglobin, even before the creature enters the scene. The animation studio The Third Floor has done a lot of work to offer a specific atmosphere to each scene and we feel that the entire creative team had fun reimagining all the horrors that our alien killer is capable of. The butchery may be animated, but it remains no less delicious.
Killer of Killers is full of original ideas in the continuation of Prey, with epic confrontations to boot. The animated film is living proof that the Predator could still be exported to another format without losing any of its flavor. A monster that has real cinematic potential as long as you're not afraid to think outside the box, while still retaining the basic spirit. This is perhaps what the studios have (unfortunately?) understood best...
To better franchise...
We have to face the facts, the creation of the Thomas brothers and John McTiernan in 1987 has not belonged to them for ages. There have been sequels in the cinema, spin-offs, reboots, video games, comics... If we count more failures than successes in the lot, the Predator is now a pop culture object that will constantly come out of the closet.
Without revealing too much, we can say that with Killer of Killers, the 20th Century Fox branch of Disney seems to want to entrust Dan Trachtenberg with the direction of its own new extended universe around the creature. A plan that already shows its multiple possibilities for deviations within the feature film, notably by illuminating a mythology that was very well constructed in its mysteries. Not all questions needed to be answered...
If the need to provide a link between the past and present opuses does not yet replace the screenplay, it is now deeply implanted in the heart of Dan Trachtenberg's work with unnecessary winks and the need to prepare the ground for what comes after. We are on the verge of a cameo appearance. We leave the film with the impression of having witnessed something surprising, while having the unpleasant sensation that someone has opened a Pandora's box.
So, should we soon be talking about the Predator Cinematic Universe with a Predator vs. the historical Avengers as a finale? Perhaps the next step after a near-future Alien vs. Predator. We wouldn't even be surprised if Killer of Killers spawned an animated series. There was a time when, if it bled, you could kill it. Today, the monster seems more immortal than ever, and time will tell if that's good news...
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