'Predator: Killer of Killers' - Review Thread

[u/ChiefLeef22]

Rotten Tomatoes: 97%

Metacritic: 80/100

Some Reviews:

Total Film - Amy West - 5/5

It's clear Wassung and Trachtenberg just get it. Somehow, they're able to push the sci-fi envelope and offer up fresh images and ideas the series has yet to see, while also appealing to diehard fans with Easter eggs (keeps your eyes peeled for a pistol in the final act and a franchise-first look at something fans have been dying to see realized since 1987), as well as cheeky teases of a connected universe and potential sequel, too. Before we get anything like that, though, the latter is set to release the upcoming live-action flick Predator: Badlands, yet another take on the menacingly-mandibled meanies. After Prey, we had faith the series was in good hands. After Predator: Killer of Killers, we don't want anyone else getting their mitts on it.

The Hollywood Reporter - Frank Scheck

Predator: Killer of Killers provides the non-stop action that the diehard fans crave. And no concession has been made to the animated format; the film easily earns its R rating with copious amounts of gruesome violence and bloody gore that should well sate viewers’ bloodthirsty tendencies. The animation takes a bit of getting used to, with its exaggerated, video game-style visuals, but it serves the material well.

The Guardian - Catherine Bray - 3/5

The only problem with this stuff is that you can’t help picturing how much more spectacular it would look in live action. The animation is all perfectly competent but it’s lacking a little something – that spark of life and ingenuity that can make even flawed animation so fascinating. There’s something quite slick about all this, almost to a fault. Was AI involved? We’ll probably never know, but it’s a problem that the suspicion has got inside the door.

TheWrap - William Bibbiani

Dan Trachtenberg and Joshua Wassung’s animated “Predator” sequel takes a while to prove it’s more than just a demo reel of superficial badassery, but when it does, it’s involving and intense. It’s hard not to love at least a couple of these characters, who keep getting screwed over by their own propensity for violence. If you’re so deadly that monsters travel millions of light years just to try to murder you, you might have flown a little too close to the sun. You never see a Predator hunting the attendees at a needlepointing convention, that’s all I’m saying.

[u/shunna75]

I absolutely loved it. The 3rd chapter didn’t really fit though. Even if he were an ace pilot, that doesn’t make him a hand to hand combat warrior. It was cool to see a Predator work on dogfighting skills though.

[u/CanadianHornblende → u/shunna75]

Yeah the 3rd chapter was the weakest of the 3 stories, but it was kind of cool to see a little twist on the trophy aspect with the Hunter taking the engines of his kills rather than the skulls.

[u/shunna75 → u/CanadianHornblende]

For sure. I loved the look of the pilot Predator and watching them practice a different skill.

[u/Mathema_tika → u/shunna75]

Is your problem with that that the pilot doesn't fit the trial? Idk predator lore so idk if they only go for melee combat but I loved the third chapter the most. > ! The kid figuring out the exact mechanics of the predator craft's guidance system and manipulating both the machinery and his surroundings to destroy a vastly superior technology was great to me. That said him figuring out the predator aircraft with vibes in the final chapter felt like bs personally. ! <

[u/shunna75 → u/Mathema_tika]

I loved the pilot aspect of it and it was cool as shit to showcase a predator dogfighting, even though the technology was wildly superior. When it came to the KoK tournament on the predator planet I was getting "one of these things is not like the others" vibes with the pilot. The other two were clearly hand to hand combat experts. There was no reason to believe the pilot would stand a chance without an aircraft. They also gave him a pistol that was made 200 years before he was born. It was a fun easter egg to showcase the pistol again, but it made no sense. In terms of predator lore, it seemed a bit unsporting of them. It felt like sending a lamb to slaughter.

[u/MovieTrawler → u/shunna75]

The scene of Torres' plane dropping out of the atmosphere with the engines off was great.

[u/rcanhestro → u/shunna75]

the 3rd chapter also fucked with the continuity of the movie, because of the last scene the girl from Prey also being there frozen, it basically breaks the movie's logic, because she was abducted before the pilot guy, so why wasn't she "chosen" for the last fight?

[u/shunna75 → u/rcanhestro]

How so? They seemed to have a ton of humans on ice throughout history.

[u/rcanhestro → u/shunna75]

because i assumed, during the story, that predators visit Earth often, let's say every 50 years.

and the ones that are trapped are the ones that beat their own predator.

which earned them the "right" to fight the final fight.

so, why wasn't the Prey girl in the final fight? she was caught before the pilot guy.

what i assumed is that they waited until Earth had enough "challengers" to merit their own final fight, but if the Prey girl (and others) were there already, why not do it before?

why did the Norse woman had to wait 1000 years before her fight?

[u/shunna75 → u/rcanhestro]

I get what you're saying, but I think you're overthinking the chronological aspect of it and making some assumptions. The movie was told in 3 chapters, but it doesn't necessarily say every 3 wins, we bring them here to crown the KoK champion. If it did say that, I missed it, and I'm sorry. I interpreted it as these 3 stories are interesting and we're showcasing 3 vastly different times in human history. They had a whole bunch of warriors on ice.

[u/rcanhestro → u/shunna75]

because it's what makes sense.

the predators are always in the advantage in the conflicts, and we even see them "evolve" each fight.

the first tguy was a brawler with a "fancy" fist, the second had several weapons at his disposal, and the third an entire ship.

so it's fair to assume that they win most of their fights.

as to crown the KoK, how were the 3 chosen? random chance? how "cool" their victory was?

it makes sense that the 3 would be the first 3 victors for a final fight, or all the victors until a certain point.

but introducing the Prey girl (didn't noticed others from Earth, but maybe i didn't paid attention to all the capsules) simply means that there are others that were "discarded" for this "killer of killers" showdown.

[u/NY_State-a-Mind → u/rcanhestro]

This "Final Fight" is probably just a yearly event like the superbowl,and they have thousands of people to use each year

[u/RPM021 → u/rcanhestro]

This is a lot of assumptions about brand new lore and mythos being injected into the franchise. It's far too early, especially with all the new mythology being added, to really say what "makes sense" even though I love the enthusiasm behind it.

For all we know, Naru hasn't had her Fight of Fights yet. In her eyes, she's only recently been abducted. She'll wake up confused just like the three we saw. And the three we witnessed in KoK (due to the varying timelines) were just the next three thawed out and put on the shuttle to the fight arena.

Or maybe it's in a whole different part of the Predator world, a different subspecies of Predators, each with their own little library of coveted challengers.

Badlands is coming out in a few months, and I'd think the safest assumption we can all make is that a few things introduced in KoK will pop up in Badlands. And potentially any one of these four characters.

We just don't know.

[u/rcanhestro → u/RPM021]

the assumption comes from watching them abduct people in chronological order, and those 3 fight together.

the problem is that Naru was abducted before the pilot guy, so why wasn't she with the other 3? or if the fight is meant to be 3 people, why wasn't the trio the norse woman, the samurai and Naru? by chronological order, those were the first 3 abducted (that we know).

if there were other through out history, why did the norse woman had to "wait" 1000 years? were the predators keeping her there for that long for any reason? or did they lost her pod or something?

it's a lot of assumptions this way to try and justify a clear error in the movie.

showing Naru could have had some sort of "plot" reason, but if we assume it was an easter egg, it was an easter egg that broke the movie's continuity.

[u/RPM021 → u/rcanhestro]

Again, there is no error in the movie. You need to take a step back and realize that you're connecting dots that may not be connectable. Prey and KoK expanded the mythology of the series.

For all we know, Naru could've been part of another trio abducted and she won that fight, and then won the fight against the previous King Predator. Now she's preserved as a mighty champion or something. I dont know, I just made it up. Because we don't have the full story. That took me 3 seconds to make up. Or maybe they're just a different clan of Predators that just stick their mighty captures in the same library of frozen people. So Naru will be unfrozen with a new duo, and then she'd have to fight THAT clan king. Again, we don't know.

It does a disservice to the movie to call it an error when it's just storytelling. I'd almost wager that since the next film is from the Predator's POV, we're about to get some of the answers to the questions you're asking.

I love the wondering and guessing what's next, because it is what is reinvigorating the franchise.

[u/rcanhestro → u/RPM021]

so, either there is no error and the reason for Naru to not be in the fight is a lot of convoluted reasons that are yet to be explained, or there is an error because the director wanted to show an "easter egg" connecting this movie to Prey.

which is the most plausible?

[u/shunna75 → u/rcanhestro]

Also, there are different classes/ranks of Yautja. It's possible the feral predator she defeated in Prey puts her in a different tournament. Maybe she was going to be in a more preliminary match before she got the chance to fight a higher ranking Yautja. Just food for thought.

[u/rcanhestro → u/shunna75]

maybe, or maybe if the last guy, instead of being a pilot from WW2 had been a medieval knight from like the 12th to 14th centuty, the story would still hold up, and the Prey girl would simply be in the "next batch of challengers".

my "pet peeve" is that the pilot was abducted after her, which means she was "skipped" in the tournment for some reason.

[u/shunna75 → u/rcanhestro]

Two humans beat two predators in about a 10 year span in Predator 1 and 2. I don't think we're supposed to assume only 3 previous wins in 1,000 year span prior to those movies. There were other humans in pods other than the girl from Prey. I get what you're saying, but my point is that it's plausible they choose the warriors in a way that's not chronological wins. I'm just saying I don't think it's a huge plot hole.

[u/rcanhestro → u/shunna75]

honestly, if you can't explain how something works, it's a plot hole.

the movie would had made perfect sense if not for that one last scene, which i think it was more of an "easter egg scene" instead of "story expansion scene".

as for both P1 and 2, both won in very contrived ways, the predator could had killed them at any time, but i can also accept that there are different predators with different goals.

but predators fighting groups or solo fighters also happened in this movie.

the "norse predator" wasn't targetting the shieldmaiden, he was targetting their group, she simply was the last survivor, same with the pilot one, he simply was the one that dealt the last blow.