As soon as “Predator” (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) became a cinema, the SCI-Fi action trucker was expanded into a multimedia franchise: While you were first satisfied with the jungle setting in “Predator 2” (without Arnold Schwarzenegger) for the city jungle, a very simple but effective form was made in the comics Established: The title-giving killer alien takes on the world's best warriors from the different human epochs. In the speech bubble stories, the Predators not only provided stunk during the Cold War, but also interfered in the fight.
After the “Predators” and “Predator-Upgrade”, which was only moderately convincing, the “10 Cloverfield Lane” director Dan Trachtenberg finally took up the joy of the past in a film: In “Prey” he tells of the Clash of a Predator with a company in North America in the 18th century. Now he is doing twice and finally ensures that the skipping of the “Predator” comics also takes a film-shaped shape: Before the real film “Predator: Badlands” continues in November, there is now the animated film staged by Trachtenberg and Micho Robert Rutare “Predator: Killer of Killers“. In the episode film developed exclusively for Disney+, the fun of the constant setting change is just as in the foreground as to chip bloody chopping!
As in the comics, the Predators also create themselves in “Predator: Killer of Killers” with the best warriors of different eras.
Three different epochs, each time the same song: While people hit their personal battle, a predator interferes in the general bloodshed! First, a Wikinger warrior takes her son on a dangerous trip to practice ice-cold revenge. The second episode deals with brothers in feudal Japan, who have been walking separately since childhood. While one grew up to the Samurai, the other is a ninja – and now, in adulthood, there is a bitter power struggle. In the third chapter, a Predator bursts into an air combat during the Second World War. A slimy pilot in a rickety machine alone is clever enough to see through the risk. But does he have what it takes to lead the rest of his aviation relay?
The dialogues are flop, but the action is top for that
Co-director Micho Robert Rutare developed the Stories together with Trachtenberg, but according to the ABS, alone, wrote the final script alone. So far, Rutare was primarily known for Trash such as “Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus” or the “Sharknado” series-and so Rutare could not shake this past. Because the greatest weakness of “Predator: Killer of Killers” are the dialogues: The figures are largely talking in straight exposure, word sleeves and predictable, more cool than actually cool sayings. In addition, Trachtenberg and Rutare decided to deal with the different languages of their settings:
Sometimes non-English dialogues are subtitled, sometimes figures speak English with accent, which should signal that they are in truth in their own language, but we hear a “translated” version. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages- but if they are mixed into one and the same film, this looks awkward. Fortunately, these weaknesses are only sporadically noticeable: the fight for life and death starts, the characters save their breath for more urgent anyway – and the second episode is almost dialogue -free anyway.
The episode in feudal Japan is clearly the best in “Predator: Killer of Killers”.
It is only consistent that the second episode also turns out to be the one with the highest coolness factor: because the Japan episode shines with straightforward narrative flow, picturesque backgrounds and varied action! It would not even need the title-giving alien, since the fight is already told in a human-opposite person in captivating skirmishes that switch back and forth between tactical sneaking to sudden outbreaks of violence. This is also gripping without a sci-fi element, but as soon as the Predator interferes in this conflict, even nicely nicer splatter comes into play. People are torn into parts, burst and dismantled, all of this in stylish-morbid façon that could hardly be implemented in the real film.
The action in the other chapters is also impressive: in the Viking segment there is a short, spectacular brachial swear in violence, in which muscle packages are maltreated with axes and sharp shields before increasingly tactical approach is required in the fight against the predator. The third episode in turn justifies her with its basic idea: an air combat between a huge predator airship and many compact fighter planes would theoretically be conceivable in the real film-but enormous amounts would have to flow into the effect budget so that it looks at least somewhat presentable. In the cartoon, on the other hand, it looks like the most natural in the world and enriches the “Predator” franchise with a fresh, bustling component, even if the sequence lacks some dangerousness: the physics of the rattling, crackling machines does not come across feathers, which is somewhat reducing the stimulus of the settings-although the aircraft choreographies are quite clever.
Very much more of it
However, the animation is generally convincing: The responsible trick studio The Third Floor, which also tricked on numerous blockbusters, relies on a coherent reduced style: the movements are not as fluid as in most animation successes by Pixar, Disney or the “Minions” smithy Illumination. However, this style supports the pithy fighter poses, in which in the course of these chapters well and evil throw again and again-and thus allows a precise view of grotesque gore performances in a rough brushstile.
It may need a moment of getting used to it, but after a few minutes of film, this look proves to be a style that fits the franchise like the claw fist on the eye. It is to be hoped that this episode film will not remain a one -time trip to the profession of animated long film …
Conclusion: Whether “Predator: Killer of Killers” is a look at the film's future of the bloody sci-fi franchise, not least the Disney+audience in hand. But it would be encouraging, because despite the isolated dialogue passages to run away, this animated episode film is a bloody-stylish, varied action break that definitely makes you want more!