Predator: Killer of Killers is the latest addition to the science fiction thriller horror franchise, Predator, and is directed by the same Dan Trachtenberg who gave us the successful Prey a couple of years back. The new animated film, which can even loosely be considered an anthology, is built on an interesting premise about the feared yet loved Yautja alien species. Containing three stories from three different time periods that are ultimately tied together in the end, the film explores the idea of the Yautja hosting a gladiatorial tournament of killers for their entertainment, and also to satiate their thirst for blood. Driven by great art direction and intense action, Predator: Killer of Killers is easy to recommend, especially for fans of the Predator franchise.
Spoiler Alert
Who is Ursa?
Predator: Killer of Killers begins in 841 AD, long after human civilization on Earth had already started raiding, looting, and plundering amongst each other, with the inherent desire to kill or be killed reigning supreme. This first story in the new animated film is centered around Ursa, the leader of a Viking tribe, who sets out on a dangerous voyage across the seas to seek revenge against her slain father. When Ursa was just a young girl, her village had been raided by an enemy faction called the Krivich, the leader of which, Zoran, had been extremely cruel to her tribe. Since Ursa’s father, Einar, had been the leader of the tribe, and he had courageously fought the outsiders till his last breath, Zoran was especially vicious against him and had come up with a brutal plan to finish him off.
While a severely injured Einar lay on the battlefield, Zoran refused to kill him as per Viking customs, and brought the dying man’s young daughter to the scene. He ordered Ursa to kill her father instead, reminding Einar that he would kill the girl otherwise. With no choice left but to protect his daughter’s life at all costs, Einar forcefully made young Ursa plunge the dagger she had been holding into his own chest, making her commit an undesired but horrible act of patricide. To make the girl live with the guilt of this act for the rest of her life, Zoran left the village without harming her and returned to his lands with his troops. However, Ursa was scarred forever, and she has been driven by only one purpose since then—to fulfill her father’s dying wish that she avenge his death someday.
Thus, Ursa now sets sail in search of the Krivich, along with her band of loyal fighters and her adolescent son, Anders. Although completely dedicated to his mother’s orders, Anders is seemingly a bit conflicted about going out to kill all members of the Krivich tribe, since their men have already looted enough wealth to ensure a life of plenty back at their village. Nonetheless, Anders follows his mother along as they bring down an entire Krivich camp, find out where Zoran is, and reach his fort. After a short battle, in which all the remaining Krivich are slain, Ursa finally confronts Zoran, but she is immediately affected by the villain’s claims about how she was the one who had killed her own father. Realizing that Ursa now needs his help the most, Anders steps in and kills Zoran to avenge the death of his grandfather and the trauma caused to his mother.
Although the Viking tribe succeeded in carrying out their mission, nobody had noticed the Predator that had been lurking in the distance, as it had been using its alien technology to remain invisible all this while. As soon as Zoran is slain, the Predator attacks the humans, leading to a prolonged fight with Ursa. Despite the alien’s supernatural abilities and the array of tools at its disposal, Ursa is ultimately able to kill it by making use of her sharp combat skills and the traditional shield that she carries at all times. However, tragedy awaits her as she returns to Zoran’s camp, only to find her son dying from the injuries sustained in his short fight with the Predator. Having lost her son in battle, similar to how she had lost her father, Ursa grows vengeful against the Predator, and although we do not see it at the time, she is indeed given a shot at revenge. Based on a later scene, Ursa must have been approached by a Yautja spaceship right at this time, to be abducted by the aliens and kept alive for centuries for their master plan.
What makes Kenji vengeful against the aliens?
In its second story, Predator: Killer of Killers jumps forward to feudal Japan of 1609, presenting the tale of two brothers, Kenji and Kiyoshi, who enjoy being trained in fighting skills by their father. The young boys belong to a wealthy and honorable family of the region, because of which their stern father wants both of them to be samurai warriors when they come of age. While Kenji and Kiyoshi are keen on learning the rigorous discipline required to be masterful swordsmen, they do not expect that they might even have to face each other someday. But this is exactly what happens when their father makes the brothers fight each other, with real swords, in order to respect the samurai code of conduct, which can make warriors fight even their own blood for honor.
Although the two boys remain frozen for a few seconds, out of disbelief that they will have to fight one another and will have to injure, or even kill, the other in order to win, Kiyoshi makes the first strike, as his desperation to be a samurai is much greater. Shocked by the move, Kenji does defend himself, but he does not strike back, and instead leaves home with tears in his eyes, to live away from his family. 20 years later, when their father passes away, Kenji, now a ninja, returns to the palace in order to challenge his brother to a duel, the winner of which will become the new lord of the family.
As Kenji scales the palace walls and strikes down soldiers quietly, using his skills of fighting from the shadows, he spots something climbing around him, and this, once again, is a Yautja Predator cloaked in invisibility. During the swordfight between the brothers, Kiyoshi accidentally falls off the balcony, and this is when the Predator reveals itself and attacks Kenji, causing a massive fight between the two. Ultimately, Kenji kills the alien beast, but with the help of his brother, who had survived the fall. Despite the success, Kenji has to see Kiyoshi fall dead because of the wounds that he had sustained when the Predator had stabbed him. This makes Kenji extremely angry and vengeful against the alien, as he still loved his brother dearly, despite their falling out. Just like the others, he too is abducted by the Yautja spaceship off-camera and kept alive for centuries.
Who does Torres want to avenge?
Heading some centuries further into the future, Predator: Killer of Killers arrives in Florida in 1941, where a teenage boy named Torres is excited to become a pilot, although his father does not approve of this plan and instead wants the boy to work at his family garage. But as WWII picks up, Torres is called up for service in the army, and he continues to have a keen interest in flying planes, even though he is only given the responsibility of repairing and maintaining aircraft. A few years later, the leader of Torres’ army squad, Vandy, gives him a chance to fly one of the old aircrafts that the young man had supposedly repaired, but the plane does not even take off, and it seems like Torres has lost his chance to prove himself.
However, a strange and sudden attack is unleashed on the airbase by an unseen enemy, which requires all available pilots, including Torres, to fly their aircraft high into the sky and protect the base at all costs. This is definitely not an easy task, as the attacker turns out to be a Yautja Predator, flying a technologically superior spacecraft that easily picks off the American fighter planes one by one. When a part on his plane malfunctions, Torres realizes that the Predator is able to track them only because of the heat signature from the engines, and so he decides to fly high into the clouds where the plane’s engine would be too cold for the attacker to read it.
Although both Torres and Vandy carry out this plan together, the squad leader bravely decides to sacrifice himself in order to buy the young man some more time. Torres is ultimately able to destroy the spacecraft and kill the Predator by turning its own powers against it, but he is deeply aggrieved by the loss of Vandy. That very night, when he returns home and works at the family garage, Torres is abducted by a spaceship and taken hostage by a group of Predators.
Why do the Yautja abduct the humans?
The real reason why the Yautja have been abducting humans and keeping them alive over centuries is because they have come up with the concept of a gladiatorial battle to be hosted on what seems to be their home planet, for the enjoyment of their species. It is merely for entertainment purposes that the Predators were sent to Earth to essentially track down and ‘collect’ great human warriors with exceptional courage, strength, or discipline so that they can be pitted against each other on the battlefield. This is, in fact, confirmed by a quote at the very beginning of the film, in which Yautja Predators are told to go out and seek the strongest prey from all over the universe. The Yautja are obviously known for their bloodthirsty nature and their desire to be the apex predators among all living beings.
Therefore, the entire premise of the gladiatorial battle is to have the human warriors fight against one another and against wild beasts, the winner of this battle having to fight against the strongest of the Yautja, currently known only as the Warlord Predator. This exceptionally powerful Predator is the leader of the clan of aliens on this particular planet, and it might be that this is only one lowly stage of the cruel game devised by them. Perhaps if any human can indeed defeat the Warlord Predator of this planet, then they will be made to face similar beasts from other similar planets as well. We will have to wait for the sequels to see if this is true, but Predator: Killer of Killers introduces the concept of this gladiatorial battle between humans at a public arena, and this idea will surely be further implemented into the franchise.
Why does Ursa choose to sacrifice herself?
Ursa initially refuses to help her fellow human beings, and she immediately begins to fight them, perhaps because, as a Viking warrior, she is very used to the idea of killing other humans to protect herself. However, she does change her mind eventually, when Torres intervenes in her attacks on Kenji, and in the spur of the moment, the young boy appears to her like her own deceased son, Anders. More than his physical appearance, it is Torres’ repeated pleas to calm down and deal with the situation more analytically that let Ursa see the connection between him and Anders, who used to act in a similar manner with her.
Thus, Ursa ultimately decides to sacrifice herself in order to protect Torres and Kenji on the spaceship, and she jumps out to destroy the humongous chain that is holding them back. Even more interestingly, in her last words to Torres, whom she has now accepted as a close friend, if not as her son, Ursa tells him to not avenge her. This is in sharp contrast to what her father, Einar, had once told her, for through her experiences in life, Ursa has learned that revenge only causes more bloodshed and loss on both sides. Had she not ventured out to avenge her father, she would not have lost her son. Thus, she tells Torres and Kenji to not avenge her, as she knows that doing so will only cause them grief. Although Ursa is captured by the Yautja at the end of the film, she is not killed and is instead frozen using the cryogenic technology so that she can be awakened later on. Since the Yautja keep Ursa alive to make her fight in their battle arena at a later time, we can hope to see her once again in the franchise, possibly fighting the very aliens who captured her.
What happens to Torres and Kenji?
It is because of Torres’ quick thinking that the three humans are able to hatch up a plan of escape from the alien planet, as he also commandeers one of the alien spaceships to get them back to Earth. When their spacecraft is stopped by the Yautja, Ursa jumps in and destroys the beam holding them back, which finally releases the spaceship, and the men are free to fly away. Although we see Torres and Kenji fly away on the spaceship at the end of Predator: Killer of Killers, their exact fate is left unclear. The Warlord Predator also orders his forces to immediately set out on a hunt to find and capture the humans, which suggests that Torres and Kenji will possibly be caught once again before they can successfully return to Earth. What exactly happens to them will be clear only in the sequel films, but we can expect Torres and Kenji to put up a strong fight against the Predators when they return to our screens in the future.
Who is the character teased In The End?
Predator: Killer of Killers’ ending also confirms that Ursa, Torres, and Kenji were not the only humans who had been captured and cryogenically frozen by the Yautja, but there are thousands more such warriors who have been brought back to their home planet. All the humans collected in this manner are put into cryogenic coffins and stacked neatly inside a state-of-the-art facility. The last shot in the film focuses on the face of one particular human, and this happens to be Naru, the protagonist of the 2022 Prey film. Belonging to the Comanche tribe, Naru had bravely fought off a Predator that had attacked her village, and although she had killed the beast, the ending of Prey had revealed that many representatives of the alien species were headed towards Earth in order to deal with her. Thus, the ending of Predator: Killer of Killers makes it clear that Naru had been captured by the aliens and brought back to their planet to be a warrior in the gladiator battles, meaning that she too might join the fight of Torres and Kenji in the near future.
