Critics reviews

Predators... is not an easy film to watch and an even harder film to process after.

Predators wrestles with the legacy of the program, the ethical questions it raised, and the copycat vigilantes it [To Catch a Predator] inspired... Osit does well in presenting various documented situations that speak to the complexities of this particular kind of criminality.

Where Predators becomes fascinating as a documentary is not in its rise-and-fall accounting of the titular series, however, but in the way it examines the evolution of empathy or vindictiveness in those who have been touched by abuse and tragedy.

Predators does a miraculous job of complicating the narrative of To Catch A Predator and other copycats who’ve flourished online recently... Predators doesn’t have any concrete answers either, but it is starting a vital conversation that most true crime-centric stories wouldn’t even dare tread.

Osit’s intention in drawing our attention to all this isn’t necessarily to draw sympathy toward the pedophiles that found themselves in To Catch a Predator’s crosshairs, but to examine the repercussions that its tactics had on audiences and popular culture... A work of trenchant inquiry...

Predators ultimately demonstrates the distinct line and moral imperative that distinguishes documentary from reality television... It’s a thorough immersion that seeks to entertain and enlighten audiences, rather than offer ephemeral 45-minute thrills. Predators grasps that visual storytelling has consequences whereas such reality shows don’t.

David Osit’s sharp, compelling documentary Predators! seeks a more nuanced understanding of human nature as it charts the sensational impact of the hit NBC true crime series To Catch A Predator... [as] the show left grave concerns around ethics and responsibility. Predators may not find all the answers, but it offers a thought-provoking exploration of the questions and should attract audiences fascinated by the morality of the media and the complexities of crime and punishment.

“Predators” is thus slow to condemn but precise and insistent in its moral inquiry... Osit’s brilliant, subtly needling film leaves us unnerved and alert, but not certain of our convictions — an outcome, perhaps, that more true-crime programming should pursue.

Osit’s approach is emotionally persuasive, but I wonder if he left some empirical cards on the table. He isn’t arguing for specific pity or mercy toward sexual predators, just a general sense of empathy.

Predators is a pensive and intelligent work that reveals how hellish and unreal our world can be by plainly filming everyday people.

As “Predator” makes clear... there are very real consequences to presenting dehumanization as a righteous act of public justice. “To Catch a Predator” might seem like the wrong lens through which to make that case... But that is exactly what makes Osit’s film such a powerful indictment of the lens through which we’ve since been conditioned to see everything else as well.