Predators (dir. David Osit)

By: Dave Hughes 

The TV program To Catch a Predator began in 2004 as a segment within the TV news staple Dateline. It was a feature that generated tremendous interest as it exposed sexual predators caught exchanging inappropriate information and contacts with underage decoys, intending to show audiences that no one could be trusted online. However, as the program continued, its sensational methods and approaches became the target of significant controversy. The new documentary, Predators, addresses that complicated legacy, examining the long-term impacts of a show that began as something socially worthwhile but ultimately evolved into something much more ethically complicated.

Predators begins by immersing the viewer in the middle of the To Catch a Predator craze, where host Chris Hansen became a ubiquitous figure. The documentary uses archival footage, including Hansen's appearances on numerous talk shows, to demonstrate how the media often sought to sensationalize the sensitive topic. Some of these segments used humor and novelty to lighten the subject matter. In retrospect, the film outlines how truly inappropriate and ethically unsound some of these methods and approaches were. The documentary asserts that audiences were not tuning in to raise awareness of the issue, but primarily to gaze upon the perpetrator's humiliation through exposure to disturbing and vile content. The film's ultimate goal is to examine these issues of media complicity, but also to raise awareness of what this intense, public spectacle says about society as a whole.

David Osit’s documentary consistently attempts to walk a fine ethical line while discussing its core subjects. There are moments where the original purpose of To Catch a Predator is acknowledged as supported, but these are balanced by dialogues that express profound uncertainty about the show's complicated legacy. Perhaps the most necessary section of the film addresses the rise of "copycats" (vigilante groups who adopted the premise of the TV show but escalated the approach to physical confrontation and assault against alleged online predators). The documentary reveals that whereas the program started with altruistic intentions, the strong, simple messages it sent emboldened a new generation to aggressively take the law into their own hands, often without any communication or coordination with police departments.

To fully dissect its subject, Predators relies on a necessary range of interview subjects, including decoys from the original series, police officers, and Chris Hansen himself. Each subject brings a unique background to the discussion, offering the audience varied approaches to the central controversy. Perhaps the most striking perspectives, however, come from the original staff members of To Catch a Predator, who share deeply candid accounts of the challenges of making the show and the long-term ethical impacts of their participation. Hansen, predictably, defends the program and its legacy based on the public awareness it raised. Ultimately, the reality the documentary presents is that the answer to To Catch a Predator’s effectiveness and morality is much more complicated and firmly situated in the gray area.

Target Score: 8/10 Predators successfully addresses the complicated legacy of a cultural phenomenon, achieving a necessary, if uncomfortable, level of self-reflection. The film is an essential critique of true crime media and the public's thirst for instant humiliation in a world of clickbait.