Prey Review

Predator has been an enduring franchise from the 1980s, standing with the likes of Terminator and Robocop. It has spanned films, novels, comics, and video games and crossed over with the Alien franchise. The fifth standalone film in the franchise has been released as an exclusive on Hulu and Disney+, depending on the territory

Naru (Amber Midthunder) is a young Comanche woman who wants to prove herself as a warrior and takes part in a hunting party for a mountain lion. Naru suspects there’s something else that has been terrifying the area and Naru must face a creature from beyond the stars.

The original Predator was seen as a fresh film because it mashed up action, sci-fi, and horror. It had a simple story where an elite special forces unit gets hunted by an alien with advanced weapons. It was a fun survival story, resulting in Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Predator entering into hand-to-hand combat. The following films built up the Predator mythology. Predator 2 showed the Predators having a code of honour and have been hunting on Earth for centuries, whilst Predators added the conflict between two races of Predators.

The franchise reached a low point with 2018’s The Predator. That film was a troubled production that had a misjudged comedic tone and tried to explain actions like why Predators ripped out spines and stated that the Predators were planning to terraform Earth so they could settle on the planet. The most egregious idea that the film introduced was The Predators wanted to harvest the DNA from an autistic boy because it would bring about the next step in Predator evolution. The Predator was deservedly a critical and commercial flop.

Prey went for a back-to-basics approach. There was no world-building or mythology, it was a coming-of-age survival story that happened to have a Predator causing havoc in the 18^th Century. The film’s focus was on characters, survival, and action which was what Predator fans want.

Naru embarked on a rite of passage to prove she was a warrior. Naru does it because she feels she’s ready, and to defy gender expectations. In her tribe men were hunters, women were healers, and Naru was trained to be a healer, but she was also skilled with a tomahawk. Naru faced resistance from the hunting party, particularly from Wasape (Stormee Kipp) who thought Naru wasn’t capable of hunting. Even Naru’s mother (Michelle Thrush) commented that she was given a tomahawk so she can cook, but this can be interpreted as a light-hearted joke. The only person that supported Naru was her brother, Taabe (Dakota Beavers), and even that had a limit.

Due to Prey having a female-centric story as she fights against the patriarchy this film stands in contrast to the original because that film was extremely macho. This has led to a minor backlash from the revolutionary crowd who have declared the film ‘woke.’ However, their voices have been drowned out by the waves of praise Prey has received.

Naru had to work hard and needed to be resourceful when she was in the wilds. Naru trained with her tomahawks and tired rope to them so she could retrieve them easily. Things went wrong for her and she had to overcome her own hesitation and self-doubt. She was no Mary Sue. Midthunder was convincing as this tough cookie and hopefully we will get to see more of her in action roles.

There were potions in the film where it was Naru and her dog as she survives in the wilderness. She practices hunting, hunts wild animals, and faces hazards like quicksand. It made Prey more like Apocalypto or The Revenant than a Predator film. Apocalypto meets the Predator is a concept that would make genre fans salivate.

The historical setting did give this film in the franchise an X-factor. The concept of an alien with advanced and unusual weapons would be unfathomable to people in the 18^th Century. The characters wouldn’t have seen anything like the Predator so it would be a shock for them to see it. All the other Predator films were set in a contemporary period or the near future, so an alien wouldn’t be as shocking.

One of the draws of the Predator movies was the R-rated action. Prey was able to provide the red stuff. The Predator fought wild animals, Comanche hunters, and French voyageurs. The standout sequence was when the French voyageurs enticed the Predator to a dead woodland and the Predator unleashed hell on them. Since Naru was an average-sized woman instead of a hulk of muscle like Schwarzenegger’s Dutch, she had a more aerobatic style of fighting.

The Predator in this film was the most hopeless in the franchise. Early in the film he was fighting the predators (like wolves and bears) and they were able to cause more damage to the alien than many of the human characters. I was thinking of Richard Jackson’s playthroughs of Aliens vs. Predator and his creation, Kevin the work experience Predator.

Prey does have a concept that has been used in fan films. A fan film by Chris R. Notarile had a similar idea to Prey because his film had a female Native American warrior fighting a female predator. My favourite Predator fan film was Predator: Dark Ages which was set in Medieval England and had a Knight Template battle a Predator. Some fans would like to see the Predators in different historical settings, Feudal Japan has been a popular suggestion. However, having the Predators hunt in a different time period would just be a change of set dressing – the potential story would probably be the same as Predator and Prey.

Prey was a massive improvement over the previous film. It was a simple story that was told well because of its setup, character development, and filmmaking.