OnScreen Review: "Prey"
Ken Jones, Chief Film Critic
One of the iconic scenes from the iconic action flick Predator is when Billy, the archetypal stoic Native America tracker and one of the few members of an elite squad of soldiers that is still alive, decides to make a stand in the jungle again their unseen foe to buy some time for Dutch, Poncho, and Anna to “GET TO THE CHOPPA!!!” He tosses his gun and decides to meet his fate with his big ol’ knife and his bare hands. We don’t see Billy’s death at the hand of the Predator, only hear his blood curdling scream. It’s a badass way to go out in one of the most macho movies ever made, and as a kid, director Daniel Trachtenberg always wondered how that fight could have gone. That unseen confrontation between Comanche warrior Billy and the Predator is the impetus for Prey, a prequel to Predator set three hundred years ago in the heart of Comanche Nation in 1719.
Naru (Amber Midthunder) lives with her mother and brother on the Great Northern Plains with their tribe. While she gathers and learns medicinal healing from her mother, she desires to be a hunter like her brother, tracking and nearly taking down a deer with her hatchet and the aide of her dog, Sarii. It is here she witnesses a Predator spacecraft in the sky, something she see as an omen and is determined to prove herself as a warrior to her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers), her mother Aruka (Michelle Thrush), and her mocking peers, unaware of just how deadly this unseen force truly is.
Female heroines are nothing new to action films, but they are still something of a rarity. Naru, while following in the footsteps of Ripley, Furiosa, and others, is very much her own person. Naru is like an unfinished piece of clay to be molded by her experiences. She is shown to be cunning and resourceful while also determined. What she lacks is experience in putting everything together when it matters. When a group of them are looking for a cougar that has dragged off someone in their village, Taabe points out that Naru is better at tracking than anyone else. Her plan of attack with the cougar proves to be successful, even if her attempt to carry it out is thwarted. She also attaches a rope to the end of her hatchet so it is easier to retrieve after being thrown.
Given that the modern-day counterparts of this Predator laid waste to a team of soldiers led by Arnold Schwarzenegger and more advance weaponry than is available to 1700s Comanche, the Predator here is sports slightly more rudimentary weapons by comparison too. In place of the shoulder-mounted plasma gun is a shoulder-mounted gun that shoots metallic arrow-like projectiles instead. Instead of a metallic helmet is one made out of bone. The Predator here methodically works his way up the food chain and collecting skulls along the way, from a rattlesnake to a wolf to a bear. Initially, Naru is the only one who has an inkling that there is more out there than just a big animal, and she is unable to convince others of how real the threat is because they do not take her seriously enough.
The Predator is also not the only adversary out there either. A group of French trappers and hunters become involved in the third act, giving another obstacle (of patriarchy) for Naru to overcome and a fresh set of victims for the Predator to plow through. The film does not skimp on the bloody violence and the action, particularly in the third, is really impressive. Making Naru a believable, worthy foe capable of overcoming a Predator is a tall task, and to the film’s credit, it mostly pulls that off.
Equally impressive is the cinematography. While it is a beautiful film to watch on a big screen TV in HD/4K, it has a genuine cinematic feel to it, using a lot of natural light, and I would have loved to have seen it on the big screen of a movie theater. With that said, though, one thing that would not be possible if this received a theatrical release, is the Hulu option to see it dubbed in Comanche rather than in English with some scenes re-shot entirely in Comanche. Not only is the film attempting to be faithful with nods to the original Predator, it is also attempting be faithful to the people represented in the film as well.
Prey has a lot going for it. It is easily the best entry in the Predator franchise since the original, not there have been a lot of great sequels, but Predators is probably its closest competition there. It stays true to the pacing of the original and serves up plenty of enjoyable action with quality characters to boot. Whether it is part of a paradigm shift in how movies are released, part of the continued fallout of the 20th Century Studios acquisition by Disney, or part of the new post-pandemic landscape, this is a rare treat to find as a brand new release on a streaming service in the peak of summer.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars