The Predator franchise has been in a kind of limbo ever since the success of the original 1987 original. 1990’s Predator 2 swapped the jungle and Vietnam war for L.A. and the war on drugs, 2010’s Predators returned to the jungle setting but delved more into the mythology of the alien species, and 2018’s The Predator just didn’t have an audience. So, a fifth instalment in the franchise really needed to make its mark, or it may have just sunk the entire franchise with it. Thankfully then, Prey is not only the best since the 1987 original, but it might even be better.
The year is 1719 and a young Comanche healer, Naru (Amber Midthunder) dreams of becoming a hunter like her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers). But when out hunting a lion, Naru sees a mysterious lightning amongst the trees, and before long her tribe, along with the local wildlife, become the target of a technologically advanced alien, the Predator (Dane DeLigro).
Naru must learn to hunt in unorthodox and unpredictable ways in order to outsmart and conquer her deadly foe or risk the entire tribe succumbing to its might.
The year is 1719 and a young Comanche healer, Naru (Amber Midthunder) dreams of becoming a hunter like her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers). But when out hunting a lion, Naru sees a mysterious lightning amongst the trees, and before long her tribe, along with the local wildlife, become the target of a technologically advanced alien, the Predator (Dane DeLigro).
Naru must learn to hunt in unorthodox and unpredictable ways in order to outsmart and conquer her deadly foe or risk the entire tribe succumbing to its might.
I love director Dan Trachtenberg’s work. That might sound a little odd when you consider he’s only had one other feature film, the incredible 10 Cloverfield Lane, but I’ve been a fan of his work since he directed the Portal: No Escape fan film in 2011. Prey is no exception to this statement, as it is a really great film, and the best thing to happen to the Predator franchise since the 1987 original.
It’s such an interesting film as it set in such a wildly different time period than we are used to seeing from not only the Predator franchise, but science fiction on the whole. The eighteenth century is not an era you associate with futuristic technology and aliens, yet it also is strangely the perfect place for that to exist without needing to suspend your disbelief at all. Could aliens have come to Earth in the 1700’s? Maybe, who knows? Especially in a country such as America where ‘official’ historical records get a bit spotty in the colonialisation era, something like what happens in Prey could be possible without anyone ever knowing.
But back to the film, Naru is such a great character. I really liked how her experience as a healer gives her an edge in hunting, one that nobody wants to admit because she isn’t as strong as the others. This is matched quite nicely I feel with what appears to be a relatively inexperienced Predator. It makes mistakes, underestimates its prey on several occasions, and ultimately Naru is able to overcome it simply by tricking it into making the same kinds of mistakes the other hunters in her tribe do. It’s this back-and-forth dynamic that really makes Prey so engaging, with both the Predator and Naru learning from each other to use it against one another.
From a cinematography standpoint Prey looks fantastic. Watching the film in Dolby Vision really brought the wilderness to life in stunning detail. I love how small and exposed Prey often made you feel, which when you contrast that with the way the jungle works in Predator where it makes everything so claustrophobic and closed in, it’s a great opposition to have to get us into the mindset of Naru, someone who’s significantly smaller and weaker than Arnie’s Dutch.
That being said Prey’s stunning vistas are often tarnished with lots of very dated looking GCI. The worst offenders are the animals, other than Naru’s dog all of the animals in Prey are digital creations and they all look outrageously fake. We’re talking late 00’s video game level fake. The Predator is also significantly affected by this whenever it uses its cloaking ability. It’s clear that Prey probably didn’t have a particularly large budget, and considering how much CGI is relied on for this film I can’t understand why more of the budget wasn’t allocated to these elements.
There’s also been a lot of buzz online about Prey being the first film to be fully dubbed in Comanche. Although the film was shot in English, the cast did a full Comanche dub for if you want to fully immerse yourself in the film. I however couldn’t seem to access this version of the film on Disney+, I looked up how to do it and was given answers, but I just couldn’t find it. But it’s worth knowing if that’s something you’d like to check out as I’m sure it’ll add a different layer of depth to the film, and I’m definitely going to check it out for a rewatch in the future so long as I can access it.
Prey is not the greatest action film of the year, but it’s an amazing return to form for the Predator franchise. Hopefully future Predator projects will follow in the footsteps of Prey, placing the Predator in different time periods against different types of people, in different environments, rather than getting too bogged down with the Predator mythology which the previous sequels were guilty of focusing on.
If you have a Disney+ subscription then Prey is something you should definitely check out, it’s a shame that it’s unlikely to see a theatrical release any time soon.
It’s such an interesting film as it set in such a wildly different time period than we are used to seeing from not only the Predator franchise, but science fiction on the whole. The eighteenth century is not an era you associate with futuristic technology and aliens, yet it also is strangely the perfect place for that to exist without needing to suspend your disbelief at all. Could aliens have come to Earth in the 1700’s? Maybe, who knows? Especially in a country such as America where ‘official’ historical records get a bit spotty in the colonialisation era, something like what happens in Prey could be possible without anyone ever knowing.
But back to the film, Naru is such a great character. I really liked how her experience as a healer gives her an edge in hunting, one that nobody wants to admit because she isn’t as strong as the others. This is matched quite nicely I feel with what appears to be a relatively inexperienced Predator. It makes mistakes, underestimates its prey on several occasions, and ultimately Naru is able to overcome it simply by tricking it into making the same kinds of mistakes the other hunters in her tribe do. It’s this back-and-forth dynamic that really makes Prey so engaging, with both the Predator and Naru learning from each other to use it against one another.
From a cinematography standpoint Prey looks fantastic. Watching the film in Dolby Vision really brought the wilderness to life in stunning detail. I love how small and exposed Prey often made you feel, which when you contrast that with the way the jungle works in Predator where it makes everything so claustrophobic and closed in, it’s a great opposition to have to get us into the mindset of Naru, someone who’s significantly smaller and weaker than Arnie’s Dutch.
That being said Prey’s stunning vistas are often tarnished with lots of very dated looking GCI. The worst offenders are the animals, other than Naru’s dog all of the animals in Prey are digital creations and they all look outrageously fake. We’re talking late 00’s video game level fake. The Predator is also significantly affected by this whenever it uses its cloaking ability. It’s clear that Prey probably didn’t have a particularly large budget, and considering how much CGI is relied on for this film I can’t understand why more of the budget wasn’t allocated to these elements.
There’s also been a lot of buzz online about Prey being the first film to be fully dubbed in Comanche. Although the film was shot in English, the cast did a full Comanche dub for if you want to fully immerse yourself in the film. I however couldn’t seem to access this version of the film on Disney+, I looked up how to do it and was given answers, but I just couldn’t find it. But it’s worth knowing if that’s something you’d like to check out as I’m sure it’ll add a different layer of depth to the film, and I’m definitely going to check it out for a rewatch in the future so long as I can access it.
Prey is not the greatest action film of the year, but it’s an amazing return to form for the Predator franchise. Hopefully future Predator projects will follow in the footsteps of Prey, placing the Predator in different time periods against different types of people, in different environments, rather than getting too bogged down with the Predator mythology which the previous sequels were guilty of focusing on.
If you have a Disney+ subscription then Prey is something you should definitely check out, it’s a shame that it’s unlikely to see a theatrical release any time soon.