IT was the year 1987 when cinema audiences were first introduced to Predator, a testosterone-fueled action film that saw a team of special forces soldiers in a hapless, one-sided battle against an apex predator from space in the jungles of Central America.
Now, 35 years later, Prey sees the iconic Predator in colonial America, where the fight is taken to warriors of the Comanche Nation.
But after the mediocre sequels that came after the original Predator, along with terrible Alien vs Predator films, is this latest entry enough to salvage the franchise?
Scrubbing the slate clean
Set in 1719, the film follows young Comanche healer Naru (Amber Midthunder), who aspires to be a hunter like her brother, Taabe (Dakota Beavers).
In order to do so, she has to undertake kuhtaamia, a Comanche rite of passage to become a warrior, where Naru will have to be hunted and survive against a predator from the wild.
Unfortunately for her, this ends up being the literal Predator (Dane DiLiegro), as the technologically-advanced alien begins to hunt Naru, the others in her Comanche tribe, and even a group of French colonists.
In many ways, Prey strips off the excess weight from everything that brought down the previous films, such as the absurd plotting in 2018’s The Predator or the overstuffed, boring AvP film duology.
A leaner, meaner machine, this film brings the franchise back to its roots; the unprecedented situation where man has to face off against an enemy far superior to himself, or in Naru’s case, to herself.
Focus on characters
Like the iconic 1987 film, Prey takes a while to start, with director Dan Trachtenberg giving some breathing room for the development of Naru, before the Predator makes its presence fully known.
Midthunder, most notable for her previous role in the series Legion, firmly establishes herself as an action star in Prey. The actress’ athleticism barely struggles in regular action sequences, and then the numerous ones against the Predator. It was legitimately hard to spot her stunt double, if she even had one.
She is also accompanied by Coco, a dog adopted and trained for the film for the role of Sarii, Naru’s four-legged companion, and Coco sells every normal scene and action sequence she is in.
These days, its part of the norm for actors to be acting in a CGI environment, facing what are essentially giant green screens or people in motion capture suits, and acting like they are staring at something real.
Watching animals do it on equal footing as their human co-stars is rare. In Prey, Coco does this, several times, and sells the performance.
If it bleeds
That said, it’s not like the invisible Predator is completely absent from the first half of the film.
In small sequences, Prey finds the alien squaring off against a snake, a wolf, and finally a bear, as its search for a worthy hunt eventually escalates to Naru, Taabe and the Comanche tribe.
It’s an important piece of visual storytelling, as the Predator’s first kill after landing on Earth is a snake, after observing the reptile attack a smaller mammal. Realising its slithering prey is not at the top of the food chain, the Predator moves on to bigger, and eventually smarter prey.
For instance, in a display of pure brutality and unflinching strength, the Predator goes toe-to-toe, blow-for-blow with a grizzly, America’s most dangerous land predator, and the sequence establishes just how dangerous the alien is through sheer brute strength.
Each action sequence then increases in violence and body count, and the film culminates in the best Predator fight since the time Arnold Schwarzenegger fought one in the 1987 original.
Though only the second feature film by Trachtenberg, Prey demonstrates the 10 Cloverfield Lane director’s ability to ramp up tension and action, hand-in-hand with deft.
English was a mistake
If there is any real criticism of the film, it is one that is not present in previous films; the language inconsistency.
Prey was originally shot with the Native American actors speaking in English, with certain words and phrases spoken in the Comanche native language, and the film is framed from Naru’s perspective so it would seem as though the Comanche that Naru hears is in English for the viewer.
However, after the film was shot, the Native American cast were brought back to re-record their lines entirely in Comanche, and this optional dub can be toggled for those streaming the film through Hulu or Disney+.
The dub, like every dub since the dawn of time, is atrocious. It’s simply not lip-synched and the audio mixing is terrible, with each actor’s Comanche sounding like they’re standing in a recording booth.
Given how the film was never meant to be shown in cinemas, the filmmakers and producers behind Prey should have taken a risk by shooting the film entirely in Comanche (except the French used by the French colonists) from the start.
