Prey

Prey (2022)

Runtime: 99 minutes

Directed by: Dan Trachtenberg

Starring: Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Stormee Kipp, Michelle Thrush, Julian Black Antelope

From: 20th Century Studios

The dog DOES NOT die; that was a relief.

I decided not to renew my subscriptions to Disney+ and Hulu; I'll return to those later in the year. As there truly was nothing better to check out tonight (I'll wait at least a day or two to experience the big movie release of the month) it was long overdue to tackle the latest Predator movie as someone who has seen all the previous entries in the franchise, even if not all of them have been reviewed on Letterboxd. After Predator 2, the sequels/attempts to reboot the series have been various shades of bad. While I did not love Prey like most, it was not bad like far too many films in the franchise have been.

In 1719, a tribe of Comanche not only have to deal w/ French-Canadian fur trapper A-holes, but a Yautja is on the planet, kicking the ass of some predator animals then going after humans. Naru is the young heroine who has to prove herself as a warrior. Of course, the males doubt her and as she thankfully isn't a Mary Sue that became prevalent too often in recent years, she struggles at first. However, she goes through a trial by fire, and... a shame that the climatic battle made me scoff, but alas.

The movie made more than one misstep. The CG was regrettably not that great; that had to be the keystone reason why too much carnage was either off-screen or shot from a distance. We needed a better view of Predator vs Bear, that's for darn sure. Echoing dialogue from the original and moments that felt “too modern” really stuck out like a chopped-off limb. There were other story issues I won't mention as even now, I will not be the spoiling type. That is unfortunate, as the story was refreshing in its simplicity and Naru was a character easy to root for. Of course it's a retread but that's what most of the sequels have felt like anyhow.

The forest/plains setting was quite scenic and the score was what I expected, although it was still solid work from Sarah Schachner. I am happy to note that Amber Midthunder delivered as the lead, and praise will always be heaped on when movies attempt to be historically accurate and not killing a dog or cat for “cheap heat”; I was delighted that Naru's faithful companion survived the entire way. The lack of dialogue for long stretches is usually a positive and it worked here; no, I am not like Denis V. who pretentiously thinks that movies “shouldn't have dialogue...”

Despite my complaints, this was still better than the skinned carcasses that were garbage like Predators, the AvP travesties or The Predator that stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy even before release, then was a bizarre film about the villain forming some sort of bond w/ an autistic boy for cripes knows what reason, + bad comedy that some liked (or at the auditorium I was at 6 years ago, it brought the house down with constant laughter from many in the crowd) once it was released. Prey was at least better than those.