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Prey Movie Review

Prey is a 2022 science fiction action film directed by Dan Trachtenberg and starring Amber Midthunder in the main role. It’s a tremendous genre flick.

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“It knows how to hunt.

But I know how to survive“

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A skilled Comanche warrior protects her tribe from a highly evolved alien predator that hunts humans for sport, fighting against wilderness, dangerous colonizers and this mysterious creature to keep her people safe. When I watched this trailer a couple of days ago, I was shocked at how good this movie looked, and it turned out it’s just as amazing as the trailer promised it would be. But this type of important blockbuster movie getting so little marketing and being dumped on a streaming service instead of a theater is a shameless, tragic trend in an era where only the laziest money grabbers end up on the big screen.

This is the type of franchise reinvention that I absolutely adore. You take an already established, venerable franchise and you make something truly unique with it while never forgetting its roots and its core elements. This is what they did here. The time period is 1719 and the protagonists are Native Americans, but the Predator himself is still there and he’s just as ferocious as he was in the previous installments.

This is an exciting film that is wildly entertaining from start to finish. It represents the type of action that I like best – realistic and sporadic. The movie is very reminiscent of ‘The Northman’ and ‘Apocalypto’ in its extremely accurate depiction of Native American tribes, their way of life, the American wilderness and even the French colonizers. Everything was perfectly depicted, even the weaponry.

Speaking of weapons, the one pistol that we see near the end of the story is hugely important not just in the context of this particular movie, but also for the whole franchise. This is the pistol that was given to the protagonist of ‘Predator 2’ by one of the aliens at the end of that movie. Thus, this entry brilliantly connected the two films in a smooth move that I did not expect and that blew me away.

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Amber Midthunder emerges as a genuine star here. It’s fantastic that they cast true Native American actors in a highly authentic, rare move that depicts their culture honestly. Yes, she becomes highly unlikable in that one brutal moment where she turned into savage mode on that one colonizer, but this was important as the movie did not shy away from portraying both the colonizers and the these native tribes as being brutal when the need arose. The movie has its obvious feminist touches, but those worked as Naru is both badass and highly believable in her relying on quick wit instead of brute strength. The flick is highly realistic in its depiction of women’s weaknesses and strengths in the area of hunting and fighting.

The colonizers arriving later in the game was a great twist that really worked and them being French was historically accurate and highly authentic. Prey also develops the dynamic between Naru and her family and friends superbly. Her arc is truly fantastic. As for the Predator, it’s clearly unfair for anybody to go against him as he’s ridiculously armed with so much high-tech gadgetry and of course invisibility, but how the protagonist eventually managed to beat him was believable and meticulously detailed.

Every fight sequence in Prey is phenomenally executed and the early scenes with the animals were truly shocking. The snake scene was intriguing while the bear sequence was horrifying. How the weapons were used and how much tactics went into the girl’s fighting was ingenious, making those fights brilliant all around. The cinematography is breathtaking as it was actually shot on location, resulting in for once authentic-looking, gorgeous movie that never forgets to depict the harshness of the wilderness too. The sound design is amazing as well, though the score is not as memorable. The directing is terrific, but I did wish that the dialogue was done in the Comanche language.

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What does it say about the state of blockbusters these days when an incredible genre film like Prey was dumped onto a streaming service instead of a big screen? It’s a truly tragic turn of events as this movie is so amazing that it deserves to be seen by much wider audiences. This is the type of franchise reinvention that I adore – take an already established, venerable series and do something unique with it while still keeping its core elements intact. The 18^th century time period coupled with a Native American protagonist made for such a fresh angle while the Predator himself is just as badass and just as ferocious as ever. This is an extremely historically accurate film that is also gorgeously shot and stupendously executed in every single action sequence. It also features a fantastic female protagonist that has a genuinely strong character arc. Consequently, Prey is just a terrific movie all around and probably the greatest Predator film of all time, even transcending the original.

My Rating – 4.5