Prey (2022) Review

Prey has been a long time coming and I mean that in multiple ways.

The first meaning relates to Prey being the latest entry to the long running yet slowly deteriorating Predator franchise which features a trophy hunting, honour bound extraterrestrial murder machine.

The Predator series started over 35 years ago in 1987 with John McTiernan’s awe inspiring Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, a film that blended action, Sci-Fi and horror and introduced the world to a character that due to its highly original design and brutal yet bewitching actions has become one of the most well known and well loved Science Fiction movie monsters of the modern age of cinema.

Although Predator 2 in 1990 is an underrated masterpiece all by itself after that the films sadly fell down drastically in quality and originality. Starting with the half hearted and disappointing crossovers Alien vs. Predator in 2004 and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem in 2007 where neither iconic monster was done justice, the “ugly motherfucker” reappeared in 2010 in the misfiring and uneven Predators with Adrien Brody as the horribly miscast leading man.

The series finally hit absolute rock bottom with the trite, shite travesty that was Shane Black’s 2018 The Predator, a film so bad even a mega fan such as myself couldn’t find anything to like about it. After this it seemed all hope was lost… that is, until Prey.

A monumental return to form director Dan Trachtenberg who co-wrote the story with script writer Patrick Aison has finally after over 20 years delivered a Predator film worthy of the character originally created by Jim and John Thomas.

Violent, visceral, tense and tremendously entertaining Prey not only excites but it ignites the mind working on multiple levels in the deeper meaning and readings you can find within it much like the original 1987 film did.

In every way the film excels from its look to its cast to its cinematography to its setting to its score. Trachtenberg manages to bring a fresh feel while delivering all the elements that followers of the franchise have come to expect from a Predator film.

Amazingly he also manages to make the monster terrifying again something that has been missing from the series since the second instalment. Trachtenberg achieves this by keeping the creature cloaked for a large chunk of the narrative, increasing both the anxiety and the excitement of seeing a whole new beast because this Predator tale is set in the 18th Century.

The story leads us to another reason why Prey has been such a long time coming as it finally pays off a tiny yet hugely significant moment at the end of Predator 2 where the victorious Lieutenant Harrigan, played with aplomb by Danny Glover, is handed an antique flintlock pistol with the year 1715 engraved on it.

The idea that the ultimate alien hunter has been visiting our Earth for centuries blew my teenage mind and obviously inspired Prey which sees the Predator arriving in The Northern Great Plains in 1719 at the height of the Comanche Nation.

With its ship witnessed by strong willed and well skilled youth Naru (Legion’s Amber Midthunder) who sees it as a sign she sets off on the hunt for a mountain lion along with her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers) and some other boys to prove her worth to the rest of the tribe.

Things do not go as planned for Naru however she sees sights she can not explain and soon becomes convinced that the thing slaughtering snakes and other creatures in the forest around them is something far more sinister and supernatural than a simple animal. From here Naru and her canine companion head into the wild alone, unaware that what they are hunting is not only from another world but it is also hunting them.

Naru is very different from the buff tough testosterone filled heroes who have faced the Predator before and for once we have a lead that we as an audience can actually relate to rather than only use as some sort of wish fulfilment. What is great about Prey however is that although Naru is smart she is also more than physically abel and in the final face off she must use both in equal measure to triumph.

Setting this Predator film at this time period and using the Comanche community is a stroke of genius as it not only places the creature in a culture that has no idea what it is but also equals the playing field between the alien tracker and the equally adept Native community who are one with the land and just as highly trained to hunt and fight as their otherworldly adversary.

It is important to note what we see in Prey is not a fictional account of the Comanche people at this time but an entirely accurate portrayal, something that has been painstakingly brought to life due to the dedication of the crew and creatives who made the movie.

Interestingly this leads us neatly to the last reason why Prey has been a long time coming as it is the first feature film to be released in the Comanche language. This along with the amount of representation given to Comanche and other Native cultures across the cast and crew gives the film an added importance and much like Black Panther before it, the fact that this landmark moment takes place in a mainstream Hollywood blockbuster that will hopefully be viewed by thousands is even better.

Visually stunning from start to finish it is a shame that the film will not be given a cinema release and although many may argue it’s easy accessibility on streaming gives it a guaranteed audience there is no way any size TV screen could do justice to the splendour and spectacle Trachtenberg shows us.

Prey slots perfectly after Predator and Predator 2 making the terrific trilogy that this franchise always deserved. Predator fans like me waited a long time from Prey but you know what, it was more than worth the wait.

Watch our Exclusive Prey interviews with director Dan Trachtenberg and with producer Jhane Myers and the films star Amber Midthunder HERE.

Movie Rating:

Prey trailer