DIRECTOR: Dan Trachtenberg
CAST: Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro, Stormee Kipp, Michelle Thrush, Julian Black Antelope
RUNNING TIME: 99 mins
CERTIFICATE: 15
BASICALLY…: A skilled Comanche warrior (Midthunder) faces off against an advanced alien hunter…
NOW FOR THE REVIEW…
All films in the Predator franchise have, in their own way, developed and even embraced their own unique personalities. You have the testosterone-fuelled first entry, which is pure 80s muscular action through and through, then there’s the underappreciated second movie that styled itself after a cop thriller, followed by the campy crossovers with the Alien franchise, and then the darker sci-fi tones of Predators, before seemingly leaving things with the more tongue-in-cheek (though not to everyone’s tastes) The Predator through writer-director Shane Black.
Prey, though, has another personality that’s all its own, one that takes the very best components of its predecessors, and not only honours them with a gruesome, down-to-earth feel that’s been missing from this series since the very beginning, but also reshapes them into a pretty strong action thriller that stands incredibly well on its own.
Taking place in 1719, the film follows Naru (Amber Midthunder), a fierce and highly skilled Comanche warrior who struggles to be accepted amongst her tribe, including her older brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers). She soon finds a chance to prove herself by tracking down a mysterious creature that she’s seen deep in the forest: that creature, of course, being one of those ugly mother-fudger Predators, which has arrived on Earth to – what else? – hunt any and all humans it can find. Naru, however, is no mere prey, and with her own formidable hunting skills – as well as an adorable dog sidekick – she sets out to take down the alien killer and make it bleed its bright fluorescent green blood.
Of the Predator sequels, Prey is probably the closest they’ve come to recapturing the awe and thrills of that first movie, and it does so without making the mistakes of The Predator by going too overboard or self-aware about its legacy. This film very quickly establishes a dark and brutal world that feels very different to what we’ve seen in the other movies, where every single person and animal is practically in permanent survival mode, and will find just the most grim, unforgiving ways to vanquish their enemies without so much as batting an eyelid – and that’s before the Predator even shows up. By the time it does, though, you’ve gotten so used to the gritty tone and unforgiving environment, thanks to writing and filmmaking that allows the viewer to properly absorb these characters and the gorgeous plains in which they roam, that suddenly seeing a massive alien creature maiming and stabbing anything it sets its sights on doesn’t feel like a completely different movie has stumbled into frame.
This is only the second feature to be directed by Dan Trachtenberg, who since his 2016 debut with 10 Cloverfield Lane has mostly dabbled in television, including the pilot episode for The Boys. His long overdue return to features, however, shows how skilled a filmmaker he can be on a reasonably sized budget, while still keeping the action and setting relatively contained. Trachtenberg allows tense moments to simply play out, whether it’s looking out in the distance with that iconic clicking sound surrounding its next victims, or trying to escape a hidden bog of mud, or even facing off against other deadly CGI animals like a cougar or a grizzly bear (on that note, despite not always looking real, the effects here are fairly solid for a mid-budgeted movie). The action scenes are riveting to watch, with impressive camerawork capturing as much of the stunts and fight choreography as possible, while showcasing some awesomely creative weaponry like a roped-up tomahawk which, with the right amount of force and energy, can kill more than one person within seconds.
Most of all, though, you actually care about who it’s all happening to. Between this and 10 Cloverfield Lane, Trachtenberg seems to be a filmmaker who really values character as much as the actual narrative, if not more so, and here he and screenwriter Patrick Aison (both of whom also came up with the film’s story) come up with both a hero and villain who you can easily love and hate respectively, all the while acknowledging how utterly cool and bad-ass they are. Amber Midthunder is great in the lead role, with a confidently commanding screen presence that comes with chilling intensity in her eyes, to a point where she can be just as intimidating as the actual Predator. Speaking of whom, the movie does a good job of making this creature legitimately threatening, with a bold new design that rather cleverly fits the time period; this Predator doesn’t have the suit of armour it would don a couple hundred years later in this franchise’s timeline, instead using a helmet that’s noticeably more primitive and doesn’t even fully cover its head. Sure, it still has the camouflage and heat-detecting vision (amongst many other weapons), but it’s cool seeing this prototypical Predator in action which does make it a neat parallel to our slightly more vulnerable hero.
It’s a very entertaining movie, one that does so well with setting up its characters and its simple enough plot that it even earns some of the obligatory call-backs (an iconic line from the original is repeated verbatim at one point), which in a much less product would have felt cheap and forced. Luckily, this franchise is in the hands of people who not only know and love what makes a Predator movie work for the masses, but who also have enough talent and ambition to make these characters and action sequences feel like they could exist even without the other movies to back them up. In a way, though, it’s almost sad that it isn’t getting a theatrical release, because this is the kind of film that would have easily won crowds over, but whether it’s at the cinema or sitting at home in front of your TV, Prey plays incredibly well to patient viewers who enjoy a bit of brain to go with their brawn, and might just have enough life in it to revitalise a franchise that, until now, has lacked a solid and consistent direction.
Although, knowing this franchise’s track record of switching gear with each entry, the next one of these is going to be an all-out comedy, isn’t it? Sigh…
SO, TO SUM UP…
Prey is a ferocious new entry into the Predator franchise which might be the strongest since the original, thanks to an intense and brutal atmosphere where director Dan Trachtenberg allows the gritty and unforgiving violence to naturally unfold, with both a compelling hero and an intimidating villain to equally root for and against.
