So Prey, the new Predator prequel is now on streaming and I had the chance to watch it today, so here’s my review.
It’s relatively spoiler free, but I will put in tags if needed.
If you have seen the trailer, you know what it’s about. Prey is an origin story, seeing a Predator land in the middle of the Comanche Nation 300 years ago. A “skilled female warrior” takes it on.
Now, on first thought, you might think this is woke, which, it is, but at the same time, it’s nowhere near as bad as some other movies. The girl, Naru, played by Amber Midthunder, lives in a village of Native American Indians and, as a woman, is supposed to stay at home, cook, and look after the camp, while the men go out and hunt the food.
Naru wants to be a hunter and one-day chief of the village. We have seen this many times in movies and, yes, it is a little preachy, but it wasn’t “ram it down your throat” preachy. I felt that her, wanting to be a warrior, probably did happen.
*mild spoilers*
I also liked the fact that she tried to join in with the boys, but they obviously didn’t want her on the hunt, but her brother stands up for her and she is accepted. I liked the fact that her brother wasn’t an ass hole to her.
I did find though, through the second act, that the boys then turned into arse holes, and beat her up, as did a bunch of French settlers, at least I think they were French. This did slap a bit of “women have been mistreated for many years”, but again, not overly done.
Obviously, Prey was only going to end one way, but at least it was done right. OK, she takes on a Predator, but that point badly injures it, it wasn’t just hand-to-hand combat with a 7-foot alien!
*end of spoilers*
The direction of the movie is great, some beautiful cinematography and Dan Trachtenberg did a great job, he really did nail it. I really liked 10 Cloverfield Lane, since the cast was good and they worked well in such a small, confined place.
Trachtenberg worked very well with all of the actors in Prey, no one let the side down and everyone was believable. Midthunder is very good, she’s not annoying, she is self-confident and, for the shallow people out there like me, easy on the eye.
There is a lot of gore in this movie, much like the original, although, there are times you can see it’s obviously CG, that’s me being overly picky.
Shawn on here said that it didn’t bore him and I agree, I did enjoy watching it, but it’s not an amazing movie by any standards. I did see a friend on Twitter say:
“Prey > Predator”
I had to tell him I respectfully disagree, since the original Predator is a classic, with guns and muscles and Arnie and guns and just badass! Prey is a toned-down version, with a female protagonist, but it is done well.
I give Prey a solid 3.5 out of 5. It was good entertainment, well directed and acted, but it’s not the original.
We will be talking about it on the Livestream on Sunday, so you can join us and tell me how wrong I am.
Check back every day for new content at Last Movie Outpost.
To like us on Facebook Click Here
To follow us on Twitter Click Here
See our YouTube channel Click Here
