Prey

Film Director Dan Trachtenberg best known for his debut film 10 Cloverfield Lane returns in what may be, the most exciting Predator film in Prey.

Prey was released on the 5th of August 2022 and fans of the predator franchise can stream the latest installment on streaming media sites such as Hulu.

Now although I haven’t seen all the Predator films since some of them came out before I was even born, I can comfortably say I’ve seen every Predator film that has been released in the 21st century and this one deserves to be praised.

Before I dive deep into my review, I’d like to first lay the groundwork for those that have not seen the movie yet but would like to get an overall view of what to expect.

The film follows a young Comanche woman by the name of Naru played by Amber Midthunder, who wants to prove to her people that even she, a woman can hunt like all men, rather than staying behind picking plants.

One day, while out searching for a medical plant she runs into a group of hunters from a tribe on the search for a young man that had been captured by a mountain lion.

Although some of the warriors instantly refuse her to tag along with them, her brother Taabe played by Dakota Beavers insists that she come along with them, specifying that she’s extremely talented in finding things and that she can apply medical herbs if by any chance the young man is still alive.

As they travel in the night searching for the mountain lion, they finally find the young man still breathing yet barely alive with no sign of the mountain lion anywhere near them.

It’s on their way back to the village that she spots unusual signs of a creature that she’s neither seen nor heard of before and this ladies and gentlemen is what intrigues our protagonist onwards on her journey.

What I came to love about the Prey film were several things that normally I think filmmakers overlook when they try to recreate ancient times.

Firstly, it has to be all the minor details throughout the film that appear to be a challenge for Naru but were all used as a means to defeat the predator.

Secondly, everything that they needed and used during the entire film was a part of nature, from the ropes to their weapons and even being assisted by dogs.

Thirdly, the outstanding visual cinematography in almost every scene had the perfect angle on both the characters and the landscape, although I’m sorry to say that I found the mountain lion scene a bit hilarious.

I mean, we’re hunting a mountain lion yet this one warrior can’t help but talk so much that the lion had to shut him up lol…

Using both the Native language together with English was a great choice by the director as this constantly reminded us that we’re in 1716 following the Comanche tribe.

Today, the Comanche people belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, located in Lawton Oklahoma led by Susan Cothren.

Now since the film is based in 1716, the predators have a clear advantage with all the advanced technology especially the invisibility, that ability is so busted, I say again, this is 1716.

The grizzly bear didn’t know what hit him when that predator knocked him out and I have to say, that was probably my favorite scene in the film.

It looked as if I were watching Saitama from the animation One Punch Man in the first season just knocking every villain out with a single punch, but what made it incredible was the VFX.

The VFX and CGI were both incredibly done throughout the film, the pacing was also wonderfully paced by first introducing us to the land, the people, and then the predator.

One last thing I’d like to say is that for a film with such a small cast, the film is truly great in every sense.

There is no wasted scene during this film and the cast performs marvelously all around.

Let me know what some of your favorite moments in Prey are in the comments section below.

Thanks for reading…