Prey
**I did a guest appearance on the Piecing It Together podcast to discuss “Prey.” You can check that out here.
The big hook of the first “Predator” was to take the biggest action star in the world, and make him the prey for a bigger badass than him. It’s a hook that’s is an excellent idea, but it also hamstrung the subsequent sequels, which felt like they needed to copy the exact same formula every time. Part of why “Prey” succeeds where those failed to match the original is because it’s the first film to give us a real protagonist who can take the Predator by surprise- a young Comanche woman in the process of discovering her talents as a hunter. The result is the best film in the franchise in 35 years, and one of the best action films in a good, long while.
I’ve had an idea for an “Alien vs. Predator” film that would involve no humans, take place on an alien world, and no English dialogue- just the titular creatures speaking in their own languages. It’s obvious that, when filmmakers try to add humans into the mix in that mashup, it is an abject failure. I mention this because “Prey” is being presented both in English, as well as Comanche, and I’d be very curious to see how it plays to me in the latter. Regardless of how you watch it, though, director Dan Trachtenberg has delivered a taut, character-driven thriller that actually thrills.
“Prey” is set in the 1719 North American midwest. We’re a ways away from western expansion and the Trail of Tears, so a Comanche tribe still has room to roam in relative peace, without settlers invading their land. Naru (Amber Midthunder) is wanting to train as a warrior, but is looked at with skepticism by the men in her tribe, even her brother. We see her on hunts with the men, and she is resourceful, but when they hunt for a lion, they don’t believe her when she thinks it is something else. Since one of the first things we see is the outline of a spaceship enter and leave the atmosphere, and a Predator left behind, we know she’s right, and she’ll probably be the only one who can take it on.
Trachtenberg’s most well-known film is “10 Cloverfield Lane,” which I haven’t reviewed, but is a terrific, closed-room thriller that adds meat to the bones of that makeshift franchise. Here, he’s working from a screenplay by Patrick Aison that understands the appeal of a great “Predator” movie, as well as ways to make things we’ve seen (or heard) before land. There’s a dialogue call-back to the original film here that works because it’s not intended merely as fan service, but a natural part of a conversation two people are having during the film. The landscape in this film feels familiar to what we saw in the 1987 film, at times, but it results in different ways scenes play out. A big part of that is something that has long been part of the “Predator” franchise- the idea that the Predator only hunts things it views as threats. That is why wolves and bears are on the business end of the Predator’s toys, but Naru isn’t, even though she’s the biggest threat to it of them all. In a way, this film is lifting as much from Ridley Scott’s “Alien” as it is from John McTiernan’s film, because like that film, “Prey” has a woman at its center who is a victim of misogyny from the people around her before she even comes face-to-face with the threat every one else is going to get offed by. Midthunder gives a great performance in this role, showing the fear of a young woman faced with something she’s not prepared for, but the confidence to confront it head-on. I’m going to need her to work with every great Hollywood action director yesterday.
Unlike most people, I think all the solo “Predator” films have value, and I’ll even grade on a curve and say “AvP: Requiem” gets more right than Paul W.S. Anderson’s film does, but “Prey” is easily the best of the bunch, and may even be better than the 1987 film, in some ways. If you know my adoration for that film, you know how tall an order that is. But “Prey” is exciting, understands why the original film is so effective, and also feels very much like its own film. If this were the first film in the franchise, we’d be begging for more. I just can’t wait to experience it again.
