TMS Movie Review: Prey

(20th Century Studios / Hulu)

A lot of popular movies are released directly online via streaming these days, especially since the pandemic broke through over two years ago. But Dan Trachtenberg’s soft reboot of Fox’s famous Predator franchise, called fittingly Prey, is the first time I’ve seen the unanimous opinion of: “This should have been released in theaters.” After Shane Black’s ridiculous The Predator (2018) four years ago, I can see why 20th Century Studios opted for just dropping it on Hulu; between all of the dumb humor and offensively stupid logic going on the previous film to hurt the action-horror brand. But—like Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick—Prey not only delivers what most were not expecting, but also reestablishes an old 1980s action classic four decades later.

In the greater wilderness of 1700s pre-America, Naru (Amber Midthunder) is a female member of the Comanche tribe who wants to hunt and fight with the men instead of work domestically. Her older brother, Taabe (Dakota Beavers), already has the strength and skill that she longs for, and thinks she’s in over her head. When the bigger animals in the forests start suddenly appearing brutally killed, Naru senses something unusual is lurking the tribe’s territory. Dane DiLiegro is the body and model for the infamous baddy and Naru’s canine companion Sarii is played by a first-time set trained dog named Coco.

(20th Century Studios / Hulu)

Prey has been getting lots of praise for cleverly reinventing the Predator franchise, and also putting the spotlight on Native American characters as film leads. It makes sense the first prequel in the series would be set in historic Native years, since the John McTiernan’s original Predator (1987), and most of the sequels take place in the jungle, another nature region. The few complaints I’ve seen of Prey didn’t actually bother me. One is that everyone in the movie speaks English, when obviously they would be speaking Comanche, and Midthunder in particular sounds like a modern youth. Since the characters are speaking English anyway, I don’t mind the dialogue and characters sounding somewhat modern, because this is ultimately a fictional fantasy with contemporary actors. [And for those who did enjoy Prey enough to watch it again already, there actually is a Comanche dub also featured on Hulu.] Another criticism I’ve seen is about the heavy CG effects during the action scenes. Sarii is played by Coco for all the dog’s screentime, but all of the big, wild animals are CG animated. I’m fine with mixing both practical effects and computer graphics; and I have to agree with the filmmakers that it’s probably easier for both humans and animals to just artificially create huge grizzly bears and wolves, rather than train them. The only thing I can’t really comment on is the allegedly garbage transcribed dialogue for some French fur trappers, so I’ll take the native French speakers’ word for it.

All in all, Prey does the simple, basic task of giving audiences quality popcorn entertainment without any fluff. Midthunder, Beavers and Trachtenberg [who also directed the refreshingly subversive 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)] are impressive, and I’m excited to see what all three of them do next. And a reminder for young parents: there’s a strong reason the Predator movies are rated R.