Prey (2022)
Her big hunt just got a lot bigger.
It’s been out for a while, and I think it’s about time I finally get a spot up for it. I’m a franchise fan - one of the few franchises out there where I have gone and read comics, gotten toys and models and busts, read books - all on top of watching all the movies. Being a fan doesn’t prevent me from noticing flaws and pointing them out however - and about a week after this one came out I started seeing the headlines go from “flawless movie” right on over to “worst movie.” Fun fact, I had already watched it day one, so it’s been interesting holding back thoughts because I hate doing things when they are too new in this format because of potentially spoilers and the likes - but it’s been long enough, so lets go. Time to get feral, tonight we check out Prey.
Our story centers on a native tribe back in the day - specifically on a daughter of the tribe. She’s in a bit of a hurry to prove herself amongst her peers, one could argue a bit too hurried, but she’s not all talk either. She’s an absolute whip with her mind, picking up whatever information anyone is willing to give her - from medicinal tricks from her mom, to hunting maneuvers from the boys. Her romp through the at times anti-woman boys club of the hunting group is about to get a lot more complicated when their woods are visited by a much more dangerous hunter than they are used to - one with a habit for collecting skulls and spines.
Usually I put more into the story segment than that, but that’s really all I can do without worrying too much of spoilers for it. Admittedly, it’s not exactly foreign in execution to the other movies of it’s franchise such as Predator or Predator 2 - where they best utilized the concept of the titular villain by fitting him into a story that could easily exist without him. Here, our story is about our lead gal and her incessant desire to prove herself - both in skill and eventually in mental facilities as she goes out to prove she’s not imagining things. This does allow for a good amount of drama to shine, and creates a good amount of slice-of-life style time usage where you can just hint at the bigger thing without having to directly focus on it at all times. Of course, as with most drama elements, they usually only go as far as the actors can provide the sales pitch.
They do a great job here. There’s a few lines that admittedly I can’t attest for delivery on given them using a native language that’s beyond my knowledge of English and bad English, but for the most part what I do understand is quite well done. As a bonus, you can actually watch the entire thing in a native dub - so that’s a pretty cool option that I haven’t gotten around to yet. The characters get little parts to play, with most outside our main and perhaps her brother that don’t get much room to feel like more advanced characters. It works fine, allowing there to be more than two people on display but also keeping it feeling somewhat tight in to help out with the horror side of things. The actors then do a great job with what they have as roles, and it all feels pretty good. Our lead lady has an incredibly expressive face, which works great for getting some emotion across without actually having to say or do anything. Some might feel like a character or two punches above their weight limit, but in all honesty I think the movie does a good job of showing various little moments that lead up to those big punches, with the exception of one…
And that one is the the actual Predator this time around. Tech-wise, they’ve done a great job of dialing back our villain, removing his shoulder cannon that would be ridiculously overpowered, giving him a much more low-tier design that looks menacing and well fit for what it’s doing. Although he looks great in most shots, I will admit that when the mask comes off it doesn’t leave the best impression, feeling a bit more like the “Super Predators” from Predators than the originals. Unlike some, I won’t blame the CG touch ups they did on it - although the scale was better on the practical head they had, it wasn’t as expressive as they got with the use of the CG - but that CG also blew out the new proportions they aimed for with the head. As alluded to, there’s also moments where it seems it doesn’t entirely understand how to use its own gear - which is odd considering all the times it uses it and it does seem to know how to use it. It’s a few minor grips against something that feels much more like a trophy hunter, and in all honesty could be hand-waived away by a myriad of reasons if I really wanted to. I mean, an absolute ton of reasons - pick one of the toothpicks in the box, they’ll all work even if it doesn’t make it feel super satisfying.
The effects here are pretty dang stellar, and there’s a whole lot of fun action scenes in this thing. Practical stuff, digital stuff, it pretty much always looks good with a few moments where it drops a bit under the bar of stellar. It’s not generally enough to take me out of it, but it’s there so I’m going to point it out. Other potential things that could take you out of it - as if giant hulking invisible alien coming down to the planet to kill animals and people wouldn’t be enough for the picky - are some of the more fun “inspired” moments - such as the God of War inspired rope attachment to the throwing axe. Of course, not like I could really speak to the authenticity of all the outfits and the likes having not lived in those times myself, but as far as I’m concerned they do a wonderful job. The characters all get to stand out and look pretty unique, even if dressed similarly because of the addition of the various paint jobs each of them sports throughout the movie. It helps to add a distinct visual flair that still seems appropriate.
The audio is well balanced, the lines are delivered well and audibly - although as mentioned, I can’t attest to the non-English parts of the movie, as I don’t speak nor understand it to make any calls in accuracy. The setting feels well done and accurate enough to be believable. The use of our big bad is well handled, and for the most part anyone paying attention shouldn’t really have any questions as far as the movie goes. That can get thrown out the window if you start getting too fan boy about it - why does the camouflage not glitch out from water if it’s supposed to be older tech? Why is it so focused on our main? Why doesn’t it need the mask to breath? All of these you can really just write off in various different ways as long as you are willing to just relax and have fun with it - the entire thing is a movie, so it’s amped up - we don’t just have throwing axes, we have rip-line tomahawks. We’ve got doggo companions and bear traps. We’ve got perhaps a younger predator whose too miffed off to think straight. The key here is as with any movie - don’t overthink the movie, enjoy it for all it’s strong points and well executed moments instead of trying to pick apart every little detail.
I had a lot of fun with this, and I really enjoyed it. I’m also super stoked to see a ton of people now very interested in things like Samurai vs Predator, or otherwise just slamming the Predator into all sorts of eras and places - some of which we’ve seen in fan videos and comics and the likes already. It excites me because I love the franchise - even the ones that people thought weren’t good like The Predator or ones I couldn’t see because lighting such as AvP: Requiem. If you have a real distaste for violence, the whole hunting battle segments might not sit as well with you, but it does a great job with what it is - telling a story that gets both interrupted and evolved by including a dangerous space alien game hunter.