[Rating: Solid Rock Fist Up]
Premieres on Hulu Friday, August 5.
A Predator film with its heart in the right place and its feet planted firmly in the rich soil tilled by its cinematic forebears, Prey is the movie this franchise desperately needs right now. Far from perfect on purely scientific grounds, the film nevertheless creates characters and a setting that allow the broader mythology to put down roots. Tense, ultra-violent, interesting, and oddly beautiful, this newest Predator installment makes a meal out of a morsel.
A prequel to the existing 4-film Predator catalogue, Prey opens in 1719 on the Northern Great Plains of the Americas, where a young Comanche woman, Naru (Amber Midthunder), is trying to get herself into the war party of her brother, Taabe (Dakota Beavers). Smart, hatchet-handy, and in command of the best damn dog this side of Lassie, Naru is still nevertheless having a hard time breaking through the traditional gender roles of her tribe. When a pesky mountain lion makes some trouble for her people, Naru makes a play for a spot on Taabe’s Varsity team (as it were), yet several things conspire to throw a wrench into the plucky young woman’s plans.
Like all great sci-fi heroes, Naru struggles to get anyone to believe her when she warns them that something odd is afoot in the woods: that there is more to contend with than just mean AF mountain lions, grizzly bears, and fur trapper assholes. The danger doesn’t care what anyone believes, though, and before long, shit hits the fan. Interestingly, the Yautja in Prey is a good 300 years younger than anything fans have seen before, so the Predator technology, while familiar, is very much the Beta version of what has been presented on-screen up to this point. This makes for a thrilling and similarly balanced match-up between a human hero and alien foe whose technology gap is consistent with known 20th and 21st century counterparts.
Director Dan Trachtenberg, who deployed suspense and dread so effectively in 10 Cloverfield Lane, is at the top of his game, here. He knows just how much rope to provide the audience to keep them tense and curious without setting them adrift in a sea of mystery boxes or, conversely, unfocused violence. This is obviously a Predator movie, as a spaceship’s appearance early on leaves no doubt about that, yet alien hunters are just one threat for Naru and the Comanche in this time/place. This is ostensibly the first appearance of the Yautja on Earth, so the process of discovery as part of not just this story, but the larger tradition of the Predator, is crucial.
The script by Patrick Aison shrewdly deploys Naru and the other characters in a way that conforms to what audiences already know about Predators and how they operate, yet gives it a unique and believable 18th century twist. On the face of things, it seems insane that any human being could contend with an invisible, 7+ foot tall alien with laser technology at a time when humans still didn’t comprehend germ theory, yet Prey navigates these concerns with deft ease.
And while the pieces are all in place for a damn fine picture, none of it would come together without a captivating and physical turn from the lead. Strong yet not invincible, brave yet still capable of fear, and just crazy enough to go on the offensive against an off-planet assassin without veering off into kamikaze mode, Midthunder as Naru is the full package. Like Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Lt. Harrigan (Danny Glover), and other heroes of the Predator wars, Naru is a once-in-a-generation warrior who uses a combination of brains and brawn to battle the other-worldly threat. The action, though slow in coming, is merciless and gleefully brutal when finally uncaged, and finds the perfect counterpart for its unique pre-industrial flavor with Midthunder’s turn, here.
Though somewhat lacking in body mass, Prey wisely gives its audience plenty of meat for the grinder with a generous supply of red-shirts, all of whom play their parts with aplomb. Several franchise callbacks also do a fine job of setting this installment comfortably within the broader world of the Predator cinematic universe, and while fun in a ticklish sort of way, they never come across as extraneous or distracting. Filmed outside Calgary, the film also makes wonderful use of the wooded setting, employing a sparse score to allow the desolate silence of these hunting grounds some space to set the mood.
Tense, gorgeous to look at, well-acted, and wonderfully directed, Prey is a goddamn blast, and a pleasant back-to-basics return for the franchise. Making good use of the combined slasher/sci-fi trope of the original, the gleeful violence of Predator 2, and the best parts of the admittedly uneven Predators and The Predator, Prey manages to honor the franchise while doing its own thing (and well). Fronted by the best lead this franchise has had since Danny Glover, this one might not check all the boxes, but as a scientific study recently determined, a Predator movie doesn’t have to do everything perfectly, just a lot of things really well.
This one most certainly passes that test.
“Obvious Child” is the debut novel of Warren Cantrell, a film and music critic based out of Seattle, Washington. Mr. Cantrell has covered the Sundance and Seattle International Film Festivals, and provides regular dispatches for Scene-Stealers and The Playlist. Warren holds a B.A. and M.A. in History, and his hobbies include bourbon drinking, novel writing, and full-contact kickboxing.
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