Prey (2022)

Prey (2022)
Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Writer: Patrick Aison

The original PREDATOR film was released in 1987 and I enjoyed every minute of it as I watched in a theatre. None of the sequels lived up to the excitement of the first, despite the increasing budgets and vast improvements to FX and CGI. Now we have the fifth film in the franchise, seventh if one includes the two Alien v. Predator films, PREY.

Naru (Amber Midthunder) is a warrior. Unfortunately for her she lives in the early 18th century among the Comanche Nation who inhabit the Northern Great Plains. Her mother has raised Naru to be a hero, and her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers) and the tribe expect her to follow the traditional path. But Naru is her own woman, and trains herself to track and fight so that she may one day earn the title of War Chief.

Naru's mettle is put to the test when an alien predator arrives on Earth to hunt. Bears, snakes, or humans, it cares not which foe appears but only lusts for combat.

PREY is a film that redeems a franchise. I was expecting another by the numbers, mediocre, play it safe re-tread of the original but instead we have a beautifully shot action film with a protagonist we care about. Director Dan Trachtenberg (10 CLOVERFIELD LANE), cinematographer Jeff Cutter (10 CLOVERFIELD LANE) and crew do a fantastic job of capturing the natural beauty of Alberta Canada where the film was shot. This is one of those films one can watch just for the photography. The script by Patrick Aison, with characters created by Jim Thomas and John Thomas, while a re-tread of the original film in many ways is smart and pulls us into a low tech culture clashing with a far more advanced foe with aplomb. Its only misstep is to include a subplot involving French traders who slaughter bison only for their hides leaving the meat to rot. They are full on stereotypical mustache twirling villains who meet an often comical fate. The characters either needed to be toned down or eliminated.

Amber Midthunder puts in a fine performance as the rebel who doesn't want to rebel; she just wants to be able to do what her brother can do. After watching her in the television series ROSWELL I thought the casting choice an odd one but she proves she has range and maturity to tackle the themes PREY explores. It also helps that she sold the character's fighting prowess.

PREY is not just one of the better entries in a long running franchise. It stands on its own, head and shoulders above most of what came before it.

*** 1/2 out of ****