By guest columnist dyron_rises1988.
After jungles, a drug war-torn LA, and small towns, 20th Century Studios takes its famed cinematic monster the Predator to a new territory in the prequel titled Prey, a period sci-fi action-horror film set in 1719 where a young Comanche woman named Naru (Amber Midthunder) strives to become a warrior like her brother and is eventually put to the test when a Predator (Dane DiLiegro) arrives in her tribe’s territory to stalk and claim its prey per tradition.
Director Dan Trachtenberg already proved himself to be an exceptional genre director who can meld character-building substance with tension like what he did with 10 Cloverfield Lane. He does so here as well, seeing a great opportunity to place the Predator in a period setting, and he excels at it, giving the Comanche tribe great representation and reinventing the character with an early incarnation that makes the film stand on its on.
While the Predator films have always been beefed up B-movies in some ways, this adds so much sophistication through its sweeping visuals and straightforward though engaging story about a woman deciding to go against gender norms to prove herself to be warrior, and it’s treated as a epic/survival film/monster film. Amber Midthunder was amazing as Naru as she is treated as a compelling young hero that’s in over her head at first, yet comes out on top with her outrageousness and ingenuity.
The cast here were great and treated as more than stock characters on paper, and Dane DiLiegro was a terrific Predator as his imposing frame and subtle physical characteristics adds to the performance and perfectly captures the ferocity these characters are known for.
Prey is a worthy entry to the often dormant yet enduring franchise, doing something refreshing and interesting with the mythos and deftly packing thought with brutality in equal measure.
Rating: 9/10.
Dyron writes about film, TV, nostalgia, music, LA, and geek culture galore. Find more of his thoughts on instagram.