Oh, hello, Comicvine. Good to see you again. I'm alive somewhat, and I have crawled out of my weirdly hibernative state to bring you a new GS Review. Just got done watching the new predator movie Prey. I will do my best to keep it as spoiler free as possible, but I might have some and if I do I will black them out. And if you just want to skip to my final thoughts, ctrl F that ish and yeah. So here's my thoughts on the movie.

Summary

Hulu's new movie Prey was directed by Daniel Trachtenberg, and stars Amber Midthunder as our protagonist, Naru, a Comanche woman that wants to become a hunter. After going out on a hunt, Naru comes to the conclusion something big is out in the forest, hunting and killing even the most dangerous animals, the Predator (played by Dan Deliegro). She must protect her tribe and defeat the alien hunter in this prequel to the Predator franchise.

Pros:

Plot: The plot here is rather simplistic, which to me is a big breathe of fresh air in the Predator franchise. A predator gets dropped in the forest in the 1700's and it kills some animals, some people, and a young woman that wants to get out of her tribe's traditional roles of staying back, discovers a big bad alien and wants to kill it. It really is a straight forward plot, it doesn't do too much and I think it really takes what made the first Predator perfect. Those were soldiers in the woods and they come to realize an even bigger, badder threat is out than them, forcing them to go from soldiers to hunters in order to beat the alien and survive in all the greatness of an 80's action movies led by the Bodfather himself in Arnold Schwarzenegger. This movie trimmed a lot of the fat that the last 4 movies in the Predator series did, no super predators, predaliens, villainous Topher Graces, dropping on predator planets, no crossovers, predator dogs. You get where I am going with this? This focuses on Naru, a couple tribe members and their survival against a much deadlier and more advanced threat.

Cast: The cast was done really well, IMO. I knew no one in this movie. I didn't realize Amber Midthunder was the girl in Legion and even then I barely watched much of that. Dakota Beavers plays her brother, Taabe, and the best warrior of the tribe. And he comes across as a mostly supportive older brother and understands his sister's plight. Their chemistry together is done very well Dan Deliegro was so good as the Predator. And there is Saarii the dog. And even all the other supportive casts really did their jobs well, regardless of screen time.

Pacing: I thought the pacing was done pretty well. We get a good amount of character development for the first third of the movie, so it is a bit slow. But it makes us understand Naru's plight. But once we get to this one specific scene in the movie, the pacing really ramps up and it keeps on it. I think the movie found a good length, not being too short, not being too long and does what it needs to while giving certain things enough time to breathe.

The Predator: The Predator was done extremely well in this movie. I loved the toned down and practical design they went with. It looks barbaric, it's imposing, and Dan Deliegro really played the savagery up. It's not afraid to get its hands dirty. The effects with it were mostly done well. I really have no complaints with the creature.

Fights and Gore: This movie does not shy away from the gore. There are some absolutely brutal scenes in this movie and with it being a Predator movie, it should. The fights were done well, the scenes were shot well, and everything mostly made sense or at least attempts to. We see Naru training and fighting and hunting, so we get she can fight and handle herself. We get she is very smart, a great tracker, though not the biggest or strongest. Even the last fight, with which what the Predator has gone through, there is an argument why it works.

Cinematography and CGI: The cinematography was done really well again. The scenery was beautiful, the shots with the characters were personal. The shifts with day to night done rather well. Some shots of the Predator were done really well, but I will expand on that just a bit more in the con section.

Fanservice: The movie had a few callbacks in it to the OG movies. We get a cigar stub in it, which was a callback to Dutch. We get the 1715 Adolini pistol held by Donald Glover in Predator 2.

Cons

Tropey: I know it's 2022 and Hollywood loves strong, female characters, and having men put down women because men. And most modern mainstream writers don't know how to do that dynamic anymore and just make them great at everything. I'm looking at you, Rey. And there is a certain part of the internet that hates these strong female characters, and you have that sect that just hates any attempt at this. This movie does have a bit of that. We have one character that is just kind of asshole and constantly makes remarks about why Naru doesn't belong on a hunt. We have other characters making statements that she doesn't belong on the hunt. We get she is headstrong and plucky and wants to try and hunt. It does beat you over the head quite a bit for the first 30 minutes, however, I don't think that takes away from the movie itself, though. The movie does address this concept later on and it does attempt to make things make sense. And I don't count any of that as a knock against Amber, because I think she does her job well in this film.

CGI: I will say some of the initial CGI shots in the beginning of the movie were not the best. The original shot of the cloaking from the Predator was also not the best, I do say it does correct itself and as said earlier, the shots do seem to get better as the film goes on.

In Conclusion:

I ended up really liking this movie and was surprised it was released on Hulu. I think what this movie does well is that it goes back to the beginning of what made the first Predator great. As I said before it lessens the scope of things, simplifies the plot, it takes itself seriously. There are no stupid predogs, no assburgers are made. It keeps things streamlined. It keeps things personal. The fights are great. Things are brutal, intense. Amber Midthunder and Dakota Beavers have really good chemistry as brother and sister. The Predator was done to perfection. While it does have that "men holding woman down" bit of dynamic at points, it stays true to the fact it took place in the 1700's where women in those tribes didn't hunt and stayed home and were healers etc. However, outside of the dude that just keeps beating that dead horse, once it gets past that the movie picks up and I found myself enjoying the ride and liking Naru. And once the CGI course corrects itself, it gets good. I think this is the best Predator movie we've had in the last 30+ years, and from a film standpoint, up there with the OG.

Final Verdict 8/10