Film Review: Prey

Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Starring: Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro
Running time: 99 minutes

It’s quite a rare feat to see a franchise that has been mired in the dirt for so long be uplifted with such energy and emphasis, but Prey is exactly that. The best instalment to the Predator series since John McTiernan’s original in 1987, and maybe, just maybe… Prey may even top that. 

Much like the original, Prey doesn’t seek to reinvent the wheel with its narrative. When pared-down, it’s a simple hunt-or-be-hunted structure following Naru, played by Amber Midthunder, a Comanche woman who refuses to stick to the expectations of the tribe, instead choosing to follow her brother Taabe's (Dakota Beavers) footsteps as a hunter. To do so, Naru must complete kühtaamia, a Comanche ritual of hunting an animal capable of hunting you – unfortunately, though, our protagonist chooses to try and track down the newly-arrived Predator, against the backdrop of colonial America.

It's through the lens of Naru that Prey weaves its story, and through Amber Midthunder that Prey finds its heart – something sorely lacking since Arnie trekked through the South American jungle with his muscle-bound crew. Just as resourceful and relentless as Schwarzenegger’s ‘Dutch’, Midthunder’s Naru subverts the gender tropes of both her tribe and of the Predator franchise. It isn’t necessarily subtle at times, with the Predator barely acknowledging her to begin with. But it’s effective throughout, bringing a wave of freshness to a franchise that has been stale since its inception.

The film also manages to gracefully walk the tightrope that so many instalments of legacy franchises fail to straddle – blending existing canonical lore while pushing the franchise forward. Treading this fine line can often feel like fan service for no other sake than to make your viewer re-enact the Leo/Once Upon a Time in Hollywood meme; it’s a cheap thrill, but it serves no wider purpose. Prey blends answers to decades-old questions seamlessly into its narrative, tying up loose ends from previous movies. It’s well done, and credit goes to director Dan Trachtenberg.

Trachtenberg and his team deserve credit for far more than their approach to the lore, however. In the year 2022, handling different cultures with class and respect should be a given, but take a quick look around and you’ll see we don’t live in a perfect world. Yet Trachtenberg and screenwriter Patrick Aison approached Comanche culture with the utmost respect, working with Native American actors on screen, Native American advisors behind the scenes, and creating a full cut of the film available to be watched with a Comanche dub – the version I watched, in fact. Prey feels richer by celebrating its roots and the culture we follow during its tight ninety-minute runtime.

If the Predator franchise is to continue after Prey, I’m all the way onboard – a statement I didn’t envision myself saying after the 2018 mess that was The Predator. Drop audiences in different time periods - Ancient Egypt, Victorian England, whatever – and let the environment and the culture build a rich story, just as the Comanche culture and the colonial setting built Prey. Packed to the gills with brutal kills, a tight script with a clear message, and a star-making performance from its lead – Prey is a Predator film, but it’s also so much more.

Did you know? The Feral Predator's bio mask is made from the skull of a River Ghost from Predators. 

Prey is now available to watch on Disney+