Film: Prey
Starring: Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers
Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Review: Klep Napier
Rating: 2.5X out of 5X’s
‘Prey’ takes a classic tale about ones need to prove to others that she is more than the label they stamp on her. Mix that with a little bit of woman vs monster, or in this case, Hunter vs Hunter, and you have yourself Hulu’s Predator prequel.
Based on 1987’s The Predator, originally starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, comes a Hulu original prequel directed by Dan Trachtenberg and stars up and comer Amber Midthunder. Prey is a bit of sci-fi origin story that follows Naru (Midthunder) as she attempts to prove that she is a better woman warrior/Hunter than a her tribe understands.
I’ve watched Prey with an open mind and I will say this. Where it has an amazing display of action, CGI and gritty cinematography, this film in my opinion does not live up to its predecessor by a long shot. I did however enjoy the stripping down of humanity and how we begin this story with nothing but our natural habitats and survival skills in this film. But it was the over cliche Mulan-esk tale about the Naru character that didn’t hit for me and at times played as a bit of cop out to try and make the main character seem compelling. She was clearly better than all the other warriors as she displays multiple times throughout the film. Even so much that her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers), one for the fiercest warriors in the village, vouches for her to his peers while on a hunt.
I’m going to be very honest, I wasn’t all too excited about this film do to the fact that I had checked out of the Predator franchise back when the first ‘Alien vs Predator’ released. They have yet to capture the lightning in the bottle which made the original film what it is today, so a part of me thought why bother? Then I saw the internet raving about how this film was one of, if not the best Predator film since the original 1987 version.
I found it extremely hard to be “wow’d” by this film and maybe it’s because the internet response raised my expectations, but I really thought the film was mediocre which guys weren’t being splattered across the screen. Not bad but not amazing neither. So here is what you should or shouldn’t take away from my review if you’re asking yourself should you see this film? Listen to YOUR own gut, expect nothing but great action sequences if you can sit through the slower parts, it’s pretty predictable and pay attention to the end credits there’s a post credit scene hidden in the ancient drawings. ;)