Prey

Prey is a high-octane adventure with pleasant Indian poetics and the spectacular return of the second-best movie monster ever. The screenplay flows and contains nice details and surprises, and the action is beautifully fluid and kinetic. The woman-power element is natural and believable, while the attractive “savage versus savage in the wilderness” motif is put to excellent use. The actors and costumes are respectable, and the unknown Amber Midthunder puts in ten times more effort than the Oscar-winning Adrien Brody (in Nimród Antal’s otherwise solid Predators). There are a few minor things in the film that could be open to criticism; for example, the final fight could have been better thought out and less rushed, but these are just details in relation to the general level of viewer satisfaction. No film franchise is ever dead; it’s just waiting for the right guy to come along. Within this one, Dan Trachtenberg went the farthest in choosing his own path, put his heart into it and achieved the greatest success. This is a film by a talented filmmaker and movie fan, made for movie fans. (08/10/2022)

Dan Trachtenberg gave me a similar pleasure as he did with 10 Cloverfield Lane. Predator: Prey is a confidently made adventure horror film that isn't afraid to go its own way, and at the same time, I dare say it will please fans of Predator more than anything that came after the second film. And like 10 Cloverfield Lane, the trailers are pretty deceptive and the film ends up having a slightly different feel and pace than you might expect. Still, I think I enjoyed the first half more, where there's no rush to get anywhere and the Comanche setting is unadorned and quite attractive. And while there's no Arnold, these tough guys from the American plains aren't wimps either. The main character is also very easy to root for. What I enjoyed most, however, was the way Trachtenberg treats the Predator itself in the first half. It gets an unexpected amount of space here, and for the first time we get to see it properly as a hunter, and a very fierce and cruel one at that. The new Predator won't rewrite the history of the genre or the brand, but it's a well made and above all cleverly conceived film. The former is what we hoped for, the latter is what I personally didn't expect, and I'm all the more pleased about it. It was a success. (08/05/2022)

Dan Trachtenberg has revived the Predator brand and even though no one believed in the film after the first trailers, it is a success and I am happy with it too. I appreciate that Prey is set during the Comanche era, it has an Apocalypto feel to it and we don't get many gritty films with Indians, much less in the horror subgenre, so I applaud the period and the setting. I liked that the first half is like survival flick where we watch a bunch of animals hunting each other (cougar, bear, wolf, snake, rabbit). I could easily imagine a whole movie where a bunch of CGI animals eat each other in the jungle accompanied by a dense R-rated action, it would probably drive me crazy (so hopefully I'll get to see it one day). The Predator slowly gets acquainted with a new planet and a lot of time is spent hunting, which I enjoyed. The second half turns into a decent action inferno where the Predator attacks the French colonizers and that is one of the best scenes of the film, the final duel is also good. There are some impressive deaths, though the gore could have been more nutritious, but it's sufficient. Amber Midthunder is likeable and surprisingly skilled in combat, so I had no problem believing her. The music and atmosphere were also good. The only minor issue I have is with the Predator's invisible camouflage, which didn't make a good impression on me, but once the hunk showed up in full glory I was satisfied. For the new generation that probably won't put on the original Predator anymore, I think Prey is a cool notch in the franchise. Story 3/5, Humor 0/5, Violence 4/5, Fun 4/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 4/5, Emotion 2/5, Actors 3/5. 8/10 (08/08/2022)

Finally a sequel to Predator that is very similar to the legendary first film. It doesn't trump it in the depressing, sometimes even horror atmosphere, and of course not in the originality of the initial creative idea either, but Prey certainly doesn't put it to shame. The plot is relatively coherent (similar to the scheme of the first one), the hunter himself has plenty of space and a couple of scenes are really delicious. There’s the bear scene, already mentioned here, which is OK, but too digital. Paradoxically, the best scene IMHO is not led by the Predator, but by young Amber Midthunder, who at one point dispatches a couple of smirking sleazebags, and she does it nicely without a single cut, in a perfectly clear manner and with the right amount of explicit violence. Overall, the creators are not afraid of brutality, on the contrary. It's still a B movie, but it's ambitious, suspenseful, and for once even the average viewer can enjoy it. (08/08/2022)

I will go against the flow. The Predator saga needed a return to the sources and uncomplicated simplicity, but this concept was completely at odds with my idea of effective filmmaking. Unlike the original, which is a textbook thriller where everything works perfectly, Prey doesn't work dramaturgically at all and mires the viewer in uninteresting dialogue, zero tension, absent character development and continuous action, but it becomes so routine in the first few minutes that it quickly gets boring. Moreover, the abundance of digital animals and CGI effects in places where they are not needed, makes it unbelievable. This was supposed to be the most natural Predator, instead it's the most artificial of them all. It’s not there. (08/10/2022)