"Prey" review — Indigenous-led "Predator" prequel is a gnarly, brutal thriller

“Why do you want to hunt?”

The original Schwarzenegger-starring Predator film has a beautiful simplicity to it. The film is “commando vs. impossible-to-kill murder machine in the jungle” — nothing more, nothing less. It’s a rough and raw jungle carnage adventure with no strings attached. With Prey, a “prequel” to the 1987 original in only the loosest way, director Dan Trachtenberg takes the Predator series refreshingly back to basics. Prey is a gnarly survivalist thriller inheriting only the most minimal connections to the main series (the monster) and reinvents the rest of the playbook.

In 1719, 268 years before Dutch and his team fought the Predator in the jungles of Operation Condor-era Central America, a different Predator arrives on Earth in the territory of the Comanche Nation in the Southern Plains of the United States of America. Prey follows Naru (Amber Midthunder), a young Comanche woman desperate to prove her place in her community and dreams of becoming a hunter like her brother, Taabe (Dakota Beavers). Naru finally convinces Taabe to take her on a hunting trip to look for a mountain lion that’s been attacking the tribe. But out in the wilderness, she begins to encounter signs of something much more powerful than mountain lions or bears stalking the plains. She begins a quest to find the monster, a plan that’ll take her vastly underprepared into unspeakable danger. Prey is a really excellent action thriller with some great action sequences, excellent production design and cinematography, and a great leading performance from Midthunder.

Midthunder carries so much of the film and is the reason its wordless wilderness sections work so well. Her character is interesting and has compelling characterization. She’s more than a big, buff action hero. The cast of Prey replaces the too-tough squad of military men from the original film with a group of relatively normal people which makes for a much more emotionally grounded Predator affair. Naru seems far outmatched against the Predator. She’s far from the human apex predator. She doesn’t have the grotesquely bulging muscles of Schwarzenegger or Carl Weathers or the honed survival skills of her brother. The story is then less of a fist fight to the death against an alien invader but rather about growth and survival. Of course, this doesn’t mean that Prey shies away from the carnage. In fact, the historical setting might just make it all the more brutal.

Amber Midthunder in Prey. Photo: 20th Century Studios.

The film’s action sequences stand out as one of its best parts. They’re moodily and stylishly shot without ever losing a sense of the action. Set before the advent of contemporary automatic weapons and other military toys, the film relies on visceral, brutal melee action to great effect. Blows and cuts land with force and power. The close-quarters combat adds an inescapable urgency to the violence. The film creatively reimagines the Predator mythology and features minimal connections to the rest of the franchise for the best. The new Predator design, significantly de-evolved from the original look, adds a fantastic layer of ancient primal energy to the relentless threat. Trachtenberg’s direction is fantastic. The film moves quickly without ever rushing through the story or skipping its beats.

While probably superior to the original — a film which I have no nostalgia for — Prey is not a perfect film. There are a few janky visual effects shots here and there, especially with its CGI-created wild animals. The dialogue is often what pulls the viewer out of the film the most. The film is set primarily in English with bits of Comanche-language dialogue thrown in. The trouble comes when some of the lead actors switched into a more casual 21st-century English dialect which feels too modern for this setting, regardless of whether it stands in for another language or not. There is, however, a Comanche-dubbed version of the film with many claiming that it is the “definitive” version of the film. I would encourage viewers to seek out that version instead.

The idea of a Predator prequel might rub some the wrong way. It seems like a foolish idea. What additional story is there to tell? The film is an action film about a killer alien, what backstory is required? And, as the fifth entry in the franchise, Prey might seem like a desperate studio measure to ring the last profitability out of the Predator’s mangled jaws. But Prey manages to elevate itself above the status inferred from the phrase “straight to streaming prequel.” Trachtenberg and his team craft a rare prequel that justifies its existence. The film delivers excellent action, a tightly paced story, and a smart reimagining of past material. It’s the best possible scenario for a film like this. It’s just a shame that it can only be experienced on streaming and not in theatres.

Prey is now streaming on Disney+ (Canada) and Hulu (United States). 

Prey information
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg
Written by Patrick Aison
Starring Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Michelle Thrush, Stormee Kipp, Julian Black Antelope, Dane DiLiegro
Released 5 August 2022 (streaming)
100 minutes