Prey in Movie Review: How Good is the New Predator Movie on Disney Plus?

Before director John McTiernan tore down all the conventions of 80s action cinema with “Die Hard” in 1989 and presented us with Bruce Willis’ John McClane as a clever, bantering everyman as a hero, he created the perfect swan song to the oiled muscle mountains in 1987 with “Predator”. , which had so decisively shaped the era up to that point. Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, and Arnold Schwarzenegger trekked into the jungle as hardened specimens of the human race, only to become fair game for the ultimate hunter. The glorious showdown between the manliest of men and the alien beast is a firework of testosterone, macho slogans, explosions and violence. In the end, the complete being of the characters consists only of the will to survive and to subdue the other species. Man is completely reduced to his basic instinct.

In the prequel “Prey”, which takes place in North America around 300 years ago, this instinct is at the center of the plot. The young Komanchin Naru (Amber Midthunder, “Legion”) hunts down a Predator (Dane DeLiegro), whose arrival threatens her homeland. Together with her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers) and a handful of warriors, the skilled trapper is initially only after a lion, but soon the troupe realizes that there is a completely different, more dangerous predator hiding in the woods…

Naru (Amber Midthunder), Taabe (right behind, Dakota Beavers) and the Comanche Hunters

Source: Disney





Where the last franchise offshoots “Predators” and “Predator – Upgrade” expanded the film universe or stretched it into a different story structure – remember the irritating autism subplot in the last part – “Prey” goes back to the simplest imaginable premise and plays them through before our eyes without any big surprises or frills. The quality of the direction, effects, setting and cast may be a lot better, but the plot is about the samemplex like a youtube fan film called “Native Americans Vs. Predator”.

That’s not even necessarily a criticism. prey (buy now ) caters to people who want to see just that, and consistently delivers. But there may be a reason why such projects are usually not 90 minutes long. Although the initial situation is exciting and the change of time period is a welcome change, the various kills and fights are by no means as imaginative as one might actually expect from the unused situation. After all, the inhospitable nature and its various dangers are well captured. However, the fact that characters after struggling to survive in a mud hole or falling into a raging river in the next scene again look as if they had stepped straight out of an L’Oréal advertisement affects the credibility of the film world.
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