Movie Review: Prey

I wasn't expecting much when I turned on my TV to stream the new movie ''Prey'' which is a prequel and sort of a reboot of the 1987 horror film "Predator" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose premise revolved around American special forces soldiers fighting against a nigh-indestructible alien hunter.

The reason for this is quite simple really; most horror film remakes have bombed at the Box Office and received poor reviews from both critics and fans alike, case in point are the subpar reboots of the 2013 film "Carrie" and the 2010 film "A Nightmare on Elm Street".

But following the successful remakes of films such as "Halloween" (2018) and "IT" (2017) and the fact that I do actually enjoy a good scare from time to time, I just decided to wing it and give "Prey" a shot and I can say for certain that I was pleasantly surprised.

The movie, for starters, is quite different from the five "solo" instalments of the "Predator" films and the two "Alien vs. Predator" crossover films that pit the infamous space-faring hunters against the equally famous Xenomorphs alien race.

Director Dan Trachtenberg opted to set the film in the 18th-century to see how people would fare against the other-worldly hunter who  boasts of having an endless supply of advanced technological weapons.

Also did I mention that the Predator can turn invisible at will?

The movie revolves around Naru (played by Amber Midthunder) a Comanche woman who is desperate to receive her clansmen approval by embarking on the “kühtaamia,” a rite of passage that all aspiring Comanche warriors must go through.

It involves the warriors going out alone in the wild and hunting a predatory animal such as a mountain lion or a bear, decapitating it and returning its head to their village upon which they will be considered to have passed the trial.

Once you do this, you are officially recognised as a 'true' Comanche warrior.

Naru's enthusiasm is however met with a lot of opposition among her tribesmen since, among the Comanche, women aren't considered capable of being warriors let alone having the skill set needed to perform the “kühtaamia”.

Naru however gets the chance to prove herself when a young child is kidnapped from her village. Her brother Taabe (played by Dakota Beavers) is tasked with retrieving the missing child and he, alongside other warriors from the tribe, barely agree to have Naru tag along,

Despite being ridiculed by the men in her search party for not having a warrior's spirit, it takes little time to notice that Naru can actually hold her own in a fight.

Even though she is physically not as strong as the men, Naru is tougher than she looks and she has a keen eye for detail which comes in handy during the rescue operation.

While on the hunt for the missing child, the search party crosses paths with the Predator who so happened to arrive from outer space on the same day.

Naru is the first person to notice the presence of the other-worldly hunter who collects trophies from all his victims and when she does all hell breaks loose.  

And so begins the 98-minute adventure that is filled with a number of expertly crafted chase scenes that pits the Predator, who uses new and familiar ways to hunt his prey, against Naru.

There’s also a callback to one of the original film’s best lines: “if it bleeds, we can kill it,” and bleed it does.

"Prey" is such a fresh take and worthy successor of the original film and if I am being honest Naru deserves to be on the list of the most badass female movie characters in film history.

The way she uses her limited resources and her environment to hunt the terminator-like alien makes for such a great watch that this writer wanted more when the credits rolled.

The film is scary, fun and gory at the same time and director Dan Trachtenberg's decision to put his faith in a crop of relatively new and unknown actors seems to have paid off.