I’ve never been a fan of the Predator franchise … until now. I’m just not a fan of hunting, whether it’s deer in the forest or aliens in your back yard. Predator films have generally insisted upon a balance – their outer space invisible dreadlocked warrior has to be matched against an equally deadly enemy like Aliens or Arnold Schwarzenegger or … Gary Busey. Yeah, sometimes even the franchise knew it was tanking it for draft picks. Point is, horror films are better with the potential victim is outmatched; then we have to guess how the “victim” will survive. When the victim is armed better than your average school shooter, it’s hard to take the mismatch seriously.
This film was different. Prey not only presented an excellent mismatched Predator battle, it actually gave me hope that the franchise actually knew what it was doing. Prey is set in the Northern Plains in the year 1719. For “Plains,” there was plenty of mountain, but I won’t quibble. The Predator ship discovered early 18th century America and went after deliberately techno-impaired opponents. We see the Predator work his way up the seeding chart, starting with a wolf, taking down a full grown grizzly (and picking up the damn thing to boot – do you know how heavy an adult grizzly bear is? Google sez “Upward of 700 pounds” I’d need a car) in a key second round match-up, before taking on humans with guns.
Ah, but not all the humans have guns. The fire-armed folk are French traders; we are focused on the residents. This is where we find our heroine, a late teen Native American named Naru (Amber Midthunder). Naru wants to be like her older brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers), a huntsman and tribal leader, but sexism was still a thing in 1719 even among the Comanche. We can see Naru’s skill set easily enough; she wields a tomahawk better than any Atlanta Braves fan. She also has the desire; she wants to be a hunter; she wants to prove herself one-on-one with a Predator, but she’s thinking mountain lion.
Be careful what you wish for.
For those of you unfamiliar with Predators, they are football-player sized high-tech aliens. They are strong enough to hoist full grown grizzlies without issue, but their arsenal is hardly limited to sheer strength. They wear body armor, can turn invisible, shoot laser-sited missiles, and punch with spikes, like Wolverine. They read heat signatures and aren’t phased when attacked … by anything. They come to Earth to hunt. And they hunt whatever looks like something higher on our food chain.
And up against this high-tech commando defensive-end sized nightmare is a teenaged (actually, wiki says she’s 25; dunno exactly how old she is supposed to be) Comanche
girl clad in deer hide and armed with a small axe and piece of string. Yeah, that’s a fair fight.
The thing is, Comanche have had to deal with invaders since white people first found North America. And, indeed, Naru has more to battle than just cougars and Predators, she also has to navigate her way though the French fur traders. By the time a Predator shows up, the whole Comanche defense is kind of old hat –I mean, even in the early 18th Century, Native Americans had gotten fairly used to the abuse and violence presented by invading aliens. Psst, Predator: if you really want to kill off Native Americans, try smallpox. That was our asshole solution more often than not.
I get bored during most horror films. This was very different. This was a challenge. This was like the first Halloween in that I’m thinking less about how Naru is in trouble and more about how she’s gonna take down this murder machine. I only fault the film in that we didn’t get a good taste early on of her capabilities, not just her skill set. Otherwise, Prey was a fun surprise. Did I think a film could resolve 21st century weaponry v. 18th century weaponry while being female empowering as well? I did not. I’m happy to be wrong. Yes, this is a horror film, but it’s as much a thriller as anything else. If you’re into action and underdogs, Prey is a must see.
There once was a girl named Naru
Anxious to make her deadly debut
But she couldn’t play knives
For alien lives
Because it meant staying up past curfew
Rated R, 99 Minutes
Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Writer: Patrick Aison, Dan Trachtenberg
Genre: The most dangerous prequel
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Survivalists
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Predators
