By: Andrew Wing

Prey is a 2022 American science fiction action film in the Predator franchise. It is the fifth installment and is a prequel to the first four films. The film is directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane) and written by Patrick Aison. It stars Amber Midthunder (Hell or High Water, The Ice Road), Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro, Michelle Thrush (Dead Man, Pathfinder), Stormee Kipp, Julian Black Antelope, and Bennett Taylor.

The story, being set in the Northern Great Plains in 1719, revolves around Naru (Midthunder), a skilled Comanche warrior, who is striving to prove herself as a hunter. She finds herself having to protect her people from a vicious, humanoid alien that hunts humans for sport, as well as from French fur traders who are destroying the buffalo they rely on for survival.

Development of the film began during the production of The Predator (2018), when producer John Davis was approached by Trachtenberg and Aison, with a concept that they had been developing since 2016. In late 2020, the film's title was revealed to be the codename for the fifth installment in the franchise. Filming took place around Calgary during the summer of 2021, with the entire film shot in English and some sequences shot in Comanche as well. The remaining sequences were dubbed into Comanche by the cast, reprising their roles. The film is the first feature film to have a full Comanche language dub.

Prey premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 21, 2022, and was released by 20th Century Studios as a Hulu original film in the United States and on Disney+ Star internationally on August 5.

THE GOOD

Did somebody say finally? Seriously though, I cannot believe it took me so long to finally check out Prey. Once it hit Hulu in August, the initial buzz for the movie was insane and I immediately added it to my watchlist, but one thing led to another and I wasn’t checking it out until a couple of days before 2023. Needless to say though, I, like most other adult males, am a huge fan of the Predator franchise, and despite the up-and-down nature of the films in the franchise, I was still pumped to check this bad boy out. I mean some people were saying it was the best Predator installment since the first film, so that got pretty stoked. But was it true? Or was it just another junky Predator movie? Keep reading to find out!

Damn right it was true! This movie is without a doubt in my mind the best film in the Predator franchise since the original starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. That said, as big of a fan as I am of the Predator franchise, my favorite part of this film was truly that it felt like you didn’t even need to see those films to enjoy this one. This was a very interesting idea for a franchise film and I respect those in charge for thinking out of the box and doing something different than just putting out the same slop like they did in 2018 with The Predator. A big reason this film worked was mainly because of Dan Trachtenberg’s direction. Funny enough, this wasn’t Trachtenberg’s first time jumping into directing a franchise film because before this he directed the great sci-fi thriller 10 Cloverfield Lane. Seriously though, the similarities between that movie and Prey are plenty, and I am just a huge fan of Trachtenberg’s direction. Everything he did in Prey just felt so grounded and it was nice to be in this completely new world, but at the same time the movie was full of fantastic suspense and a lot of violence.

As for Trachtenberg's visual direction here, I thought he absolutely knocked it out of the park. The action scenes in this movie are simply great. The action was flawlessly paced and it never felt like it repeated itself too much. Continuing with the visuals though, the cinematography in Prey is truly beautiful. It really made me wonder why more action movies don’t look this good. The camera work did a great job of capturing the beauty of the environments, it used natural lighting perfectly, and it changed color palettes from scene to scene in a way that was really compelling. All that said, shout-out to the cinematographer Jeff Cutter.

Now onto the performances from the amazing indigenous cast that was led by Amber Midthunder. Midthunder absolutely crushed it here as she played the main character, Naru, a young Comanche warrior who was really easy to cheer for because of Midthunder’s performance. This wasn’t the first I had seen of Midthunder because she had a cameo in one of my favorite shows right now, Reservation Dogs, but after watching her in this, you can tell she is on the come up. It wasn’t anything that is going to get an Oscar nomination but she really carried this film. Aside from her though, I also quite enjoyed the performances of Dakota Beavers as Taabe, Naru's brother and a skilled hunter, and also Dane DiLiegro who played the actual Predator. All in all, though, the entire indigenous cast was great and I think it’s really cool that this film is the first feature film to have a full Comanche language dub.

THE BAD

Alright, there is no denying that I was a big fan of Prey, but there was just something missing here for me. Maybe it’s because I simply watch too many movies, but I just knew how this movie was going to play out from the very start once I was given the setup of the movie. I don’t know, maybe I’m being harsh, but I just wanted it to go further at some points, but at the end of the day it was a Hulu original film that ultimately delivered on what I came for. Oh and last but not least, and this doesn’t deduct any points from my rating of the film, but why the f**k wasn’t this movie released in theaters! WTF!

THE VERDICT

Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey is without a doubt one of the biggest surprises of 2022. It’s a really compelling action movie with a fresh Comanche perspective that looks and sounds great, and is 100% the best Predator installment since the first film. More than that, it’s thrilling, straightforward, and is carried by an awesome Amber Midthunder performance that is hopefully the first of many for the young actress.