Prey (2022)

[BetterButter]

[Rushmoras]

I expect it to be better than Predator (2018), but it wont be some sort of huge achievement lol. Though, is it gonna be again overly dark and you can't see anything type of Predator movie? Because judging from the trailer, yep, it will be such movie. *Sigh*

Also, heard that you will have the possibility to watch it in Native American dub, which is nice, and I will use that possibility.

Edited June 7, 2022 by Rushmoras

[dwmarch]

That was fun. I especially loved the callback line to the original. I cheered.

I knew the shit-talking "warriors" were going to be the first ones killed.

There was some humor too which I appreciated. Especially Naru's response to her brother's question about her choosing this particular creature for her first big hunt. Also "I'm smarter than a beaver", that was hilarious.

Not sure I buy that there is some magical flower that makes you invisible to infrared and Naru just so happened to pick a bunch of it on her last day of picking flowers. However I really did like how she dug one of the plants up presumably so she could bring it back to the village and plant it in a garden instead of having to go out and forage for it every time.

[benteen]

I liked it. It wasn't 93% Rotten Tomatoes to me but a fu movie to watch on a late-Friday afternoon. Setting it in pre-Revolutionary War Commanche country was a really cool idea. The action is good and Amber Midthunder is a strong lead.

[CletusMusashi]

I thought the cast did an excellant job and I liked the main character. Not just because of the actress, but because I thought they did a good job of setting her up on paper and writing a character that made sense for this story. And of course I liked the dog. This should have been a four star movie. But....

Most of the CGI animals were bad. Sometimes laughably so. And what the hell was up with up with just randomly doing whole sentences in an untranslated language? I mean, Hulu made this movie. If their policy is that French and Commanche will not be translated into English in their subtitles, then why make things gratuitously complicated? I could maybe give a pass on the French, because Naru doesn't understand it either, so it adds to the alienation of her captivity, but why the hell do the Indian characters keep switching back and forth between English and Commanche? Especially when we know perfectly well that the English lines are just using the translation convention trope anyways Literally all the language shifting did was render entire chunks of dialogue unintelligible unless the viewer was hitting "pause" and opening a google translator window.

I was still able to watch it in one sitting, which is better than most movies these days. But it was not as good as it seemed like it should have been.

[raven]

6 hours ago, CletusMusashi said:

f their policy is that French and Commanche will not be translated into English in their subtitles, then why make things gratuitously complicated

Oh good, I thought it was me!  When I selected "subtitles" it showed me them in the language being spoken even thought I chose "English" in the menu.  I could infer what was being said and it didn't happen too often but was kind of odd. 

Yes, the CGI animals were bad.  Budget, I guess. 

Those quibbles aside, I enjoyed it.  I have seen all of the other movies and liked them too (I don't remember much about Requiem, maybe that's a good thing).  Except for the CGI animals, the visuals were gorgeous in this one.   It was predictable - you know the douchebro warriors are all fodder (though no lack of bravery among them); the French guys are fodder; the brother would be killed.   Amber Midthunder was very, very good - she has to carry the movie on her own often for long stretches and she was always watchable.   I was kinda scratching my head in the beginning - she wants to be a hunter but wasn't very good at it.  She kept missing the rabbit, had to be rescued at the lion hunt - though her brother did say how she did most of the work there.  I was getting a little frustrated at her lucky escapes and was hoping that wasn't how the movie was going to progress.  Ultimately she learned from her mistakes and got smarter and better.  She was always tenacious.  I ended up really liking her - the relationship with the dog didn't hurt either.

I liked that the Predator design was a little different too; it made it more threatening to have it be a bit newer to the viewer.

10 hours ago, dwmarch said:

Not sure I buy that there is some magical flower that makes you invisible to infrared and Naru just so happened to pick a bunch of it on her last day of picking flowers. However I really did like how she dug one of the plants up presumably so she could bring it back to the village and plant it in a garden instead of having to go out and forage for it every time.

Oh, that's what it did!  I thought at first it was some kind of pain reliever.  Maybe it lowered body temperature?  I'm going to watch again and will pay more attention to the flower.

Naru cutting off that guy's leg and using it (and him) for bait showed how far she was willing to go for the kill.  Dude was an asshole but I was shocked and impressed.   The gun she ends up with - I wonder if that is the same one that Danny Glover's character is given in the Predator 2 movie?  Maybe I'll marathon over this miserably hot weekend.

Did you all watch through the animation?   At the end it shows Naru and her family looking up at the sky and more ships approaching.  Considering all the buzz around this one, maybe there will be a sequel. 

[AnimeMania]

3 hours ago, raven said:

Did you all watch through the animation?   At the end it shows Naru and her family looking up at the sky and more ships approaching.  Considering all the buzz around this one, maybe there will be a sequel. 

I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. The Predators will know that this planet is a lot more dangerous than they originally thought and may take some time to study it before attempting to use it as a solo warrior training/testing ground again.

[benteen]

It does seem as if they are setting up a sequel. I have thought though from the beginning that the best idea would be to move a sequel, either a movie or better yet a limited series to the present day and focus on one of Naru's descendants fighting a Predator. Amber Midthunder could still play the lead.

[Hiyo]

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The gun she ends up with - I wonder if that is the same one that Danny Glover's character is given in the Predator 2 movie?

I believe it is.

[Racj82]

11 hours ago, benteen said:

It does seem as if they are setting up a sequel. I have thought though from the beginning that the best idea would be to move a sequel, either a movie or better yet a limited series to the present day and focus on one of Naru's descendants fighting a Predator. Amber Midthunder could still play the lead.

11 hours ago, Hiyo said:

I believe it is.

It actually makes sense for there to be a sequel since she still has the gun not the predators to give to Glover. Obviously there has been more confrontation. They were also bound to return anyway. They always come to retrieve the hunter even if they are dead.

I rolled my eyes at the now worn out trope of a woman having to prove herself to a bunch of guys but there is no forced gender narrative beyond a few choice lines. And her brother always believed in her which was great.

I hate having dogs in movies at this point. I can practically here people screaming about the dog better not be dying here while actual human beings are being slaughtered. I don't value animals over human beings is all.

I appreciate for once since the original, not trying to humanize the predator in any way. They are, or part of their race, are constantly shaped into being good guys while doing heinous shit. It never tracks with predator 1 where it is a vindictive dickhead and not honorable. Even if it was an outlier they are still dick heads and killers.

I was distracted by how much the lead here looked like the actress who is the lead in the reboot of Roswell. Turns out, they play sisters on the show. Perfect casting.

Daniel Trachtenberg has the goods. He's a really good director.

I had no problems with the cgi animals. I'm tired of complaining about cgi at this point. Its never going to look real in motion. Even the best stuff. I don't care. Hulk looks phenomenal on screen in the Marvel movies. Not once do I think to myself it looks like a real creature.

Slow start but really good movie.

This is what predator movies should have been after part 2. Different locals, time periods etc. Just trying to do predator 1 or predators in the city over and over again won't work and is played out.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Racj82

[benteen]

1 hour ago, Racj82 said:

Daniel Trachtenberg has the goods. He's a really good director.

Yes, between Prey and 10 Cloverfield Lane, he is definitely a director to keep an eye on going forward.

[Hiyo]

Quote

I appreciate for once since the original, not trying to humanize the predator in any way. They are, or part of their race, are constantly shaped into being good guys while doing heinous shit. It never tracks with predator 1 where it is a vindictive dickhead and not honorable. Even if it was an outlier they are still dick heads.

I think that only happened in the Aliens/Predator movies.

If they didn't have some honor then Danny Glover's character would have never gotten the gun...

[Racj82]

10 minutes ago, Hiyo said:

I think that only happened in the Aliens/Predator movies.

If they didn't have some honor then Danny Glover's character would have never gotten the gun...

My point was that I'm happy they DIDN’T do anything to humanize them. In Predator 2 they made them noble hunters instead of assholes that set off bombs after they have lost. The hunter is a real asshole in part 1. He negates the not killing thr unarmed when he killed Pancho while he was being carried away and injured. Used Billy's laugh to mock Dutch etc.

Although, it seems through part 1 and with Prey, they seem to be cool with killing the injured if they have already engaged with them whether they are still a threat or not.

It becomes almost a buddy cop movie in a vs p. They take the freddy vs jason method of making one of them the defacto protagonist.

In predators there is a war between the tribes within the hunters making the ones we knew already the lower class.

The Predator, they do the same thing.

I just wanted them to be savage hunters again and they were so i was happy.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Racj82

[Hiyo]

I think they can be savage hunters while at the same time having them be noble about it after the fact. I don't see a problem with it.

If the predators were that savage in the first movie he would have also slaughtered Anna as well.

[Anduin]

That was pretty good! Not my favourite, but pretty damn good. Worth a rewatch, though not straight away. Yes, it was the same gun as Predator 2. Check the pic here. And yes, the herb lowered body temperature. She gave it to the injured man early on, to slow his heart rate and stop him from bleeding out.

It would have been nice to see some female warriors in the mix, to indicate it wasn't sexism, she just wasn't up to the same level. Maybe the lead warrior could have been a woman. But then you have the predator targeting the women first. The more I think about it, the murkier it gets.

One moment that really surprised me, the first time we saw the three dots on that man. Then they start wandering! Since when could they wander? Oh wait, darts! Very cool. But then in the finale, the helmet shoots a bunch of darts out. When the darts stopped, I assumed maybe it had used all the ammo. I didn't see any moment when the predator reloaded its helmet, but then in the swamp the helmet fires again. Maybe the predator just told it to cease fire before.

Final thought, I have never heard French sound so seedy. It's not my favourite language, I rarely actually listen to it. But it's normally in a politer tone, spoken by politer people. Good work on making it sound dodgy.

[Racj82]

5 hours ago, Hiyo said:

I think they can be savage hunters while at the same time having them be noble about it after the fact. I don't see a problem with it.

If the predators were that savage in the first movie he would have also slaughtered Anna as well.

Man, this doesn't have to go back and forth. I wanted this movie to feature a hunter out on a hunt. Drop the lore. No teaming with humans. Nothing to make them sympathetic. They are just looking for a good battle. I'm happy this movie gave me that. The hunter needs a challenge. You need to be a threat. Thats basically their rule. I like that. It's like with most things with simple concepts. As you keep opening up, it loses what made it magical. Michael Myers loses his mystique once he stops being a faceless boogeyman and you give him a mission to kill his bloodline and all that jazz. Just keep it simple.

[Hiyo]

Quote

As you keep opening up, it loses what made it magical.

Debatable, but to each their own.

[Racj82]

23 hours ago, Hiyo said:

Debatable, but to each their own.

What exactly is debatable?

I'm not talking about for every story. When you start with a simple premise and then you keep pounding on lore, you end up losing what it made it special every time.

Predator was a slasher movie disguised as a action movie. Brilliant set up. Simple. Fast forward through inter species war, team ups and nonsense the franchise gained nothing but lost a lot.

In particular, every horror movie franchise begins to stumble as they just keep stretching out the story and the lore. It happens every time. It's not to say that there is no enjoyment to be had. It just often because something different and less entertaining.

Even when franchises survive this like Child's Play, they have to go "back to basics" just like predator had to do. They always have to do that. So, why stray so far away in the first place is all I'm saying. You don't have to do the same exact thing every time but be careful to not lose the elements that drew people in.

Edited August 8, 2022 by Racj82

[Hiyo]

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When you start with a simple premise and then you keep pounding on lore, you end up losing what it made it special every time.

I'd say that's debatable.

Quote

Predator was a slasher movie disguised as a slasher. Brilliant set up. Simple. Fast forward through inter species war, team ups and nonsense the franchise gained nothing but lost a lot.

It lost because of bad storytelling.

Again, to each their own.

[Racj82]

Yep. Moving on.

This is high up there with the best straight to streaming movies I've seen. Probably could of done well on the big screen.

[magdalene]

Anybody else very relieved and happy that the 

Spoiler

dog lived!

[Anduin]

11 hours ago, Racj82 said:

Predator was a slasher movie disguised as a slasher. Brilliant set up. Simple. Fast forward through inter species war, team ups and nonsense the franchise gained nothing but lost a lot.

Did you mean slasher disguised as an action movie? Because slasher disguised as slasher isn't a great disguise. :)

[Racj82]

10 hours ago, Anduin said:

Did you mean slasher disguised as an action movie? Because slasher disguised as slasher isn't a great disguise. :)

I'm sure you know what I meant. It's been corrected.

[paulvdb]

On 8/7/2022 at 6:21 AM, Racj82 said:

I hate having dogs in movies at this point. I can practically here people screaming about the dog better not be dying here while actual human beings are being slaughtered. I don't value animals over human beings is all.

Same here. That and the slow start had me quit a few times in the first half of the movie but I did end up watching the whole thing. I was sad to see her brother die. I will watch a sequel if there is going to be one but I hope they leave the dog out of it.

[snickers]

I enjoyed the dog, but i agree it is kinda ridiculous that people value animals and CGI animals at that over human life, I couldn't believe when I read in another forum on here that people checked out of the first episode of a show because a CGI RAVEN died after the first 20 minutes!

I think this is a strong #2 to the first movie, nothing will beat the first predator movie in my opinion, but I remember not really caring for Predator 2 all that much but I saw it so long again maybe I need a re-watch.....all those other movies i never cared to check out

really liked the brother, hope to see him in other work-and was this dubbed over in English? i was so confused about that, didn't seem like it? did they dub it over in comanche?

[Anduin]

8 minutes ago, snickers said:

I enjoyed the dog, but i agree it is kinda ridiculous that people value animals and CGI animals at that over human life, I couldn't believe when I read in another forum on here that people checked out of the first episode of a show because a CGI RAVEN died after the first 20 minutes!

I think this is a strong #2 to the first movie, nothing will beat the first predator movie in my opinion, but I remember not really caring for Predator 2 all that much but I saw it so long again maybe I need a re-watch.....all those other movies i never cared to check out

really liked the brother, hope to see him in other work-and was this dubbed over in English? i was so confused about that, didn't seem like it? did they dub it over in comanche?

It was filmed in English, and got a Comanche dub.

I like Predator 2 and Predators. They both have a certain charm. AVP not so much. Haven't seen AVP 2 or The Predator.

[Hiyo]

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people checked out of the first episode of a show because a CGI RAVEN died after the first 20 minutes!

Quote

I think this is a strong #2 to the first movie

I'd probably rank in that way too, even if it is a low bar when it comes to all of the sequels and spin-offs.

Quote

I like Predator 2 and Predators.

Predator 2 has some good moments but never quite gels together enough to be a classic.

Predators has a good idea, and points for trying to do something different, but the execution was ok at best.

Haven't seen The Predator, but the 2 AVP movies were just not good.

[Rushmoras]

I've got to say that 2019 Predator is hiding in the bushes compared to this movie. I personally liked it, the protagonist got banged up, scratched up along the way and eventually over-smarted the Predator without any corny jokes or cringy dialogues. Yep, that's a classic Predator movie alright. 6-7/10

[DoctorAtomic]

On 8/6/2022 at 7:29 AM, raven said:

The gun she ends up with - I wonder if that is the same one that Danny Glover's character is given in the Predator 2 movie?

I read an article on EW and they said it was. I don't remember Predator 2. I think I only watched the first one. 

What I liked what that Naru wasn't a good hunter, but had to be clever to beat the Predator whereas the guys thought they could just dudebro their way through it. Making the cord for the ax; and then coming back to the quicksand to trap him in the end. The actor did a great job without talking when she was alone; you could see her absorbing information every time she saw the predator. 

The visuals were great too. 

[MisterGlass]

Agree this was a solid movie, and I'll probably rewatch it at some point.  I agree it hangs together better as a movie than Predator 2.  Predator 2 suffers from the near distopian future as seen from the 80s setting.  This really takes the idea of that gun given to Danny Glover's character and runs with it. 

There were a lot of good surprises and improvisation in dealing with all the threats that characters faced.  While the CGI was noticeable I didn't think it was egregious.  It told the story effectively, and with some particularly gory details in the deaths of the animals.

I think this carried on the idea that the Predators have a hunting code, but only up to a point.  Here the predator's weapons were calibrated to be like the weapons he encountered in his Prey.  He started out more or less hand to hand with the snake, the wolf, and the bear - while still wearing hopelessly advanced camouflage.  While fighting the Comanche he used darts and a spear to parallel their bows and spears - but he has laser guidance and repeat fire.  With the French, who used a net on him, he used a net on one of them - a net that was robotically controlled to slice one of them into a thousand pieces.  And with them he felt entitled to use explosives and saw blades.  So, he is playing at fighting fair, but he's still a trophy hunting alien. 

By far the biggest tell about his supposedly fair code was that when Naru managed to get his spear and tried to use it on him, it retracted itself so that he couldn't be killed with it.  Fortunately the laser targeting of his sights wasn't clever enough to distinguish between him and a target.

I previously saw Amber Midthunder in Legion, and while she was interesting there she has improved as an actor here.

On 8/7/2022 at 7:27 AM, Anduin said:

Final thought, I have never heard French sound so seedy.

Agreed. 

[Kel Varnsen]

Finally got around to watching it tonight and I really liked it. It was slow to get going, although I was also distracted by my kids a bunch so that didn't help. But from the bear attack on it was awesome and I was super focused. I have only ever seen the Arnold Predator (once when I was a kid in the 80's probably shortly after it came out on video, then maybe once in the late 90's in university).

On 8/14/2022 at 5:18 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

What I liked what that Naru wasn't a good hunter, but had to be clever to beat the Predator whereas the guys thought they could just dudebro their way through it. Making the cord for the ax; and then coming back to the quicksand to trap him in the end. The actor did a great job without talking when she was alone; you could see her absorbing information every time she saw the predator. 

I liked that too. If they had made her the biggest badass lady Comanche warrior right from the start it wouldn't have been nearly as interesting.  But they built up the story and she learned and got better, as the predator got beat up and weaker. But if she had tried to fight the predator at any other point before the end, it would have killed her probably quickly.

[Hanahope]

On 8/5/2022 at 11:36 PM, dwmarch said:

Not sure I buy that there is some magical flower that makes you invisible to infrared and Naru just so happened to pick a bunch of it on her last day of picking flowers. However I really did like how she dug one of the plants up presumably so she could bring it back to the village and plant it in a garden instead of having to go out and forage for it every time.

 

On 8/6/2022 at 9:29 AM, raven said:

 

Oh, that's what it did!  I thought at first it was some kind of pain reliever.  Maybe it lowered body temperature?  I'm going to watch again and will pay more attention to the flower.

 

 

In the early scene when they are bringing back the warrior injured by the lion, she gives him the flower and it makes him cold because it slows the blood.  Naru mentioned to another warrior not to warm him up because he will start bleeding again.  This is again mentioned when she helps the french translator, the flower helped his pain, but made him cold (because his blood slowed).  She then noted that the Predator could not see the translator after he ate the flower.  

so we learn that the flower lowers body temperature, which the predator uses to find his prey.  she then takes some when she captures the other french hunter/trader to use him as bate.  the predator only sees the frenchman with his normal body temperature holding a gun, and not Naru, so the predator believes the frenchman is attacking him.  

the movie is good in showing that the best hunters learn from their prey/predators to outsmart them.  Naru's brother was a good hunter as well, and may have beaten the predator until the predator used his camouflage.  Naru then negated that advantage with the quicksand.

[BetterButter]

 

[Anduin]

6 hours ago, BetterButter said:

 

Right before my birthday! Coincidence, or do I have friends in a place of influence?

[BetterButter]

‘Badlands’ – Dan Trachtenberg Directing Another Solo ‘Predator’ Movie for 20th Century Studios!

[Anduin]

2 hours ago, BetterButter said:

‘Badlands’ – Dan Trachtenberg Directing Another Solo ‘Predator’ Movie for 20th Century Studios!

Great news!

[DoctorAtomic]

I hope it's in the past again, like the Old West or the Civil War.

[benteen]

Sounds like it's the future. Too bad, I would have liked to have seen something in the Vikings era or 1930s Chicago gangster era.

[DoctorAtomic]

Oh, I like the Chicago idea. 

[Raja]

I don't think gangland Chicago is far enough away in technology or the ideal than   Danny Glover's near future dystopian Los Angeles movie.

[DoctorAtomic]

The first movie wasn't really far in technology because they had guns too, so I don't know if that's a nonstarter. 

Chicago brings an urban warfare element to it, and all the rival gangs would have to work together, so you have that angle too. 

I mean, is dystopian future that fresh either? It's Escape from New York, but don't let the Predator get you. 

[Anduin]

I watched this again. Still great. I don't even have any nitpicks! Stunning, I know. Someone on IMDB thinks Naru shows off the strength of three men. Maybe when she's stuck in the bog and has the strength to throw her axe several times? That could be born of desperation. When she hauls Big Beard from the river to the trap? He's bigger than her. Maybe she cut off his legs first, to save weight.

Of course, some people look for any reason to tear down a movie starring a woman.

Overall, yes, I love it and will absolutely watch it again in future.