The Predator’s origin story in the Comanche Nation world 300 years ago. Naru, a skilled female warrior, fights to protect her tribe against one of the first highly-evolved Predators to land on Earth.
The original 1987 “Predator” will always be the best for many. Personally, I tend to lean towards its 1990 sequel, “Predator 2,” something about moving the action to the city intrigued me more than the jungle setting in the original. It took me repeated viewings to get into Robert Rodriguez’s 2010 “Predators,” but Shane Black’s 2018 “The Predator” should have been amazing but was a colossal letdown. I do not include the “Alien vs. Predator” movies as they are not considered canon.
In “Prey,” the story takes place in the Comanche Nation in 1719 and centers on Naru (Amber Midthunder), a young Comanche warrior who, along with her brother and mother, live with their tribe on the Great Plains. When nearby buffaloes and other wildlife turn up dead and their skin stripped from their bodies, Naru’s tribe fears a giant beast of prey is responsible for the killings. Determined to track down whatever is doing the slayings and prove herself to her family and tribe, Naru makes her way into the wilderness alone. There, she comes face to face with a large brown bear that chases her down, but before it has a chance to devour her, it is attacked and killed by a giant sentient humanoid that utilizes highly advanced technology, specifically a cloaking device that makes it almost invisible to the naked eye. Now she must devise a plan to stop the creature before it kills her and annihilates her entire tribe.
In only his second directorial feature, Dan Trachtenberg takes the long-established narrative surrounding the Predators and their method of hunting and places it in unknown territory. The previous four films all took place either in the present day or in the near future, giving humans equal footing, at least when it came to weaponry and firepower, but here, we go back in time to when the Comanches used primitive weapons such as bows and arrows and spears. Just like its predecessors, “Prey” isn’t so much about instruments of war, or lack thereof, although they do play a big part; instead, it is about how they use their intellect and resourcefulness to outmaneuver their alien adversary.
Each film has its sole protagonist, the one person who takes on the Predator in the finale in a fight to the death, and here it is Amber Midthunder as Naru, the Comanche warrior who in real life is a member of the Fort Peck Sioux Tribe. Naru constantly tries to prove to her older brother that she can be as good a hunter as any of the men in the tribe, but they continuously disparage her, mocking her for wanting to be like them. How she goes one-on-one with the Predator is believable and never too implausible, and to her family and tribe, she finally demonstrates her bravery and resourcefulness. Ms. Midthunder delivers a strong yet sympathetic performance that never stretches the boundaries of credibility, especially given the movie’s timeframe.
Unlike other horror franchises such as “Halloween,” “Friday the 13th,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” and “Hellraiser,” where the story focuses on the same antagonist constantly being killed and reanimated in the next entry, the Predator series works because every film introduces a new Predator who once offed at the end, doesn’t come back in the next one. Because they are a sophisticated race of alien beings who can travel through space, their appearance in every movie is justifiably conceivable. After the disappointment of “The Predator,” “Prey” returns the series to good standing, and I just hope, moving forward, the franchise continues to offer young up-and-coming filmmakers, such as Mr. Trachtenberg, the opportunity to leave their mark on the genre.
“Prey” will stream exclusively as a Hulu Original on Friday, August 5th
