The "Predator" franchise was broken. So how can one movie turn everything around?
"Prey" found a way.
2018's "The Predator" felt like the final fatal hit to a franchise that had been bleeding out
for years. Now, Dan Trachtenberg, the director of "10 Cloverfield Lane,"
has picked up the scent of the iconic alien hunter and is going back a few hundred years with "Prey."
The new film sees Comanche warrior Naru, played by Amber Midthunder,
square off with everyone's favorite space invader to protect her home
and obtain honor within her tribe. Thankfully, early reactions and critical responses confirmed
that "Prey" isn't just a great watch, but the best entry in the franchise since the first one.
"I've been practicing. It's time. I'm ready."
Avoiding the traps that so many big prequels have been caught in over the years,
"Prey" sends us down a very different trail than the previous films, and is all the better for it.
In 1987, John McTiernan's "Predator" did something no other action movie
had prior — it made you genuinely scared for the safety of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The Austrian Oak, who had made a career out of being indestructible,
became anything but, fighting to survive as the lone soldier, Dutch,
in an almost dialogue-free finale that had the role of "hunter" and "hunted" changing on a dime.
The thrill of the chase between a lone human and a technologically advanced beast was a highlight,
but it was a plot beat that became stale in the franchise entries that followed,
where — the underrated "Predators" aside — too much time was spent on each film's trophies-to-be
trying to figure out what they were getting tracked by.
Trachtenberg's blood-soaked session avoids that mistake,
instead giving the dreadlocked death-dealer a worthy opponent in the form of Naru,
who quickly concludes that something else besides her tribe is out hunting.
"I'm not frightened by a bear." "I don't think it was a bear."
This lets the film cut to the chase that fans
are keen to see between the two lone hunters, just like before.
It's a clear indicator that time is unquestionably on Trachtenberg's side, including when it
comes to the film's setting, which resets the history of the Predator in all the best ways.
As much as we tried to forget it, a flimsy flashback in "Alien vs. Predator" showed
the titular trophy-seekers building pyramids. The issue is that they are as tooled up then
as they are when they encounter Dutch in the 1987 film, raising the question of whether or not their
routine safari trips were really a challenge. Thankfully, "Prey" retcons that smudge in the
history books for a less developed Predator, which in turn gives "Prey" an unexpected upgrade.
The space hunter with Naru in its sights is a clear ancestor of the ones we're used to,
mandibles and all. Brandishing headgear that looks
to be made from the skins of its former kills rather than
that unmistakable faceplate establishes a technological timeline for the alien race.
Doing so tightens the gap between both sides, still certifying the Predator as a threat,
but one more likely to bleed thanks to its low-tech arsenal. Trachtenberg told Collider,
"It was very tricky to find a way to have the Predator feel, at once,
300 years earlier in iteration and in what it has to wield, but also feel far
more advanced than what our characters are used to and have ever dealt with before."
It's an exciting take on the creature
that also suggests the future of the franchise might be in the past.
"Prey" has revived the franchise to its former glory by putting
the legendary bone collector in an era we've never seen it in before.
It's a game-changing choice that also opens up other historical possibilities for the Predator.
"Prey" chronicles the oldest-known hunt of the franchise's violent visitors,
but it doesn't mean it was the first. How might the iconic aliens have handled samurai warriors?
Did this race that thrives in the heat of battle ever go up against Vikings? If not, why not?
Should such an approach be taken,
it would be great to see any follow-up film have the same attention to detail as "Prey,"
one that could focus on a culture that until now has been given skewed or little
representation in mainstream media, setting up an all-the-more compelling story because of it.
"Prey" gives us a new take on an old foe by dropping a Predator into a story populated
predominantly by Native American stars, including its lead. The creative choice spawned from the
image of Sonny Landham's Billy, Dutch's Native American scout, and his last stand in the 1987
film. Thirty-five years later, it still resonated with Dan Trachtenberg, who told Empire,
"In Prey, we're watching someone lead this movie that has never led this type of movie before."
To ensure such a crucial part of the film was carefully handled, Comanche and Blackfeet
American Indian producer Jhan Myers joined the project, operating as the film's cultural advisor.
Her input changed a potential franchise money-spinner into one of the most intriguing
installments to the "Predator" franchise to date. In a rare move in Hollywood,
a Comanche-language cut of the film will also be available to stream upon release.
Whenever these spine-snatching stalkers have visited Earth on-screen, women have often
been the least of their worries. With Elpidia Carrillo's Anna from the original film not being
deemed a threat and Maria Conchita Alonso's Leona getting passed over for the sake of her unborn
baby in "Predator 2," it was left to the tough men of Hollywood to put the Yautja in check.
"Prey" finally breaks those dated hunting traditions in the best
ways possible, thanks to not only one of the best performances in the franchise,
but also one that fleshes out a character at the core of a story worth investing in.
"Why do you want to hunt?" "Because you all think that I can't."
Whereas the previous films were about fighting for survival against an invisible threat,
"Prey" focuses on a hero determined to prove herself even before that iconic tri-laser gets
fired up. Naru wants to be respected in her tribe, so much so that she's willing to go
up against a grizzly bear-disposing monster from the skies to get it.
The safety of her people is an understandable concern, but seeing her fight for her self-worth
is an added element that puts "Prey" on a different playing field than the
other "Predator" films, and it's thanks to Amber Midthunder that it all works so well.