Home turf means a lot when it's predator vs. prey.
Hunting for answers after finishing the movie?
Here's how it all went down.
Warning: spoilers ahead for "Prey."
Though Hulu's "Prey" is the fifth mainline film in the "Predator" series, its story predates
every one of its predecessors.
Set in North America in 1719, the film follows Comanche warrior Naru, played by Amber Midthunder,
who encounters the alien warrior while out scouting.
Things take a violent turn when a group of European trappers and soldiers intrude, culminating
in a climactic duel between Naru and the Yautja who's been tormenting her tribe.
Most "Predator" stories involve teams of commandos, criminals, or otherwise highly trained individuals
facing off against the Yautja, usually with only one or two making it out alive.
While many of the supporting characters in movies like "Predator" and "Predators" make
valiant stands against the aliens, they almost always perish in the end.
The same fate befalls many of the Comanche hunters in "Prey," but every member of the
group plays a part in ultimately bringing the beast down.
With each encounter, Naru and the other members of her tribe learn more and more about the Predator.
Observing when it does and doesn't kill clues her into the creature's thermal vision, the
way its laser-guided weapon system works, and its tendencies as a hunter.
In this way, every Comanche character who dies to the beast contributes to its ultimate
demise, imbuing Naru with the tools and knowledge she needs.
"This morning in the sky I saw a sign."
This sacrificial group approach stands in stark contrast to the European faction in
the film, who possess immense resources and more advanced weapons than the Comanches,
but who seem incapable of learning from their failures in fighting the Yautja.
Rather than adapt to the Predator's methods or strategize together in any meaningful way,
they stubbornly employ the same stale tactics and put an unhealthy amount of trust in their
guns, which ultimately fail.
Throughout "Prey," Naru's older brother Taabe shows himself to be a caring sibling who believes
deeply in his sister but also desperately wants to protect her.
At one point in the film, he tells Naru that he used her exact plan to kill the mountain
lion they were hunting and that she successfully weakened it before falling unconscious and
being carried back to the village.
He clearly thinks that she's capable of becoming a great hunter, and he wants to build her
confidence in a culture that discourages her hunting.
“I don’t think it was a bear.”
Naru behaves in some pretty brash and bullheaded ways early on in "Prey."
She goes off all on her own to hunt the Predator, before fully understanding what she's up against.
Through her encounters with the alien, however, she grows in both her courage and her cleverness,
finally putting all the pieces together to become the hunter she's destined to be.
In this way, her eventual victory over the Predator not only marks her as a respected
protector of her people, but it also symbolizes the end of her own coming-of-age hunt.
Sadly, Taabe becomes the final martyr in the Comanche's battle against the Predator.
As he and Naru stand together searching for their invisible foe, Taabe realizes that he's
the one the Yautja is after.
And he says somberly to his sister,
"It thinks I'm the threat.
This is as far as I go."
In this moment, Naru has finally become a master hunter in her brother's eyes.
He knows there's no way out for him, but he also seems completely confident that his sister
will be able to do what the rest of their tribe could not.
When Naru does ultimately vanquish the Predator, she seems to have mixed feelings about the whole ordeal.
There's a clear sense of pride at having defeated the beast that so many others fell to, but
she also looks beaten down by the trauma and loss of the fight.
At least she brings a bit of her brother into the final showdown with her, as she echoes
his final words to the Yautja itself just before delivering the killing blow.
“This is as far as you go."
After seeing the Predator kill so many others from her tribe and slaughter a small army
of European trappers, Naru realizes that the only way to defeat the creature is to outsmart it.
She captures the leader of the European group and uses him as live bait.
She cleverly allows him to get a weapon, making him look like more of a threat to the Predator
and therefore drawing the alien out.
She also ingests some medicine to shield herself from the Predator's thermal vision, a strategy
she picks up earlier in the film.
Once the alien reveals itself, Naru uses a point-blank pistol shot to knock off the creature's
helmet, which she promptly steals.
After that, Naru lures the Predator back to a spot she knows well, which is laden with
deep, hidden mud pits.
Having seen that brute force and fighting skills are useless against a foe as physically
powerful as the Yautja, she finds other methods to shock and surprise.
In the end, she proves that being the strongest in a fight doesn't automatically make you
the best hunter.
"Prey" drives home one of the film's recurring themes, and that's the inefficacy of advanced
technology in the face of superior intelligence and skill.
Midway through the movie, Naru realizes that the Yautja's handheld spear gun is connected
to the triangular targeting apparatus on the alien's helmet.
In past "Predator" films, the red dots of the targeting device have typically heralded
a blast from the iconic shoulder-mounted plasma cannon, but no such weapon appears in "Prey."
That doesn't matter, though, as the homing spear gun winds up being just as deadly as
any laser blast.
In the end, the Predator is killed by a shot from its own gun, as Naru sets up the targeting
apparatus to aim at the creature's head.
It doesn't recognize that the lasers have been activated, so when it fires a bolt at
Naru, the Yautja is surprised to see the projectile loop back around to pierce its own skull.
Clearly, the homing device is a powerful weapon, as is the pistol Naru uses to dislodge it.
And yet, these examples of more advanced technology come with their share of caveats.
The pistol jams and refuses to fire at different points, and the technological superiority
of the Predator's gun ultimately becomes his undoing.
By using these weapons as tools but never letting them supersede her natural talents,
as the Europeans do, Naru shows that no technology is a replacement for training and intellect.
Naru returns home covered in green alien blood and carrying the severed head of the Predator,
which she deposits on the ground for all to see.
The whole tribe begins to celebrate, mirroring the behavior seen when her brother returned
earlier in the film with the body of the slain mountain lion.
It seems that Naru will finally be accepted as the skilled hunter she is.
“I think this creature is a hunter.”
Regardless of everyone else's opinions, Naru is clearly changed by her experience.
Maybe it's the realization that growing up and taking responsibility involves more exhaustion than glamor.
Or maybe it's the fact that no dead Predator can stop the encroaching wave of European
colonialists taking over the Comanche's land.
While the Predator itself is a definite antagonist in "Prey," it's far from the film's only villain.
The ecological and cultural war brought by white settlers is alluded to very early on,
when Naru's dog gets caught in a European trap.
Like the Predator, the trappers are interlopers in a landscape that they don't fully respect or understand.
And while they all get wiped out in "Prey," the early 18th century was only the start
of a long process of land theft against the Comanches.
“You killed the buffalo."
After delivering the head of the Predator, Naru says that the tribe must move towards
more protected ground, as their current location isn't safe.
Perhaps she anticipates the Comanche being blamed for the Yautja's European massacre,
or maybe she simply wants to be prepared for potential invaders.
Either way, it's a stark realization in what is an otherwise celebratory moment for Naru.
Along with the Predator's head, Naru presents the flintlock pistol she acquires as a gift
to the elders of her tribe.
When the chief inspects the gun, the camera shows an inscription that reads "Raphael Adolini,"
with the year "1715" written underneath.
Dedicated fans of the "Predator" franchise will recognize this as an Easter egg, though
the pistol's inclusion in "Prey" also brings up some interesting questions about the canonical
"Predator" timeline.
At the end of "Predator 2," after making his way aboard the Yautja ship, Lieutenant Mike
Harrigan is given the exact same flintlock pistol by none other than the leader of the
Yautja hunting party.
It seems to be a gift, and a symbol of Harrigan's skill as a warrior, as the Predators then
leave without killing the policeman.
Because "Prey" takes place just four years after the inscription on the gun, it makes
some sense why it would show up, but some things about its inclusion don't quite add up.
For starters, how do the Predators get the pistol back now that Naru has it?
Is it sheer luck that, somewhere down the line, they kill a descendant of hers?
Or is the implication that the Yautja come back for Naru, since she's proven herself
to be a capable warrior?
Either way, "Prey" seems to retcon the comic book "Predator: 1718," which relays a different
account of the pistol's origin.
In the comic book "Predator: 1718," readers are introduced to pirate captain Raphael Adolini,
who's searching for treasure off the coast of Papua New Guinea with his crew when they
encounter a Predator.
The alien eventually kills the whole pirate crew, including Adolini, but not before the
captain gives the hunter his pistol as a show of respect.
Clearly, "Prey" changes that history.
The character who gives the pistol to Naru in the film is credited as "Raphael," making
it pretty clear that the gun is his.
That effectively erases the entire "Predator: 1718" comic from the series' canon, though
its canonical status was never fully secure.
Still, that change has some interesting ramifications for the overarching "Predator" lore.
For starters, how the Yautja get the pistol back remains unknown, at least for now.
Could "Prey" become just the start of a historical "Predator" saga?
The possibility is definitely there.
"Prey" director Dan Trachtenberg has revealed that the film was conceived as a full theatrical release.
However, the decision was later made to make "Prey" a Hulu exclusive.
In an interview with Uproxx, Trachtenberg said,
"We made it to be a big theatrical experience and on the downside, it's not being released that way.
So you can't see it in the theater, but on the upside, the thing you're getting straight
into the living room is a giant theatrical experience.
It's not like a straight video dumping ground.
It's like, 'This is a real movie'."
"And it is this creature's first time on earth, trying to find the most worthy opponent."
Given the critical reactions to "Prey," that goal has clearly been met.
But the streaming release also has some interesting potential implications for the franchise's future.
It's no secret that 2018's "The Predator" fell woefully short at the box office, which
may also have played a part in the decision to release "Prey" directly to Hulu.
Now that the film has returned the series to a place of honor, there's a chance for
more expansion via streaming.
Basically, it's just the kind of creative shake-up that the franchise needed.
Could the story continue in sequels, maybe in other eras?
Only time will tell!