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It lives to hunt." "If it bleeds, we can kill it." Prey is a 2022 Action Horror film directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane). The film stars Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Michelle Thrush, and Dane DiLiegro, the latter of whom plays the Feral Predator. The film is the fifth installment in the Predator film series, serving as a ...
- Overview
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- Production
- Music
- Historical accuracy
- Release
- Reception
- Sequel
is a 2022 American science fiction action film in the Predator franchise. It is the fifth film in the mainline series and seventh in the overall franchise. It is a prequel to the first four films, being set in the Northern Great Plains in 1719. The film is directed by Dan Trachtenberg and written by Patrick Aison. It stars Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro, Michelle Thrush, Stormee Kipp, Julian Black Antelope, and Bennett Taylor. The story revolves around a young Comanche woman, Naru, 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 being filmed in English, with some sequences being shot in the Comanche language as well. A full Comanche language dub was provided for the film, with the cast reprising their roles, thus making it the first feature film to do so.
In 1719 in the Great Plains, Naru, a young Comanche woman trained as a healer, dreams of becoming a great hunter like her brother Taabe. While tracking deer she witnesses strange lights in the sky, which she believes to be a Thunderbird and a sign she is ready to become a hunter, but is actually a Predator dropship. Later, a member of the tribe is taken by a lion. Naru accompanies the search party, which retrieves the wounded man while Taabe stays behind to hunt the prey. Finding large, unusual tracks and a skinned rattlesnake, Naru circles back with Paake and reunites with Taabe. The three set a trap for the lion but it kills Paake.
Naru faces off with the lion but is knocked unconscious when she is distracted by a loud roar and lights in the distance. She awakens at home, having been carried back by Taabe. He later returns to the village carrying the animal, earning him the title of War Chief. Convinced of a greater threat in the woods, Naru departs with her dog Sarii. She stumbles into a bog pit but narrowly escapes before being attacked by a grizzly bear. The bear corners her but is then killed by the Predator, giving Naru time to escape before running into a group of Comanche sent to find her. The Predator, which Naru calls a "Mupitsi" after Pia Mupitsi ('Mother owl') a monster in Comanche folklore, ambushes and kills the men in combat, while Naru is caught in a foothold trap.
French voyageurs find and cage Naru and Sarii. Their interpreter, Raphael Adolini, questions Naru about the Predator, whom the Frenchmen have encountered before. When she refuses to talk, the lead voyageur reveals that he has Taabe captive and tortures him before using both siblings as bait for the Predator, which the French are intent on capturing. The Predator kills most of the Frenchmen while Taabe and Naru escape. Naru rescues Sarii from the camp and stumbles across a dying Raphael, who teaches her how to use his flintlock pistol in exchange for treatment for his severed leg. Naru gives him herbs that reduce his body heat to stanch the bleeding. When the Predator arrives, Raphael plays dead. Naru realizes that, due to his reduced heat, the Predator cannot see him. After it accidentally steps on Raphael, he screams and is killed.
Taabe arrives on horseback to rescue Naru. Together they weaken the Predator, but it kills Taabe. Naru flees and finds the surviving lead Frenchman. She captures him and uses him as bait. Consuming the herbs to hide her body heat, she uses Raphael's pistol to ambush the Predator after it has killed the voyageur, knocking off its mask, which she knows is used to direct its spear gun. She steals the device and lures the Predator into the bog, where she positions the mask to face the pit. She battles the Predator, which becomes mired in the bog. It fires the spear gun at Naru and misses; the mask guides the projectile back to the Predator, killing it. Naru severs its head and paints her face with its glowing green blood. She returns with its head to her village, where she is declared the new War Chief. Naru informs her tribe that it is time for them to move.
•Amber Midthunder as Naru, a young Comanche warrior who protects her tribe against a Predator
•Dakota Beavers as Taabe, Naru's brother and a skilled hunter. In August 2022, Bennett Taylor confirmed that the script for Prey revealed Billy Sole, a Native American tracker and scout played by Sonny Landham in the original Predator (1987), to be a reincarnation of Taabe, reframing his "last stand" with that film's Predator as being due to subconscious memories of a past life.
•Dane DiLiegro as the Feral Predator, shown to wield primitive versions of the advanced weaponry used by Predators in previous future-set films, which Naru calls a Mupitsi after a monster in Comanche folklore.
•Michelle Thrush as Aruka, Naru and Taabe's mother
•Julian Black Antelope as Chief Kehetu
•Coco as Sarii, Naru's dog companion
The film began development during the production of the prior Predator film, titled The Predator (2018), when producer John Davis was approached by Dan Trachtenberg and screenwriter Patrick Aison, with a concept they had been working on since 2016. Trachtenberg said that he only had an idea about "someone trying to prove themselves and what they could be up against," that turned out to fit well into the Predator franchise, as showing a Native American "using your smarts and ingenuity" against more technologically advanced adversaries showed that "there's no set of brawn other than fortitude that can allow you to succeed against the impossible". He also said that it was an attempt at giving a full movie to a character similar to Billy from the original Predator, a Native American who decides to stand up against the alien. 20th Century Studios production president Emma Watts fast-tracked the development of the film, which was expected to be R-rated.
In December 2019, the film was initially under wraps, going by the name of Skulls. The film reportedly was to "follow a Comanche woman who goes against gender norms and traditions to become a warrior". It was to be directed by Trachtenberg and written by Aison. Cast auditions were held in February 2020, before pre-production was shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2020, Skulls was revealed to be a codename for a fifth installment in the Predator franchise, with the same creative team working on the film. Upon the announcement, Trachtenberg indicated that the original intention was to market the film with no reference to the Predators, something no longer possible with the confirmation of the film's place in the franchise. Prey had been the first title for the film that Trachtenberg proposed, serving as "a mirror to the main franchise" and intending for it to serve as a standalone installment due to production of Shane Black's The Predator (2018). He also choose the title as he wanted to avoid traditional naming conventions for franchise films and considered there was sufficient precedent to do so. The Comanche were chosen as the central tribe because Trachtenberg considered them "the most fierce warriors to walk this continent, arguably, and they were incredibly innovative." He also wished to portray them as the heroes instead of their usual portrayal as sidekicks or villains.
Sarah Schachner composed the musical score. Trachtenberg hired her after playing Assassin's Creed: Valhalla during pre-production and being impressed with her score for the game. Schachner said the music had to play a big role given the film's sparse dialogue, with the challenge of "feeling equally large and expansive as well as intimate and raw", ...
During the film's production, Myers provided binders of reference materials to the production team. Myers advised the production on creating a period-accurate toothbrush, which Midthunder can be seen using in the film. An early draft of the script did not include mention of horses; Myers insisted that horses be added, later stating, "We're a horse culture, so you can see that in [the character of] Taabe and his horse riding. And then you can see that in the camps where we have horses. When I originally saw the first script, there were no horses in it. And I said, 'You can't have Comanches without horses!' So that's where that came in, and when we wrote the Taabe scene." People in the southwest began to acquire horses in the 16th century by trading or stealing them from Spanish colonists in New Mexico. As horse culture moved northward, the Comanche were among the first to commit to a fully mounted nomadic lifestyle. This occurred by the 1730s, when they had acquired enough horses to put all their people on horseback.
Brad Curran of Screen Rant described the Comanche characters' clothing, village setting, and hunting lifestyle depicted in the film as historically accurate, along with the depiction of the French trappers as hostile towards the Comanche. Curran stated the film makes Comanche gender roles "central to its story", intending for the female protagonist to subvert traditional Comanche gender roles; men had generally been depicted in more physical roles as hunters and warriors, while women served as caregivers who oversaw homes, children, and food preparation.
premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 21, 2022 during an exclusive screening hosted by Collider, and was released by 20th Century Studios as a Hulu original film on August 5. It was also released on Disney+ Hotstar in Southeast Asian territories, on Star+ in Latin America and on Disney+ as part of the Star content hub in other international ...
Audience viewership
According to 20th Century Studios, Prey was the most-watched premiere across all films and television series on Hulu in the United States, as well as the most-watched film premiere on Star in international markets, and on Star+ in Latin America. According to streaming aggregator Reelgood, Prey was the most watched program across all platforms during the week of August 12, 2022. According to Whip Media, Prey was the most watched movie in the United States from August 5 to August 7, 2022.
Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes reports a 93% approval rating from 276 critics, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The Critic's Consensus reads, "The rare action thriller that spikes adrenaline without skimping on character development, Prey is a Predator sequel done right." Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". It became the highest-rated Predator film on both websites with many critics calling it the best Predator installment since the first film. Two stars from the original Predator film commented positively. Jesse Ventura praised Amber Midthunder and the director: "Thank you for making a such a thoughtful, creative, and wonderful film." Bill Duke was also enthusiastic about the film: "It's an amazing film and @AmberMidthunder is phenomenal." David Fear of Rolling Stone referred to the film as a "long-awaited masterpiece" and "series highlight" and compared Midthunder's character favorably to Ellen Ripley of the Alien films. Andrew Webster of The Verge admired "how patient it is", adding, "What makes Prey work is its simplicity. It never strays from its concept, instead slowly building up the tension before reaching a very exciting battle." Belen Edwards of Mashable called it "intimate and character-driven, with more than enough action to satisfy the most die-hard Predator fans ... even if you've never watched a Predator movie, chances are you'll love Prey. It's just that good." In a 3.5-out-of-4-star review, Odie Henderson of RogerEbert.com praised Naru's character and the representation of the Comanche Nation and called the film a "scary and fun amusement park ride that also elicits a surprisingly tender emotional response". Tom Jorgensen of IGN rated it 8 out of 10, commended the level of violence and tension depicted across the action sequences, and felt the story was simple without being simplistic. James Dyer of Empire rated the movie 4 out of 5 stars and found it to be the best Predator since the original, with a "ferocious heroine, authentic period setting, and a bloody string of inventive action beats". Wendy Ide, in a 4-out-of-5-star review in the Observer, said that Prey "stays true to the essence of the original – stylishly violent, stickily graphic, impossibly tense" but that it was also successful "as a self-contained entity". Clarisse Loughrey gave the film 4 stars out of 5 in a review in the Independent praising the lighting and sound design while also hailing the film's message of empowerment. Kevin Maher in the Times enjoyed the jeopardy of the film with characters being "in actual danger of harm, injury or even death". Benjamin Lee for the Guardian gave the film 3 stars out of 5 but said, "It feels genuinely new to see a genre film of this scale centred on an almost entirely Native cast." The New York Times's Jeannette Catsoulis disliked the film's editing, plot, and antagonists but commended Midthunder's performance, Cutter's cinematography, and the authentic depiction of the Native American culture. Writing for Slant Magazine, Chuck Bowen was critical of Trachtenberg's direction as he did not like the costumes or the depiction of the Predator, feeling it to be a "dull matter-of-factness". Going on to rate the film 1 star out of 5, he negatively compared the film to Predator and opined the predator motif was treated in a literal manner, resulting in "a mess of anonymous action sequences and half-baked symbolism".
Accolades
Further information: List of accolades received by the Predator film series was nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards winning one for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special marking the first Emmy win for the Predator franchise.
In June 2022, Trachtenberg stated that there are discussions for additional installments to be developed after the release of Prey, saying their intent was to "do things that have not been done before" in the franchise. In August, Bennett Taylor expressed interest in reprising his role as Raphael Adolini in a potential Prey prequel, intending for t...
Characters. Patrick Aison. Screenplay, Story. Dan Trachtenberg. Story. When danger threatens her camp, the fierce and highly skilled Comanche warrior Naru sets out to protect her people. But the prey she stalks turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal.
Prey: Directed by Dan Trachtenberg. With Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro, Stormee Kipp. Naru, a skilled warrior of the Comanche Nation, fights to protect her tribe against one of the first highly-evolved Predators to land on Earth.
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Aug 18, 2022 · To that end, Prey's cast almost entirely comprises Native and First Nation actors, including Midthunder, an enrolled member of the Fort Peck Sioux Tribe, and proud Hunkpapa Lakota, Sahiya...
