Prey (2022)

I will admit I may have a little bias on this one as I used to chat with the director (Dan Trachtenberg) years ago when he, Alex Albrecht, and Jeff Cannata did the Totally Rad Show video podcast. We had a couple of interactions. I wouldn't so much say he was a friend but instead a very loose acquaintance. That being said, it has been great following his career from the earlier video short of Portal to 10 Cloverfield Way to this. He also did an episode of The Boys and one of Black Mirror. I was sad to learn he didn't get the Y: The Last Man series as it would have been right in his wheelhouse (and the one not directed by him turned out to be horrid). This film is available for exclusive streaming through Hulu. Anyhow, on to the film. I liked it a lot. It's really the second-best Predator film to date now. None will surpass the original but this one did a really good job catching the lightning in the bottle again. It is the us versus him mindset that makes it great. It wasn't all about the technology or the gimmicks but instead the relationship between hunter and prey. Trachtenberg broke it down to the core elements of what made the original work and focused on that. I will say that Predator 2 is now a solid third place after Prey but I debated on which was better, this one or that one, and this one won because of the simplicity of it. The new (old) Predator was cool looking. He was more 'primal' in nature and in it for the hunt. It'd be the equivalent of a Predator going out with an automatic rifle to hunt a deer versus one that goes out with a bow and arrow. For this Predator it was more the skill of the hunt than the gadgets and gizmos. Don't get me wrong, I like gadgets and gizmos but going back to the roots of the original film was more 'fun' and visceral. The lead actress, Amber Midthunder, did a good job in the role. I do have a complaint about character direction but she held her own pretty well. The relationship between her and her on-screen brother, played by Dakota Beavers, was solid. My biggest complaint with her is that she wants to be a big hunter for the tribe but at every chance she books it. Granted, in some scenarios that was fitting but in general she takes off running most of the time. I did like the Assassin's Creed-esque throwing axe she created! :) The Predator was darned cool looking in this one. I liked the look and feel of it. Once again, it's hard to compare this to the original but the new one had a more primitive look to it, which worked well. I will complain about two things, one with a vague post so I don't spoil anything. The first is the CGI for the animals. There are a couple of animals in here that looked like they came out of a 2000s video game. They didn't look very realistic which, as you know, I'm not a fan of CGI so it pulled me out of the movie. The other, bigger, complaint has to do with battle damage. I'll have to leave it there, however. One last thing is that the scenery was beautiful. The locations were perfect for the battles but even just the long shots of the surrounding area were pretty amazing. Yes, I'll recommend this film with no hesitation.