The next entry into the Predator franchise arrives in a new prequel called Prey. Starring Amber Midthunder the film follows a tribe of Comanche people at the height of an invasion of French Voyageurs. With inspirations to be a hunter & warrior a young female Comanche named Naru notices strange happenings around her village as she trains. As she attempts to warn her village their best warriors are picked off one by one by a deadly alien force who recognizes her as a potential threat.

Prey is a 2022 science fiction action horror film, it is produced by 20th Century Studios and distributed by Hulu. It is streaming exclusively on Hulu as well as Disney+ & Star+ internationally. A home media release will follow later this year. 

Editor’s Note: Near complete to complete spoilers for Prey as well as the Predator mythos may be present within this review. 

The Predator franchise has been along for quite some time now. Having had stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny Glover, Adrian Brody, as well Oliva Munn & Topher Grace at some point throughout it’s run. The latest installment is a prequel focused on the Yautja/Predator’s first visitations of Earth and interactions with humankind. Amber Midthunder who’s no stranger to action roles leads as the first female prey in what may very well be the franchise’s magnum opus.

THE GOOD: In 1719 a tribe of Comanche have settled at The Great Plains. Naru is a young woman who’s been trained in medicine yet inspires to be a hunter and warrior like her brother Taabe. Naru often secretly trains herself though her family and friends are aware & believe she’s not ready to hunt. While out training with her dog Sarii she witnesses a Predator ship landing. She mistakes the ship as a sighting of a Thunderbird; a legendary Native American cryptid and feels it’s a sign of her training having been noticed. After speaking with Taabe she convinces him to bring her out to a hunt with his group. 

A hunter gets injured during a hunt for a lion and Naru gets knocked unconscious. She awakes back home with Taabe having killed the lion and becoming War Chief. Taabe tries to convince Naru to give up hunting but fails. She goes off tracking with Sarii and finds several animals skinned inhumane manor. Now believing the threat to be much worse than an animal she trains with a modified tomahawk. Naru & Sarii are then attacked by a bear which is killed by the Predator shocking Naru. A group of Comanche go off to find Naru and forcibly bring her back to the village. While she struggles to escape the group is attacked by the Predator who kill them one by one. 

Naru ends up being captured by French voyageurs who were responsible for the wasteful animal killings. A translator named Raphael Adolini (Predator 2, Predator: 1718) informs Naru of who he & the other men are. Adolini reveals he’s become familiar with the Predator species and wants any info Naru can provide which may be new to him. As she refuses to talk the French men reveal they’ve captured Taabe and tortures him in front of Naru. The two are later used to bait in the Predator which is successful. The Predator picks off the French men one by one and Taabe reveals to Naru that he was only able to kill the lion because she had wounded it earlier. Taabe now believes that Naru was the creature’s true target as she proved herself to it as a capable warrior having watched her train. They escape and Naru goes off to rescue a captured Sarii from another group of French voyageurs.

She’s reunited with Adolini who now has a cut off leg after being caught in a trap. Naru trades Adolini medicine for his leg in exchange for his flintlock pistol which he teaches her how to use. The Predator arrives and Adolini plays dead, but he fails the Predator testing if he’s alive or not and it kills him. Taabe on horseback works with Naru to several wound the Predator, but Taabe is also killed in the attack. Later that night Naru finds the French leader of the voyageurs and uses him to bait in the Predator. Using herbs to hide her body heat she uses the French man’s killing as a distraction and knocks the Predator’s projectile target mask off. Naru steals the mask and hides in the woods leading the Predator into a mud-filled bog pit she had fell into while training before. Naru successfully tricks the Predator into falling in the lit and uses it’s own mask to kill it. She returns to the village as the only surviving warrior and is made the new War Chief. Hide paintings show Naru’s journey as War Chief including the arrival of three additional Predator ships. 

Before the discussing the main points of the film let me just say that if you’re a long-time Predator fan you’re probably gonna love this movie. There’s a ton of easter eggs director Dan Trachtenberg & writer Patrick Aison were careful to an almost obsessive level to ensure that nearly every aspect of Prey fit into the franchise while very much giving Prey it’s own identity. The attention to detail and connecting of threads is so deep that it’s even revealed that Naru’s flintlock pistol is the very same weapon given to Predator 2’s Mike Harrigan at the end of that film. Eagle eyed viewers who are savvy to the tie-in media will even find a few surprises as well. 

Setting up the Predator against warriors of the past is an interesting and entertaining choice. Trachtenberg apparently did a ton of due diligence to ensure the film was not only accurate to the franchise but indigenous people & also the time period depicted within the film as well. I respect the hell out of him for going out of his way to cast all the Comanche characters as indigenous actors and his level of attention to detail for accuracy was insanely impressive in pretty much every aspect of the film’s world and story building. The action sequences are some fun intense moments and it never sacrifices the importance of it’s character development & world building for the sake of being a simple popcorn flick. Which admittedly is what the Predator franchise felt like it was becoming especially after linking up with Alien. There’s so much potential for this franchise to be layered beyond a simplistic action thriller and Prey really shows it’s weight for that.

THE BAD: Some of the CGI is noticeably bad especially for scenes involving animals. Like because so much of the movie is so good the CGI almost stands out in a negative light because of this. 

OVERALL THOUGHTS: There’s big plans for the Predator franchise under the leadership of Disney. If Prey is the first step in that then they need to take every step necessary to ensure that this isn’t a one-hit wonder. Honestly, this film will be hard to top, but for now I think I’ll put my faith in Disney to unleash the film’s utmost potential properly especially if the same minds behind Prey get their hands on future installments. Otaku Dome gives Prey a 90 out of 100.