“Prey,” a prequel to the “Predator” series, stands as proof that today’s Hollywood can make a socially conscious film out of anything. I apologize in advance to fans of this violent franchise when I say that over the past 35 years, it would be hard to find a breed of action and sci-fi movie more frivolous or decadent than the Predator movies. The original Predator, directed by John McTiernan in 1987 (a year before he did Die Hard), was what are we going to do with Arnold this time? The old Schwarzenegger combat counter from the ’80s, in its hyper and grotesque way, was reasonably well-made. The first version, released in 1990, was digging, but you can already grasp the rationale for the CEOs. They thought they had grabbed the “next alien” by its tail.
Sorry, but the predator wasn’t an alien. He was a monster with almost one trick – a semi-invisible cloak – and a half-scary, half-silly character look, like a RoboCop with an Alien face and Whoopi Goldberg braids. You can gauge how innovative (or not) this franchise is simply by listing its titles: “Predator,” “Predator 2,” “Predator,” and “Predator.” And I didn’t even mention Spesoff’s Freddy vs. that it An exaggerated sequel, “Aliens vs.
Now, in a recycling you might think of as Hollywood manure, the Predator is back – in a film set in the Comanche Nation in 1719, where Naru (Amber Midthunder), a flamboyant young woman to prove herself as a hunter, stands up to the male leaders of the Her tribe in order to rid the Great Northern Plains of a malicious visitor from the other world.
The cast in “Prey” is made up almost entirely of Native and First Nation’s talent, which is a step forward in the choice of Aboriginal people. Visually, the film is of vibrant green forests, mountain vistas, and sunlit meadows. For a while we’ve been watching a Disney historical tale about a warrior coming of age, like Naru, in her face painted black eye mask and fringed suede, training herself how to rock a crossbow and throw a tomahawk. She has a rival relationship with her brother, Taabe (Dakota Bevers), which takes place over the course of the film. “Why do you want to hunt?” He asks Naru’s mother. “Because you all think I can’t!” The answer to girl power comes in the eighteenth century. But when Naru, who sometimes suggests Cherokee warrior Nanye-hi as played by Olivia Rodrigo, looks up to see a fiery spacecraft, it’s clear that she’ll need all her training and more.
There isn’t much mystery left for the Predator, which has been revealed numerous times. But “Prey”, in an attempt to introduce the creature to a new generation (in this generation played by Dane DiLiegro), goes through the game of dealing with a semi-stealth as a kind of nudity. In the pristine wilderness of ‘prey’, it now looks like a covered version of Bigfoot. Once again, we’re trying to make sense of its translucent camouflage that transforms it into shiny honeycomb glass, with metallic fingers that shoot out like Freddy Krueger’s claws. But it would be boring to have it hidden in the whole movie, so gradually the predator becomes visible – which is always a bit underwhelming, as we come to see how anthropomorphic it is. In this photo, he not only has a metal apron, but a ripped belly that looks like he’s come out of his men’s fitness cap. We may now also ask: Is the fact that this devil has braids… some kind of racism?
Ripping and slashing, first for animals and then for humans, they arrive straight away, which is brutal enough to earn the movie an R-rated. As a space attack thriller, “Prey” is competent and well paced, although it doesn’t surprise too much. But Naru’s journey gives it a semblance of emotional cohesion that most “Predator” films lack. She is the first to discover that her wildlife is being tracked by something else; This is a grizzly-bear-eating-dog-eating-rabbit movie in which the predator sits at the top of the food chain. And beneath her innocent surface, Naru proves not only the tribe’s biggest badass but the only one who is aware of danger.
It’s a famous Hollywood quote, attributed to both Samuel Goldwyn and Jack Warner, that “If you want to send a message, use Western Union.” This line is a testament to the vulgarity of old studio lords (a lot of great movies have letters), yet there is some stubborn truth to it. And when you watch the movie “Prey,” a routine if kettle water visible monsters in the atmosphere have been turned into a legend of “moral” inspiration, you realize how common it is to send a telegram movie these days. By the time Naru stands in front of the Predator in a pincer fight, covering himself in the creature’s green phosphorous blood, it’s clear that even “Predator” can now be modeled as a lesson in how to be. But perhaps, in the case of this franchise, it marks a slight improvement over the films that never wanted to be anything but what came before.
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