Prey (2022)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Dread Beginnings

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

I'm not a huge fan of the original Predator, which strikes me as more of a brainless action vehicle for its star than a good monster movie. Unlike most everyone, I prefer its first sequel, from 1990, with Danny Glover, the 2010 multi-monster Predators, and even Shane Black's much-hated, subversive The Predator, from 2018. (Let's not even talk about the dismal Alien vs. Predator films.) So I finally get to be on the same page with everyone with Prey, a new sequel with a really good idea, and, unlike the original, a great character.

It begins 300 years ago, among a Comanche tribe. Taabe (Dakota Beavers) is the tribe's star hunter, but his sister, Naru (an amazing Amber Midthunder) wants to hunt as well, and has more than enough skill to do so. She's the only one that notices something's amiss in the woods, so she grabs her dog and heads out to find out what's up. She's alone on screen with only the dog, some wild animals, and our old dreadlocked friend — with its familiar, terrifying clicking sounds — for a long time, and director Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane) gives her plenty to do. It's exhilarating to see her fearlessly meeting challenges, constantly shifting to be able to keep up with her lethal foe. (One sequence involving a bear is particularly striking.)

Trachtenberg, who co-wrote the story with screenwriter Patrick Aison, plays with relevant themes, bringing in a crew of white trappers, and, fascinatingly, has them speaking unsubtitled French while our Comanches speak English, making the white interlopers the "other." One quibble is the smeary-looking digital FX, which lessens the impact of the most powerful action scenes, but otherwise, Prey works largely because of humans that we care about.