Prey (2022)

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Dogfish
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Holy shit you guys somebody made another good Predator movie!

It's been so long since that happened I didn't really know what to think, but they did it.

I don't think it has the impact, or the moments, of the original movie. There whole obliteration of the jungle scene isn't going to be bettered on the sort of budget these folks were working with, but it's vastly superior to the other drek that has appeared in the franchise.

What I most enjoyed about it, without getting into spoilers, is how it feels like a love letter to Billy from the first movie. I always felt like the first movie did him a bit dirty. It feels like maybe this movie sets the scene for why when the Predator confronts Billy in the original movie, it realises he's native American and is like, "Yeah, better keep my invisibility on, don't want to end up like great, great, great, great, grandpa ScaryFace."

Mostly though it's a beautifully shot monster movie. Probably the best attempt made in twenty years to return to or reboot the great sci fi horror classics of the 1980s (which to be honest, there's not very strong competition there).
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Mr. X
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I saw clips on youtube. Someone strung all the fight scenes into one clip.
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The girl didn't appear Mary Sue to me. Mostly relied on stealth and being a zippy little squirrel. She actually does something clever to kill the Predator.
Most of the fights are good and scaled good but seemed like a cha cha cha dance. Constant violence with no break or pacing.

One thing about the predator is he didn't strike me as a hunter, more like a Jason serial killer just killing everything.

Overall it looks good.
Dogfish
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Spoiler hat time...
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I know where the Mary Sue stuff came from, it's inevitable at this stage that the reactionary film critic industry would see a woman in a movie and chimp out about it. I agree though she's exactly what her character ought to be.

It's a classic Predator movie, in that the protagonist spends literally the entire movie learning what they are up against and then defeating it.

What makes Prey such a clever twist on this of course is that in Predator, Dutch abandons technology in order to get the drop on the Predator, Naru embraces it. She adds a cord to her tomahawk so it can return to her hand, she learns how to fire the musket, lastly she turns the Predator's own weapon against it.

The Predator is interesting in it too. I feel like maybe he's the first one on Earth, or the first one there. He fights all sorts of animals seeing who or what is worth taking a skull from. He studies the humans and identifies that they have weapons, and then begins to kill them as well.

One highlight for me is that Naru's brother properly shitkicks the Predator as well. When it goes invisible on him he shouts "CHEATER" in Cherokee (it really should be subtitled tbh it's a key line). He's not the first character in a Predator movie to kick the shit out of one single handed, the Yakuza dude in Predators did too, and it was so cool. Like I said in the earlier post, I like to think that's why two hundred plus years later the 1980s Predator sees Billy on the bridge and nopes out.
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Mr. X
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Spoiler
One highlight for me is that Naru's brother properly shitkicks the Predator as well. When it goes invisible on him he shouts "CHEATER" in Cherokee (it really should be subtitled tbh it's a key line). He's not the first character in a Predator movie to kick the shit out of one single handed, the Yakuza dude in Predators did too, and it was so cool. Like I said in the earlier post, I like to think that's why two hundred plus years later the 1980s Predator sees Billy on the bridge and nopes out.
Yeah I liked how he would shoot an arrow into the predator then pull it out and shoot and pull it out. Plus the dodging on the horse. And the girl is pretty much using stealth, small size and quickness being a little squirrel.
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Yeah, it's classic Predator stuff. The Predators are big and bulky, they're not light on their feet or particularly agile. Dutch can't fight the alien man to man in the first movie, he gets slapped around, and he's too big himself to duck and weave.

But these lads aren't. Dancing around it and taking stabs at it, which is the classic native American strategy (they had a thing called Counting Coup where you hit an enemy in battle without harming them just to troll them).

Duck and move all day long. Until the cheating bastard goes invisible.

It's how even the sort of standard expendable native hunters put a serious hurt on the Predator. That was also cool, the movie didn't serve them up, they died on their feet. Which demonstrated that, while they didn't duck and move quite fast enough, that was the approach to go with.

The more I think on this movie the more coherent it feels and the better it gets. Been so long since I've seen such a rock solid bit of scifi horror.
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I got the Impression the Predator was ALSO supposed to be a youngin' with something to 'prove'. I took his antics to be something between what we ordinary see from a Predator with a side of impetuousness and a power complex.

It's the first Predator movie since the original to bring anything to the table. The original was a mild parody/love letter to old action flicks that slowly transformed into a Horror film. They were never gonna be able to 'recapture' that... and I admit that my only complaint about the film is something they never really had a shot at succeeding with anyway. That complaint being that if I had MY say in it, we wouldn't have ANY idea this was a Predator Movie until the bear scene... like I'd leave audiences thinking this was a different movie, just a young Comanche woman trying to be a hunter against the grain... maybe play up that people are worried this BEAR has gone rogue or and murderous (could even actually make the bear have acquired a taste for blood as they sometimes do to further sell the misdirect and then SUPRISE!!!! It's a predator movie folks!

But you can't do that these days... can't get the producers to sign off on that without the ability to ADVERTISE it as a Predator movie... and thus trying to hide that it is in the first half of the film would have been an academic endevor at best so I can't bring it in me to mark it down any points that it couldn't be that perfect iteration of itself that it ought to be.

What I like is that it takes the one half of the originals formula that is great, the actual 'hunt', and then brings something new to the table and really has a bit to say about the nature of the Predator/Prey relationship.

To properly catch a problematic Predator for the safety of the territory... the best shot is to pose as its prey... and when you choose to hunt 'The Most Dangerous Game' you leave yourself open to becoming the hunted.

Good shit!
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RedMountain
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Just really wish it had been released in theatres, kind of sucks to finally get a decent Predator film after all these years(as a fan of the originals plus all the Dark Horse stuff and AVP comics, etc.) and not be able to see it on the big screen.

Also a few have mentioned the overwhelming violence, but that has been fairly common in the Predator books and comics unless it's an organized hunt with more senior leaders there to control the young.
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My hunch is that it might be the first Predator on Earth. Is this a culture that sends a team or scientists, or a scrappy youngster with instructions to 'let us know if its worth going back there sometime'.

It's a shame that the movie didn't get a cinema release right now, but I suspect it might get a run later. It's going to have lifelong fans, it's going to have an audience because it's a Predator movie and because fans of the Predator movie (who are still fairly numerous) will probably come out to watch a legitimately solid entry in the series.

Also I imagine most Predator fans were too young to see the original Predator in a cinema either. Give them both a limited release for Halloween. Back to back with a break in the middle they'd come in under four hours, that's a good night out.

If that Morbius effort can get a re-release just on the strength of the 'It's Morbin' Time' meme Prey should be able to get a shot.
Damselbinder

Dogfish wrote:
1 year ago


If that Morbius effort can get a re-release just on the strength of the 'It's Morbin' Time' meme Prey should be able to get a shot.
Indeed; although no-one went to see the Morbius re-release. Which just made it even funnier.
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Damselbinder wrote:
1 year ago
Dogfish wrote:
1 year ago


If that Morbius effort can get a re-release just on the strength of the 'It's Morbin' Time' meme Prey should be able to get a shot.
Indeed; although no-one went to see the Morbius re-release. Which just made it even funnier.
More-BS
Damselbinder

Mr. X wrote:
1 year ago
Damselbinder wrote:
1 year ago
Dogfish wrote:
1 year ago


If that Morbius effort can get a re-release just on the strength of the 'It's Morbin' Time' meme Prey should be able to get a shot.
Indeed; although no-one went to see the Morbius re-release. Which just made it even funnier.
More-BS
X, you and I don't get along. But you know what?

That gave me a chuckle.
Dogfish
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If people can't put aside their differences to laugh at Morbius what have we become?
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RedMountain
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Dogfish wrote:
1 year ago
My hunch is that it might be the first Predator on Earth. Is this a culture that sends a team or scientists, or a scrappy youngster with instructions to 'let us know if its worth going back there sometime'.

It's a shame that the movie didn't get a cinema release right now, but I suspect it might get a run later. It's going to have lifelong fans, it's going to have an audience because it's a Predator movie and because fans of the Predator movie (who are still fairly numerous) will probably come out to watch a legitimately solid entry in the series.

Also I imagine most Predator fans were too young to see the original Predator in a cinema either. Give them both a limited release for Halloween. Back to back with a break in the middle they'd come in under four hours, that's a good night out.

If that Morbius effort can get a re-release just on the strength of the 'It's Morbin' Time' meme Prey should be able to get a shot.
From what I recall of the books(mostly) and comics, they will usually send a scout team out first to check the planet for inhabitants and worthy prey before they organize a hunt. Only the most senior/blooded and most respected hunters are able to go on their own solo hunts. It could be with this he was one of the more veteran hunters which is why they were allowed to go on their own, where as in Predator 2 there were actually multiple hunters waiting in the ship below the city. In a lot of the books they would scout out seed planets for Xenomorphs/ALIENS and usually use the local wildlife to breed a few before sending the younger ones down in packs to hunt and earn being blooded which came with access to higher level equipment and more prestigious hunt parties. Most of their seeding ships kept an Alien queen on board and then they would send down a few eggs to impregnate the local wildlife. They did their best to clean it up after the fact and would keep using the same uninhabited planets for decades for their training hunts. Humans due to their tech/guns and Xenomorphs due to just being incredibly dangerous were seen as their most perfect prey.

There's actually a very cool book series where the survivor of a human colony that gets stuck in the middle of a hunt works together with a veteran Predator, gets blooded, and then later gets picked up by the Predator rescue team that comes to the planet to clean up the aftermath. She winds up going with them and gets integrated into their society and is allowed to go on hunts with them and it's an interesting look at some of their culture. She later abandons a hunt party when she gets left behind on the ship and finds out they are hunting humans, sabotages the ship and then helps survivors from the human colony escape. It was a 3-book series and they copied a lot of stuff from the 1st book for the terrible AVP movie with Lex getting blooded/marked by the Predator she was helping in the movie. The books were much better of course, lol.
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Actress is 25, so I assume it's OK to mention that there is lots of peril in this for the main character.
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She's tied to a tree. Roughed up and fought against by her tribesmen (even very close to being dragged by her hair, in classic caveman style). Gets trapped in quicksand. Locked up in a cage. Running for her life. Tossed around and physically menaced by the Predator. Trapped in a tree by a mountain lion. Clawed at by a bear. And she's certainly pleasant enough to look at. I understand that she is half-Sioux but she has a very European-model look.
Plus, "Amber Midthunder" is a great name. Now that she's established as an action starlet, maybe there will be some superheroine work for her in the future.

Overall, a decent watch. Certainly the environment and time period is a novel idea for this franchise, but didn't the original movie also feature a hunt in a forest? (Correct me if I'm wrong - it's been quite a long time). The dog is cute, and a nice touch (animal companions always pep up the screen - see last year's incredibly underrated 'Love and Monsters'). And no, the character is technically not a Mary Sue, but she is awfully good at every single thing she does, even if she does make some mistakes along the way. Maybe "Renaissance Woman" is a good description, instead?

In fact, probably the most "PC" thing about the movie, if there's something to be mentioned, is the idea that they filmed another version entirely in a language spoken fluently by only 100 people. But that's also very lingustically nerdy. I enjoyed seeing the subtitles, and read a bit about Comanche (all I knew previously is that it was part of the Uto-Atzecan family) after watching the film. It's nice to learn something.
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Mr. X
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Terminator vs Predator. Good match up?

Guess we'd have to make a distinction between a T800 and the T1000
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Mr. X wrote:
1 year ago
Terminator vs Predator. Good match up?

Guess we'd have to make a distinction between a T800 and the T1000
OK, T 800 vs Predator. The T 1000 is later than the T800. But could the T 1000 stand up to the Postdator? :lol:
Dogfish
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Predator got killed by a native hunter gatherer, Terminator gets killed by a waitress. Neither of them that great tbh. Then again the xenomorph kept getting beaten by a space trucker.
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RedMountain wrote:
1 year ago
Dogfish wrote:
1 year ago
My hunch is that it might be the first Predator on Earth. Is this a culture that sends a team or scientists, or a scrappy youngster with instructions to 'let us know if its worth going back there sometime'.

It's a shame that the movie didn't get a cinema release right now, but I suspect it might get a run later. It's going to have lifelong fans, it's going to have an audience because it's a Predator movie and because fans of the Predator movie (who are still fairly numerous) will probably come out to watch a legitimately solid entry in the series.

Also I imagine most Predator fans were too young to see the original Predator in a cinema either. Give them both a limited release for Halloween. Back to back with a break in the middle they'd come in under four hours, that's a good night out.

If that Morbius effort can get a re-release just on the strength of the 'It's Morbin' Time' meme Prey should be able to get a shot.
From what I recall of the books(mostly) and comics, they will usually send a scout team out first to check the planet for inhabitants and worthy prey before they organize a hunt. Only the most senior/blooded and most respected hunters are able to go on their own solo hunts. It could be with this he was one of the more veteran hunters which is why they were allowed to go on their own, where as in Predator 2 there were actually multiple hunters waiting in the ship below the city. In a lot of the books they would scout out seed planets for Xenomorphs/ALIENS and usually use the local wildlife to breed a few before sending the younger ones down in packs to hunt and earn being blooded which came with access to higher level equipment and more prestigious hunt parties. Most of their seeding ships kept an Alien queen on board and then they would send down a few eggs to impregnate the local wildlife. They did their best to clean it up after the fact and would keep using the same uninhabited planets for decades for their training hunts. Humans due to their tech/guns and Xenomorphs due to just being incredibly dangerous were seen as their most perfect prey.

There's actually a very cool book series where the survivor of a human colony that gets stuck in the middle of a hunt works together with a veteran Predator, gets blooded, and then later gets picked up by the Predator rescue team that comes to the planet to clean up the aftermath. She winds up going with them and gets integrated into their society and is allowed to go on hunts with them and it's an interesting look at some of their culture. She later abandons a hunt party when she gets left behind on the ship and finds out they are hunting humans, sabotages the ship and then helps survivors from the human colony escape. It was a 3-book series and they copied a lot of stuff from the 1st book for the terrible AVP movie with Lex getting blooded/marked by the Predator she was helping in the movie. The books were much better of course, lol.
The crossovers with the Alien franchise never sat right with me. It's competing strains of cosmic horror and they don't play well together.

The Alien is what you get when humanity ventures too far into the void, it is the monster that dwells in an uncaring universe.

The Predator is what you get when your planet is innocent, clueless to what surrounds, to the extent that as far as one species of aliens is concerned it is nothing more than a tourist trap.

Predator suggests a thriving universe of many species, Aliens suggest maybe keeping everything else at arms length. Although it does specifically imply quite often that other alien species do exist.
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Dogfish wrote:
1 year ago

The crossovers with the Alien franchise never sat right with me. It's competing strains of cosmic horror and they don't play well together.

The Alien is what you get when humanity ventures too far into the void, it is the monster that dwells in an uncaring universe.

The Predator is what you get when your planet is innocent, clueless to what surrounds, to the extent that as far as one species of aliens is concerned it is nothing more than a tourist trap.

Predator suggests a thriving universe of many species, Aliens suggest maybe keeping everything else at arms length. Although it does specifically imply quite often that other alien species do exist.
Yes Alien to me is what happens when you take an incredibly invasive species out of its hostile environment. Basically space wasps. The new stuff ruined it by making these things the product of an android mad scientist.
Damselbinder

Mr. X wrote:
1 year ago
Dogfish wrote:
1 year ago

The crossovers with the Alien franchise never sat right with me. It's competing strains of cosmic horror and they don't play well together.

The Alien is what you get when humanity ventures too far into the void, it is the monster that dwells in an uncaring universe.

The Predator is what you get when your planet is innocent, clueless to what surrounds, to the extent that as far as one species of aliens is concerned it is nothing more than a tourist trap.

Predator suggests a thriving universe of many species, Aliens suggest maybe keeping everything else at arms length. Although it does specifically imply quite often that other alien species do exist.
Yes Alien to me is what happens when you take an incredibly invasive species out of its hostile environment. Basically space wasps. The new stuff ruined it by making these things the product of an android mad scientist.
I think it is conceivable that you could have done a good story with the Aliens as the product of mad science. I largely agree with you that they're scarier as just "a hostile organism that just springs out of nowhere and is scary af because space is big and full of scary shit" - but you COULD have done something decent.

Did they do something decent?

No. No they didn't.
Dogfish
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I never understood the fixation on Aliens as bioweapons, which is another recurring theme to the point they were retconned into being them. It's mentioned a lot in Aliens in particular and yet there is no rational explanation given for what it is about the Alien that gives it appeal in that direction.

For thousands of years if humans meet a dangerous animal the wipe it out. It's primeval, and only somewhat mitigated by a later instinct to preserve.

Makes far more sense that having discovered the xenomorphs humanity would go all Starship Troopers on them.

I mean you've got a society capable of building combat androids, what's the alien even going to be for? Seems bizarre.
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Dogfish wrote:
1 year ago
I never understood the fixation on Aliens as bioweapons, which is another recurring theme to the point they were retconned into being them. It's mentioned a lot in Aliens in particular and yet there is no rational explanation given for what it is about the Alien that gives it appeal in that direction.

For thousands of years if humans meet a dangerous animal the wipe it out. It's primeval, and only somewhat mitigated by a later instinct to preserve.

Makes far more sense that having discovered the xenomorphs humanity would go all Starship Troopers on them.

I mean you've got a society capable of building combat androids, what's the alien even going to be for? Seems bizarre.
They always do the "it must be a weapon, it can't be something else". I'm sure a tiger in a world of Care Bears would be considered a bio weapon.

Also yes if they can build super strong androids why not battle androids that are just dumb, obedient things. I never understood why the units were so strong for what they were for.

Then again it could be a monkey's claw bio weapon which I think one of the games eluded to that some species finds it and in its efforts to weaponize the organism it wipes them out.

Someone else suggested they were like shock in a fish tank.
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I would love to see a Predator TV series which is a series of prequels where the Predators land on Earth in multiple time periods over a long stretch of pre-history and history, and eventually it builds up to a story from current year. Maybe we even see the battles from both sides, and get to identify with the various Predators involved as well as their Prey.

This idea was kicked off by seeing something in my Twitter feed about a suggestion to place the Predator in the Viking age (kind of Predator meets Northman), but here is a progression of how the saga could go:

- Predator lands in ancient Egypt. Fights the first large gathered armies and the first use of iron and chariots. Maybe he even gets plopped right in the middle of the battle of Kadesh (as seen previously in 'Exodus: Gods and Kings') and the Hittites and the Egyptians stop fighting to team up against the Predator.
-Predator lands in ancient Greece. The hoplites, the phalanx, the armor, this is Sparta, etc. Athens and Sparta stop fighting to team up against him.
-Predator lands in ancient Rome. The Romans and the Germans stop fighting the battle of Teutoburg (as seen in 'Barbarians') to team up against him.
-Predator lands in ancient China. The Chinese and the Mongols stop fighting at the northern border to team up against him.
-Predator lands in medieval North Africa. The Muslims and the Berbers (led by Kahina) stop fighting to team up against him.
-Predator lands in Tenochtitlan or Cuzco. The Spaniards and the Aztecs (or Incas) stop fighting to team up against him.
-Predator lands in early 19th century South Africa. Shaka Zulu's army and the Ndwandwe stop fighting to team up against him. Maybe we throw in the Dahomey Amazons that the Dora Milaje were based on.
-Predator lands at the Battle of the Bulge. The Allies and the Germans stop fighting to team up against him. It's gonna look a bit like that first Wonder Woman movie.

You wanted diversity? You got it. And in every case, except for ancient Egyptian, there are a lot more than 100 people who can understand each episode in its various native tongues.
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Roanoke - explains how the settlement perished.
Maybe an antarctic expedition in the 1800s.
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And maybe have the Predator coming out on top occasionally, like how it ends in horror stories. That ought to make it less predictable.
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