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 (081822)
There’s an obvious lack of creative necessity to Hollywood’s overwhelming churn
of prequels, sequels, remakes, reboots and revisions, more so by the minute, as
studio-owned streaming services plunder back catalogues for more ways they can
exploit known properties. Upcoming TV shows based on Fatal Attraction, Alien,
Grease, Mr and Mrs Smith, The Lord of the Rings and Reality Bites and films
based on The Killer, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Crow, White Men
Can’t Jump, Road House, Scarface and The Bodyguard are all so commercially
inevitable that it’s almost hard to be angry, each new announcement deserving
little more than a resigned shrug. It’s business, not pleasure.
So on the rare occasion that this practice offers up something that feels even
mildly outside of the algorithm, as if perhaps maybe a human might have come up
with it rather than a spreadsheet, it’s hard not to give it more credit than it
often deserves. Fox, AKA Disney, AKA Hulu, AKA Disney+ in international territories
has dragged the Predator series back to life once again for a seventh outing
(two Predators, two Alien vs Predators, a Predators and a The Predator make six)
but rather than continuing down the same well-trodden road, they’ve taken a left
turn and then gone back around 300 years.
For the neatly titled Prey, the
10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg
(who knows a thing or two about finding a smart way into a sci-fi franchise)
places us in the year 1719 and in the Comanche Nation. A young woman Naru (Amber
Midthunder) continues to try, and fail, to impress those around with her skills
as a warrior, talked down to and belittled by the men who refuse to take her
ambition seriously. But when Naru notices a new kind of predator, one who can’t
simply be hunted as a bear or lion would, she finds a way to prove herself and
save her people.
It’s a fresh spin, surprisingly fresh, and in a belated period of increased
representation for Indigenous Americans (mostly on the small screen with
Reservation Dogs, Rutherford Falls and Dark Winds), it’s one of the biggest wins
yet. While it really shouldn’t be, it feels genuinely new to see a genre film of
this scale centered on an almost entirely Native cast (the only white characters
are odious French invaders). It’s worth applauding not because of the mere fact
of what it is and what it means but because screenwriter Patrick Aison (a TV pro
with credits including Jack Ryan and Wayward Pines), finds a way to make it all
seem perfectly seamless, the setting an inventive way to impose a new set of
restrictions on a story we’ve seen a few too many times before. The Predator’s
hi-tech armory (which seems more brutal and expansive than ever) is even more
intimidating when matched with the tribe’s limited resources. It’s an
interesting puzzle for a writer and Aison finds nifty ways to work around it,
focusing on stripped-back ingenuity rather than mere weaponry (some of Naru’s
ideas will be met with a vocal a-ha).
While it’s a treat for those at home, streaming exclusively on the small screen,
it’s a bit of a shame that something with such impressively grand vistas and
intricate, well-choreographed action won’t be seen at the cinema, yet another
recent digital premiere that feels suited for a life less ordinary. The Predator
franchise has never been a particularly complex one and has always suffered from
the inescapable comparisons to Alien but the pleasingly self-contained Prey is
made with an awareness of what simple pleasures we expect and enjoy and unlike
some of the weaker entries, there’s no muddled or misfiring attempt to add much
depth or exposition. Despite being a prequel, there’s mercifully no attempt to
delve into the mythology and origins of the Predator and no suggestion that the
world is receiving a deeper expansion anytime soon.
It works best when it’s at its most B-movie basic, it smashes through a low bar
with ease. Said smashing is done with gusto from 25-year-old Midthunder who
rises to the challenge of taking on the Predator even if her character’s ascent
from unsure warrior-in-training to top-of-the-food-chain action hero is missing
a few beats or, dare I say, a training montage. It leaves a few
how-did-she-do-that moments in the second act before a rousing finale leaves us
in no doubt of her powers.
We didn’t need a Predator prequel (or any of the sequels) but Prey is a nimble
beast, far nimbler than it could have been and while it’s not quite enough to
make us crave more from a franchise that’s already given us too much, it’s
enough to justify the journey way back.
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