Director: Dan Trachetenberg
Cast: Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Michelle Thrush, Dane DiLegro
Have I Seen it Before: Na. Glancing at the archives of reviews on the site, I was surprised to the point of mystification to learn that I’ve not only seen the net most recent The Predator (2018) and wrote a whole-ass review of it. I have almost entirely no memory of the film.
Did I Like It: Any cursory glance at Film Twitter over the past couple of weeks will treat the reader to literally anyone’s ranking of the Predator series, usually putting the original Predator (1987) as number one, this film as number two, and the various Alien vs. Predator films and the aforementioned The Predator picking up the rear. Occasionally a non-conformist will pull Predator 2 (1990) as the leader of the pack.
Here’s the thing: Every last one of these lists has been dead wrong. Not only is Prey the best movie to feature a Predator since the original. It is the best film of the entire series. It is one of the best science fiction movies since the year 2000, and that’s with the knowledge there have been some absolute gems in the 21st century with which this film would have to compete.
I had half a mind to re-watch the series after catching up with this film, but now I think I’m content to leave the others dim in my memory and the entire series as one superlative film. No mythos, or at least, any mythos was so embedded that it didn’t distract from the film. Just action and character and almost entirely believable (minus an occasional bear, which can certainly be forgiven) special effects.
Some might (and, honestly, have) complained about a seemingly primitive girl with no training taking on an alien whose entire culture ensures he is a nearly perfect killing machine. To those people I say: fuck you. Naru could kick your ass too, and any struggle she had on her quest to fell the Yautja only made for a more interesting movie.