There are a lot of reviews here defending this film, calling it the "Second best Predator film!" in the franchise, and throwing around a lot of buzzwords for anyone who doesn't like the film. There are also an incalculable amount of individuals defending the main character, Naru, saying she relied on her wits and tactics to win fights, and that's what makes her believable. That's only partially true.
See, Naru literally has the strength of three men (if you watch the film you'll know what I mean). Can survive physical traumas no other character in the Predator franchise was able to survive, and can move as fast as a small sedan. She does use some tactics, but most of all her feats are of the physical variety, and literally in the realm of being a super human the likes of which would make Captain America jealous.
Without spoiling anything, it's simply that Naru survives things she shouldn't survive, and can do things multiple times outside her weight class to the point where the suspension of disbelief is not only shattered but grounded into dust and scattered among the four corners of the wind. For everyone who defends Naru as a character, just ask them some simple questions: how did she recover so quickly? How did she manage to out-power men? And why was she able to survive things nothing else in the film could survive?
The responses will be a smattering of equivocation and justifications that don't hold up under scrutiny, and that's where this film's biggest problem comes in: it doesn't hold up under scrutiny.
Another big problem is that no one seems to be properly afraid of the Predator, even during an era where superstitions were mightily high. Naru shows no fear of anything, even in many life-threatening situations, which seems completely opposite of someone her age. I'm sure someone will justify why, but I would instead point out that this just pulls you out of the film as being nonsensical and unrealistic. Why does this teenage girl have a deathwish and fears nothing? Constantly trying to engage in situations where things are purposely trying to kill her?
A good counterbalance to Naru is the daughter from Shawn Linden's film Hunter Hunter. I didn't like the second half of that film but the first half was brilliant. Why? Because it was grounded, realistic, and intriguing. Also, it was completely believable that the daughter was that good a hunter; we saw how she trained with her father, in a realistic manner. We saw that even with all her training since a small child, she was still prone to mistakes, and how the fight/flight/freeze mechanism came into play when her wits and abilities were put to the test. That's how you pull the audience in and keep them rooting for the character; when they're grounded in realism.
The problem here is that Prey is rife with anachronisms from the modern era. How Naru behaves, how she talks back to everyone, and even how she's depicted in never being afraid of anything (although, to that end, almost no one in the film seems to properly show a realistic kind of fear given their circumstances).
The anachronisms combined with the super-human abilities just takes away from the film, and that's a real shame because if this film was grounded in realism, it actually WOULD be the second best Predator film. Why? Because it's filmed quite well; Trachtenberg knows his way around a lens, and he makes Canada actually look like a pristine northern forest from 18th century North America. Lots of fantastic wide-angle shots and great color composition help give the film a nice, authentic look. Sound design is absolutely on-point, and the score isn't over-done or too nostalgic.
Unfortunately, the film is plagued by too many problems. They should have committed to having the Comanche speaking Comanche throughout the film (as this would have brought the film to another level of quality and authenticity, much like Mel Gibson's Apocalyptico), they should not have had modern-day behaviors that seem mirrored after social media expectations of characterizations, and they should have given Naru realistic feats appropriate for her age, height, and weight, as that would have done wonders.
For me, I was willing to give this film a shot, but the more I watched, and the more I thought about it after watching, the lower the score became. It's essentially a good film marred by its own undoing. A lead character who is depicted as always being right (even the film manages to retroactively throw that in as it progresses), and having her depicted as having super-human abilities, while outmatched and out-manned, just took me completely out of the film. Also in the original Predator, Arnold's character Dutch did ZERO damage to the Predator in their hand-to-hand fight, and Dutch was at the brink of death in just a few hits from his over-sized foe. And none of Dutch's traps worked against the Predator save for a contingency trap that he used after another trap failed. Keep that in mind when watching the final showdown in Prey.
See, Naru literally has the strength of three men (if you watch the film you'll know what I mean). Can survive physical traumas no other character in the Predator franchise was able to survive, and can move as fast as a small sedan. She does use some tactics, but most of all her feats are of the physical variety, and literally in the realm of being a super human the likes of which would make Captain America jealous.
Without spoiling anything, it's simply that Naru survives things she shouldn't survive, and can do things multiple times outside her weight class to the point where the suspension of disbelief is not only shattered but grounded into dust and scattered among the four corners of the wind. For everyone who defends Naru as a character, just ask them some simple questions: how did she recover so quickly? How did she manage to out-power men? And why was she able to survive things nothing else in the film could survive?
The responses will be a smattering of equivocation and justifications that don't hold up under scrutiny, and that's where this film's biggest problem comes in: it doesn't hold up under scrutiny.
Another big problem is that no one seems to be properly afraid of the Predator, even during an era where superstitions were mightily high. Naru shows no fear of anything, even in many life-threatening situations, which seems completely opposite of someone her age. I'm sure someone will justify why, but I would instead point out that this just pulls you out of the film as being nonsensical and unrealistic. Why does this teenage girl have a deathwish and fears nothing? Constantly trying to engage in situations where things are purposely trying to kill her?
A good counterbalance to Naru is the daughter from Shawn Linden's film Hunter Hunter. I didn't like the second half of that film but the first half was brilliant. Why? Because it was grounded, realistic, and intriguing. Also, it was completely believable that the daughter was that good a hunter; we saw how she trained with her father, in a realistic manner. We saw that even with all her training since a small child, she was still prone to mistakes, and how the fight/flight/freeze mechanism came into play when her wits and abilities were put to the test. That's how you pull the audience in and keep them rooting for the character; when they're grounded in realism.
The problem here is that Prey is rife with anachronisms from the modern era. How Naru behaves, how she talks back to everyone, and even how she's depicted in never being afraid of anything (although, to that end, almost no one in the film seems to properly show a realistic kind of fear given their circumstances).
The anachronisms combined with the super-human abilities just takes away from the film, and that's a real shame because if this film was grounded in realism, it actually WOULD be the second best Predator film. Why? Because it's filmed quite well; Trachtenberg knows his way around a lens, and he makes Canada actually look like a pristine northern forest from 18th century North America. Lots of fantastic wide-angle shots and great color composition help give the film a nice, authentic look. Sound design is absolutely on-point, and the score isn't over-done or too nostalgic.
Unfortunately, the film is plagued by too many problems. They should have committed to having the Comanche speaking Comanche throughout the film (as this would have brought the film to another level of quality and authenticity, much like Mel Gibson's Apocalyptico), they should not have had modern-day behaviors that seem mirrored after social media expectations of characterizations, and they should have given Naru realistic feats appropriate for her age, height, and weight, as that would have done wonders.
For me, I was willing to give this film a shot, but the more I watched, and the more I thought about it after watching, the lower the score became. It's essentially a good film marred by its own undoing. A lead character who is depicted as always being right (even the film manages to retroactively throw that in as it progresses), and having her depicted as having super-human abilities, while outmatched and out-manned, just took me completely out of the film. Also in the original Predator, Arnold's character Dutch did ZERO damage to the Predator in their hand-to-hand fight, and Dutch was at the brink of death in just a few hits from his over-sized foe. And none of Dutch's traps worked against the Predator save for a contingency trap that he used after another trap failed. Keep that in mind when watching the final showdown in Prey.