REVIEW: Prey (2022)

Prey, the newest addition to the Predator franchise, has finally been released, following several horrific trailers and insurmountable fan backlash. Nothing in this dragging slog of inconsistency and nonsensical storytelling is even remotely related to a good story with narrative or logical consistency. Throughout this utter mess, nothing makes sense, nothing ties together, and everything is cobbled together in the most irresponsible and lazy manner possible. Nothing about it shows any degree of talent outside of the cinematography and other technical aspects, which are all adequate and acceptable. Anything to do with the script, the characters, or the performances is some of the worst slop to come out of Hollywood in decades. It does not help that this film was stolen near verbatim from a fan film made a few years ago and could not improve upon this fan film even with a Hollywood budget.

This abysmal toil of an experience is total and complete nonsense. A child could have made this story make more sense than the supposed industry professionals that stitched together this Frankenstein’s monster of a narrative. The sole praise that can be attributed to Prey is that the Predator is no longer hunting autism like in the reboot. Otherwise, at every single opportunity, this film crumbles at the seams, supported by no intelligent design nor competent crafting.

Prey follows Naru, a Comanche squaw who is repeatedly told she’s better than everyone else in her community at everything except hunting, so she focuses on the one thing that she’s not good at and derives her entire personality from this perceived failing. In several sequential hunts, Naru proves she is an incompetent hunter who puts herself and others in danger whenever she attempts it. Instead of recognizing this as a flaw or a failing to be overcome, she insists that these shortcomings are not her fault and is angered when people point them out to her. Ignoring all advice and rejecting any character that wants to protect her, she goes out in a one-woman war against the Predator, which is stalking the woods outside her village. Repeatedly failing upwards, making mistake after mistake unrecognized, she becomes the Predator hunting her prey to prove her worthiness to her village.

Picking the worst problem in this film is akin to determining the smelliest dung pile in a pigsty. It is a nigh-impossible endeavor, affected heavily by the priorities and experiences of the viewer. One fan may believe that the worst part of the film is the protagonist’s characterization, while another may decry the film’s woke motivations. However, the chief contender for the worst issue in Prey is easily its dialogue; in so many different ways, it’s cheap, nonsensical, and horrific — perhaps the worst seen in a film in the last decade. The characters speak in modern English, and not just normal modern English, but heavily stylized and hip modern English. Characters used slang, idioms, and contractions to a degree that would make any modern intelligent person wince at its superficial and vapid utilization. This dialogue would be cringe and disconcerting in a contemporary film but stands out far more in a period piece taking place in the early 1700s.

Not only is the English awfully mundane, but the film constantly switches between Comanche and English, giving the audience immense narrative whiplash. Many fans have expressed their wish that Prey had very minimal dialogue, all of which would be in Comanche to add a degree of authenticity to the film, which should rely primarily on its action and tension. Rather than focusing on such an interesting piece of historical accuracy, Prey flip-flops back and forth between Comanche and English with no regard for reasoning or thought. The movie needed to pick a language and stick to it rather than trying to have both in equal parts in a Native American tribe. If this abysmal dialogue had been supported with well-rounded characters, perhaps the flawed wording could be forgiven. However, every character is thoroughly unlikable and two-dimensional.

Prey

Another massive failing of Prey’s is its numerous historical inaccuracies. This includes simple stuff such as the scenery: the Comanches’ territory stretches from Colorado to Kansas, and none of the land in that area even remotely looks similar to the woods of Alberta, Canada, where this film was shot. Additionally, Naru’s companion is a modern dog. Domesticated wolves were available at the time, though extremely rare, but this dog is an extremely modern breed of canine that did not exist in the early 1700s, especially not in the wilds of the Americas. It doesn’t make any sense for a modern dog to be in this setting. Even costuming and prop usage is incredibly cheap and historically inaccurate on several occasions. Nothing about Prey says early 1700s, from its props, settings, characters, or even its dialogue.

Regarding props, the dumbest is Naru’s tomahawk, to which she attaches a string for quick returns. The strength necessary to merely get a weapon of that size back to her, let alone perfectly to her hand, is immense and far beyond the strength of this petite and undefined woman. Even with the strength necessary, it would take many years of intense training to utilize such a weapon as she does throughout the film. The day after she adds the string, she’s operating this weapon in a way that would make Jet Li jealous, like some sort of superhero. A sci-fi or fantasy explanation for this weapon would have been essential to allow her to utilize it in such a fashion. However, she is just the bestest ever. That is the only explanation provided for this asinine and impossible weapon’s effectiveness and usage. It makes no sense, just like everything else in this entire slog-fest of a film.

The tomahawk also represents a far larger issue with Prey, specifically regarding Naru’s character. She never demonstrates the strength or intelligence she needs to deal with the problems she endures throughout the film. She also does not possess the tools necessary to accomplish the mighty feats she undertakes. Early in the movie, when she does fail, she does not recognize these failures as her fault and does not take responsibility for them in order to grow and overcome them. Failure is essential for characters; otherwise, they’re just perfect and completely unrelatable to the audience. However, failure needs to be recognized by the character for an arc to begin. When Naru fails, she insists it’s not her fault and whines when other people point out her failure. She doesn’t work hard to overcome her failures and never admits her faults. She is just suddenly tremendous and can do things far beyond what any human of the era should be capable of doing. These are not signs of a good, three-dimensional character but of a Mary Sue who is handed things on a silver platter and constantly affirmed for her greatness.

Prey

Whining is Naru’s only consistent character trait. She wines to her mother, her brother, her dog, and anyone who will listen. It is near constant throughout the film, grating on the audience’s senses, making her incredibly unlikeable and off-putting. Fighting through adversity and discrimination can be a fascinating and compelling story, but not when saddled with such an incompetent and whiny protagonist who just demands people recognize her as the bestest ever despite her every action contradicting that.

Naru’s whininess and arrogance also nearly get a man killed. In a war party that she forces her way onto, she is the only one with any medical experience, and when a man is injured, she is told to take care of him. However, she complains that she is being taken out of the hunt to take care of this wounded warrior. When someone needs medical attention, the medic should stay with them; that is not a complex concept to understand. If a person is dying, someone who can save them should remain with them. This supersedes the warriors’ belief that Naru is incompetent and incapable of undergoing the hunt. She is the only person who can save this man’s life, but she doesn’t want to because she wants to be a big, strong hunter. Being willing to let a man die for pride is not a good character moment that will entice the audience to relate to a protagonist. Luckily, the warrior does survive, but she still abandons her patient because “I’m a big, strong warrior lady, and I don’t wanna be no medicine woman. I wanna hunt.” This makes her incredibly grating and unlikeable. She is just an awful character to watch throughout the film.

One of the worst scenes in Prey — one that proves that Naru is an incompetent hunter — was featured in the trailers. When Naru decides to hunt a bear alone, she makes an insane string of decisions that prove she does not have the intelligence or the skill to accomplish anything that she does in this film. Any real hunter would know to stay downwind of any wildlife, but Naru approaches upwind of the bear and does not react when she recognizes this. And instead of leaving or running when the bear catches her scent, Naru prepares to fire her bow, which will not hurt the bear at all. At this point, the bear is still primarily preoccupied with the recent kill on which it is feeding. Naru can easily escape before the bear’s attention turns to her, and she does not have the weaponry or manpower to take on a beast of this size and ferocity. Nevertheless, she stupidly decides to fire at the bear because she wants to be a hunter. When her bow snaps, the bear sees her and charges. If not for the Predator showing up to save her — as shown in the trailer — Naru would have died because of her incompetence and stupidity. Yet, she does not admit her mistake, nor does the film. Naru is treated as the bestest and smartest ever despite her constant failing and asinine decision-making.

Prey

Prey is one of the dumbest films ever created. There is no logical consistency or anything remotely relating to good and competent characters. Perhaps this movie could have been good despite its script being utter and complete nonsense if there were good characters. However, the lack of them — or anything remotely similar to a good plot — leaves it to fall apart at every opportunity, crumbling at its very seems. This is one of the most painful drudges through two hours ever to be created. This film was tantamount to torture for any audience member with a modicum of intelligence or critical thinking capabilities. Nothing highlights its problems better than the terrible dialogue, which would be cheesy by today’s standards, let alone in 1700. Prey does not deserve any praise or positivity as it falls short at every turn.

The ineptitude of this film is far more disappointing, considering it had more potential for greatness than any in this franchise since the first one. The idea of a Predator getting dropped into a random point in history, hunting that era’s greatest warriors, is fascinating and worth exploring. Imagine a Predator dropped in feudal Japan taking on samurai, or medieval Europe with a bunch of knights. Even the idea of Native Americans versus a Predator would have been a fascinating concept if put to screen competently.

However, competence and good storytelling were never the primary motivation of Prey. As stated by the lead actress, Amber Midthunder, the Predator is a “side piece of the movie because the representation is a hugely important part of this story.” If the Predator is not the priority in a Predator movie, how is it a Predator movie? Diversity and inclusion were the chief priorities of Prey and will be weaponized to cover up the laziness and incompetence that made this film possible. With such skewed motivations, Prey never had a chance to be a good story with strong, compelling characters. In classic Hollywood, this film would never have seen the light of day. However, diversity is all that matters today. As such, this will be the bestest movie ever merely because diversity and inclusion were the chief priority, as confirmed by the lead actor’s statement. The Predator is just a B plot in a Predator movie. Nothing sums up the problems of this film better than that. Prey is utter nonsense, taped together by a moron whose only motivations were wokeness and diversity. Though an interesting concept with endless possibilities, Prey never had a chance at even mediocrity because of this.

*Editor’s Note: A staff member has brought to our attention that the term “squaw” is considered a racist term for Native Americans in the modern day. It was used in this article in its historical context as a term for a Native American woman because the movie takes place in the 1700s, and we will not remove it.

Prey (2022)

Plot - 0.5
Acting - 0.5
Direction/Editing - 3
Music/Sound - 5
Action - 3.5

2.5

Why

This film is utter and total nonsense, taped together by a moron whose only motivations were wokeness and diversity. Though an interesting concept with endless possibilities, Prey never had a chance at even mediocrity because of this.

Comments (34)

August 7, 2022 at 5:26 am

Imagine a Predator dropped in feudal Japan taking on samurai,

Larry Correia wrote a short story for predator based on this.

August 8, 2022 at 11:47 am

Hey I really don’t care if you hate the movie or not but why did you have to call the main character a slur? Sq*aw is one of the worst things to call a native person. If you can’t criticize a movie without calling the main character a racial slur then you should probably just be a better writer yourself.

    August 8, 2022 at 1:18 pm

    Oh great, her comes the perpetually offended SJW crying out because of an imagined slight towards someone they have nothing in common with. Squaw is an apt description of the main character.

      August 8, 2022 at 5:09 pm

      Yeah, I’m sure the guy with the username “ManifestDestiny” has reasonable, thoughtful opinions on Native Americans. This has to be bait.

        August 9, 2022 at 5:56 am

        I’m a Native American Indian and First Nations individual. Abenaki Penobscot Ojibwe Chippewa Choctaw (primarily). Squaw/Skwa/Sqwaw or however you choose to spell it, actually is a term in many of our languages, which refers to women; usually in reference to her as “The wife of” preceded by the husbands name. But it can also refer to a woman who takes the role of a man, so that it becomes simply Squa. It’s only in modern woke feminazi circles and their ever present soy boy slave classes that it has been determined to be offensive. I’m offended that they’re trying to erase our cultural history just to pacify a bunch of whiny woke pampered rich low intelligence feminazi’s. Even trying to change my (literally my) grandmother’s lake name from Squaw Lake to something else. I’m offended that they think they have any right to say anything about my grandmother’s final resting place. How about go insult their grandparents resting places and change it’s name just because I have a political agenda?

          August 9, 2022 at 11:27 am

          Don’t you have some drinking to do? You should be thankful we haven’t changed those names yet, especially since Indian languages are not exactly great sounding. But continue praying to the dirt, flowers and pollen. lmao

          August 9, 2022 at 12:17 pm

          Hey see that response from QuintusEnnius? Yeah, you should be careful about taking these chuds’ side on things. They will turn on you the second that being your ally becomes anything other than a political expedient and talking point.

          August 9, 2022 at 6:16 pm

          I’m not on anyone’s side in particular. I am on the side of truth and reconciliation. I honestly don’t care about that denigrating response from QuintusEnnius. It doesn’t change the reality. Sure, calling someone by a term that’s unknown in their own language can be seen as insulting; but that doesn’t mean it’s insulting in it’s original language. Reconciliation in regard to my ancestors, is between me and those who harmed them; not between those strangers who have no connection to my grandparents, and only wish to erase my grandparents heritage and language in favor of their own, and those who harmed my grandparents. Trading one oppressor for another is not truth and reconciliation. It’s just trading one slave master for another.

          August 9, 2022 at 10:41 pm

          Lmao “oppressor”? You sound like one of those sjw idiots. Why shouldn’t your heritage and language be erased and replaced? Shouldn’t you be addressing the problems of poverty, alcoholism, abuse, educational attainment etc within your Indian communities before “waaaaahhhh they’re taking away my redskin languages”?

          August 14, 2022 at 4:23 pm

          What a dumb take you have. And you sound like you’re full of s***

          August 14, 2022 at 4:28 pm

          Imagine using the same speech as the ideologically racist right-wing party of “feminazi and soy boy.” How can you be so confident of a history you’re demonstrated your ignorance of. The hyper genderfication of western culture – saying women couldn’t even take on the role of men – is what the fight how the fight has started. Saying that women couldn’t own land, or have the same value as men. Maybe you should stop listening to Joe Rogan and the circle of his types.

    August 9, 2022 at 7:55 pm

    That was not a slur until the Woke Left on Twitter considered it a Slur. It is literally in history books and used in movies. Is it an out dated term? Possibly, but it was never considered a Slur until Aug 2022. Stop paying attention to the mentally brain dead left and think for yourself.

      August 10, 2022 at 2:51 pm

      Well said! The left are full of idiots. But with that being said, you look like a fucking fa**ot and I hope a towel head blows you up. lmao

        August 14, 2022 at 4:30 pm

        It’s hilarious because it’s the right who makes up things to be upset about the left. It’s more like some rightwinger posted their imaginary scenario of a ‘leftist’ being outraged. It’s all the right does is create phantoms to be persecuted by. You’re all such permanent victims.

August 8, 2022 at 6:14 pm

so it looks like you started the movie preparing to be a racist piece of shit and just followed through huh. clearly people have already mentioned that sq*aw is a slur AND HAS BEEN, FOR A HUNDRED YEARS but nah u just ran right through with your hatred of women of color anyway and made some half-assed excuse for why you’re “allowed” to use a slur.

anyway i really feel for the women in your life. hopefully there aren’t any bc it’s clear you’re a fucking piece of work

August 8, 2022 at 7:43 pm

Any writing standards book in journalism would preclude using a slur when referring to a person. Please raise the bar of your writing and remove the S word here that is used to refer to an Indigenous character. You can easily replace the word with “woman” and lose no information.

August 9, 2022 at 1:10 am

You really need to look up the word Squaw. and consider removing it from your review?
Hint, not an an native american term.
Don’t say someone didn’t try to warn you.

August 9, 2022 at 4:23 am

This review is hilarious, the dog is a carolina dog, native north american breed, absolutely was around in th 1700s. Criticising an action film for being ‘unrealistic’ is a huge reach lmao.

August 9, 2022 at 4:49 am

Imagine complaining about historical inaccuracies in regards to the LANDSCAPE they’re on when you’re watching a movie about fucking alien hunters from space. What a fucking moron, lmao. It’s a FICTIONAL MOVIE you dumb fuck. You really couldn’t have thought of a better way to make yourself sound stupid. Good job on that. Btw this movie is fantastic. Easily THE best Predator movie. And I’ve actually seen all of them, while it seems like you just politicized the entire thing cause you don’t like strong female characters.

August 9, 2022 at 12:12 pm

This review is hilarious because it just shows that you know pretty much nothing about anything you’re talking about. You’re just mad that the movie isn’t about white people, you open your review with a slur (that your own editors acknowledge is a slur!), and you get several factual claims wrong. Then you claim the filmmakers were just trying to score diversity and woke points. It appears that you are the one virtue signaling here, and that signal is vapid and devoid of any critical thinking.

Perhaps it’s time to admit you just don’t like movies, and go write for Stormfront or something?

August 9, 2022 at 12:27 pm

Your editors not is not accurate. Comanche don’t have that word as a part of their language. So your justification is also foolish. Your review was meant to outrage and insult, much like the tasteless joke from last week by another G+G Representative. Instead of admitting fault, you double down. Thought you were better than that.

August 9, 2022 at 2:54 pm

Also, Jed, if you’re curious why the land from Colorado to Kansas doesn’t look like that anymore, just Google “What happened to the Native Americans,” it’ll blow your mind.

August 9, 2022 at 8:00 pm

This entire comment section looks like its a bunch of outrages Twitter users that 1) Don’t actually care until you can act upset, 2) Have nothing productive to add to the conversation. This term, Squaw/Skwa/Sqwaw, which another user David_TPO mentions is not a slur. The only braindead morons that think that are the outraged White leftists.

Get over yourselves you White apologist, no one cares about your worthless brain dead opinions. Take your outrage and ram it so far up your chocolate star it can be seen leaking form your ears.

    August 9, 2022 at 8:51 pm

    But as someone who has no experience of being a Native American, do you really think you have a saying? The word has been twisted into a derogatory term in which many Native Americans no longer wish to be called. It’s been twisted into another meaning, oh and don’t worry I’m not a white apologist, I’m just a Native American female who’s laughing at the fact you decided to put your two cents into a topic that doesn’t involve you.

    August 9, 2022 at 9:03 pm

    I am a Native American woman (belonging to the Choctaw) and the word “Squaw” has sadly been twisted by the French and Canadian colonists to have a different meaning then originally, and many native Americans find the word to be racist and sexist. Please remember that not just a single individual speaks for us.

August 9, 2022 at 8:40 pm

As a Native American who is from several different tribes, it’s amazing how many non-natives can speak for us. What’s even more interesting is that non-natives have once again classified all natives as having the same language, same culture, etc. That word has been used in other native languages but not all tribes. It is still considered a derogatory term for many Native Americans. But go ahead, belittle the people who are standing up for Native Americans. If that’s what makes you feel better, then so be it :)

August 10, 2022 at 1:29 pm

This movie sucked it was extremely unrealistic and I wanted the main character to die the entire movie. She was bailed out of every situation she was put in I wanted the main character to die the entire movie. Made me loose all feeling of realism about the movie. The last fight scene made me laugh due to the sheer amount of pure plot armor that occurred. Like how the fuck was that dog able to perfectly give her her hatchet right when she needs it? Why is the predator jumping in trees 3 feet away from her when this guy has a 2.3 40 yard dash time just so he can perfectly jump in her trap? The predator chopped his own arm off and doesn’t give a fuck but then this girl pulls off one of his teeth things with two fingers and the dude has zero chill and freaks like wtf. Hated this movie. Cool scenes in it though. The predator deadlifted a full grown grizzly but gets pulled into a puddle by a single person with a vine. 100% agree with this review.

August 11, 2022 at 12:52 am

Yeah so let me break down why y’all are dumb as fuck. BTW Squaw is a racist sexist term for indigenous women. Oh they used it in the 1700s? They also used the N-word back then, dipshits. I know, y’all use that word all the time in private too.

1. At no point is Naru ever told she was better than anyone else, you limpdick virgins. Yes other characters have pointed out she has other skills. Everyone is good at something, except y’all. Who exactly did she blame for her failures to hunt? No one. Who did she get angry with? No one.

2. Y’all either didn’t watch the fucking movie or are too dumb to actually understand what was going on. After she saw the predator, the first thing she literally did was tell Taabe, her brother and tried to get him to go with her. He thought she was making it up. So she went to get actual proof.

3. Continuing on y’all being dumber than rocks, they were speaking Comanche the whole time. But since an English speaking audience doesn’t speak Comanche, they just had it in English. Like really is it hard to understand that the actual characters are speaking Comanche while the audio is English is for the viewers? There’s literally an all Comanche dub btw.

4. Actually the dialogue between Taabe and Naru was like a genuine brother and sister relationship.

5. Have any of you idiots bothered to look up forests in, say, Oklahoma? In the 1700s, yes, there were parts of Comanche territory that looked like that

6. I’m guessing you dumbfucks didn’t actually study history. I have a Master’s in history, so let me tell you, we domesticated wolves during the fucking ice age. Carolina dogs existed back then, they were even called Indian dogs.

7. Wow, so unrealistic that a character who used tomahawks for years could tie a rope and actually train for like an hour with it. Not like Dutch literally built whole ass traps while a predator chased it.

8. By failure you mean when she didn’t get a deer? Like holy shit, I’m sorry she didn’t issue an apology to the tribe. BTW her plan, according to Taabe, worked when it came to hunting the lion. If her partner wasn’t distracted shit talking, he probably wouldn’t have been so easily ambushed, and she herself was distracted by seeing the freaking predator.

9. So let me get this straight, if she succeeds, she’s a Mary Sue, but if she fails, at hunting a deer, and doesn’t go on an apology tour, she’s a Mary Sue? God y’all are fucking idiots. The only ones who praised her at all was her mom, and her brother when he told her she was good at planning. Prey was a great film, though I guess whatever imaginary shit you were watching in your head sucked.

10. She didn’t whine to her mom. She said “Oh I almost got it” and her mom pointed out they can’t eat almost. Wait, I thought everyone was praising her. She told her brother his story was boring. Other than that, the main thing she talked to him about was the fucking predator, that he didn’t believe in.

11. Again y’all are unbearably fucking stupid. Were you crying the whole time? She didn’t want to stick with Puhi, because she realized something scared off that lion. Others were already taking Puhi to the village, she didn’t want to leave her brother alone while realizing something was off. She saw the tracks, the skinned snake etc. The other women in the village would be able to take care of Puhi better than she could. Again if you stop bitching for a moment, you’d see that.

12. Have I told you guys you’re dumb as fuck? Well its’ worth saying again. She wasn’t hunting the bear, dumb dumbs. She stumbled onto the bear, and it smelled her. Please go to the wild, get your scent picked up by a bear, that can run 35 miles per hour, and see how that works. So fucking stupid, its’ sad.

13. Again who exactly is she supposed to say “I’m sorry for my dumb decision” to? She should admit her mistakes to?

14. You’re gonna lose your shit when you find out films like this are meant to symbolize shit. Godzilla for example symbolized nukes. Predator actually was a metaphor for vietnam. Terminator was a metaphor for life

Prey was praised by both critics and fans, and many other “anti-woke” channels and sci fi channels praised it. You know why? Well, if one actually watches Naru and not your incel frustration incarnate, they’ll find a smart young girl who is a bit of a loner, and who loves her brother and wants to prove herself, who finds a threat, and tries to prove it, and then is able to use skills she had in the beginning, combined with several things she learned, to win in the end.

You hated it, not cause of the normal reasons some people disliked this film, and indeed there were folks who disliked this film without being sexist racist dumbfucks, but because you clearly hate native american women. You literally start off using a racist slur. You make up shit that didn’t happen. You obsess over her apologizing when her early mistakes didn’t effect anyone, and her later mistakes where when she was busy fighting a fucking alien. And you’ve proven to be the dumbest fucking idiots I’ve ever seen. Thinking that Texas and Oklahoma didn’t or doesn’t have forests? Thinking you can outrun a bear after it catches your scent? Thinking dogs weren’t widespread in the 1700s? Like get the fuck out your basement, boy, these are simple ass shit you idiots don’t know

Feel free to ban me, I don’t care. Y’all are dumb as fuck .I don’t apologize for cursing.

    August 14, 2022 at 4:40 pm

    100% agree.

    August 14, 2022 at 4:41 pm

    People so disconnected from reality, they thought hunting wild animals was more successful than not centuries ago.

    August 19, 2022 at 9:33 pm

    Thank you so much for this comment. Hilarious and accurate! Men will literally say anything to avoid praising an action heroine. Thank you for your service.

August 14, 2022 at 4:36 pm

Scraping the bottom of the barrel for reviewers, huh. What are the reviewer’s motivations for looking through such a dull and fractured filter of ignorance to view the world? And you didn’t use “squaw” in historical context.
You used it as a title. You’re dumb as fuck.

August 19, 2022 at 9:24 pm

Men will really say anything to avoid acknowledging that an action heroine is badass. Prey (2022) is better than Predator (1987) by all measures and is one of the best action movies I have seen in recent years.

Also, this is one of the most poorly written reviews I have ever read—it is clear this man doesn’t know what the fuck he is talking about, historically or artistically—and yeah he used a slur and no it doesn’t matter that the term was used in the 1700s. Fuck all the way off “Jed.”

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