Prey (film)

Film

Goofs

Soundtrack

Characters

Prey is a 2022 Predator film directed by Dan Trachtenberg and written by Patrick Aison.^[1]^[2]^[3] The Walt Disney Company produced the project through their 20th Century Studios banner.^[4] It follows Naru, a young Comanche healer in 1719 as she combats a Predator in the Northern Great Plains to protect her tribe. Prey holds no relation to the previous 2018 movie, The Predator, directed by Shane Black.

Synopsis[]

Set in the Comanche Nation 300 years ago, "Prey" is the story of a young woman, Naru, a fierce and highly skilled warrior. She has been raised in the shadow of some of the most legendary hunters who roam the Great Plains, so when danger threatens her camp, she sets out to protect her people. The prey she stalks, and ultimately confronts, turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advance arsenal, resulting in a vicious and terrifying showdown between the two adversaries.^[5]

Plot[]

In September of 1719, somewhere across the Northern Great Plains of North America, Naru, a young Comanche woman trained as a healer, dreams of becoming a great hunter like her brother, Taabe. Naru herself is quite skilled in using a tomahawk as a thrown weapon. While tracking deer with her dog Sarii, she witnesses the arrival of a "thunderbird" in the sky (in reality a Predator ship dropping off a hunter), taking it as a sign that she is ready to prove herself. Taabe agrees to take her with him as he leads a search party for the mountain lion that attacked one of the tribe's hunters. They retrieve their wounded tribe member and depart, the mountain lion having apparently been spooked off by an unknown stalker that follows and observes the hunters while collecting the skulls of several local predatory species. Taabe however stays behind to find the mountain lion and complete the hunt.

Naru circles back and finds Taabe. She manages to trap the lion but falls and strikes her head after being distracted by a burst of light. Taabe carries her home and returns to finish off the weakened lion, a deed for which he is honored by the chieftain and the rest of the tribe. An envious Naru leaves home with Sarii in secret the next day to hunt; she comes across a herd of skinned bison. She prays briefly over the wasted carcasses, planting a totem on the head of the nearest one. Later, she spots a grizzly bear near the river below her vantage point on a cliff. When she tries to launch an arrow at the bear, her bow snaps, the noise alerting the grizzly. She is quickly cornered by the beast due to her lack of experience. She squeezes herself into a large thicket as the bear attacks. It is unable to reach her. Suddenly, she watches as the bear is overpowered and killed by her stalker, who holds the bear's corpse triumphantly over its head. She catches a mere glimpse of the stalker's form as the blood showering down from the bear's corpse covers it. Fleeing in horror, she finds a pack of Comanche hunters sent to find and bring her home. The creature swiftly ambushes and kills them and Naru tries to escape before her foot gets snagged in a metal fur trap. The creature, seeing that she is no longer a threat, leaves.

French voyageurs, who were the ones responsible for skinning the bison of their pelts, find Naru and cage her, ordering their translator, Raphael Adolini, to question her about the creature. When she refuses to talk, the lead voyageur reveals that he has Taabe captive as well and tortures him before tying both siblings up as bait for the predator. The creature, using its advanced weaponry, kills most of the voyageurs while Taabe and Naru escape. Naru rescues Sarii from the voyageurs' camp and stumbles across a dying Raphael, who teaches her how to use his flintlock pistol in exchange for medical treatment. Naru gives him a medicinal flower to staunch the bleeding from his wounds, and inadvertently discovers that doing so also reduces a person's body heat, making it difficult for the creature to see one's heat signature.

The creature fails to see Raphael with its thermal vision, but finds and kills him when he makes a noise, before Taabe comes in on horseback to assist Naru. The siblings are able to weaken the creature before it uses its invisibility cloak to hide and sneak up on Taabe, stabbing him through the back. Naru flees into the woods and finds the surviving lead voyageur, who had previously tortured Taabe, collecting water. She knocks him out, severs his legs, and gives him an unloaded gun before eating the orange flower to hide her heat signature, baiting the creature to kill the voyageur. She uses Raphael's pistol to ambush the predator from behind as it revels in its kill, knocking the creature's mask off and stealing it, and runs deep into the woods to prepare for a final showdown.

Using all her knowledge of the creature's characteristics, tactics, and weaknesses, Naru lures it into the same mud pit she had fallen into previously, then uses the creature's mask to turn its own projectile weapon against it. The creature dies of its wounds, and Naru lets out a wild victory yell. She severs its head and paints her face with its glowing blood. She brings the head back to her tribe, who believed her to be dead, and tells them that with the arrival of white men, it is time for them to find a new home. The tribe honors her victory as Naru, beaming with pride, turns to face a young girl. After the credits, dense clouds form in the sky as three Predator ships fly in.

Cast[]

Starring, in credit order:^[6]

Naru .... Amber Midthunder
Taabe .... Dakota Beavers
Aruka .... Michelle Thrush
Wasape .... Stormee Kipp
Chief Kehetu .... Julian Black Antelope
The Predator .... Dane DiLiegro

Additional cast, in credit order:

Sumu (Chief Wife) .... Stefany Mathias
Raphael .... Bennett Taylor
Big Beard .... Mike Paterson
Waxed Moustache .... Nelson Leis
Huupi .... Tymon Carte
Tabu .... Skye Pelletier
Itsee .... Harlan Blayne Kytwayhat
Paaka .... Corvin Mack
Puhi .... Samuel Marty
Disapproving Woman .... Ginger Cattleman
Young Comanche Woman .... Seanna Eagletail
Young Comanche Girl .... Samiyah Crowfoot
Ania .... Cody Big Tobacco
Spyglass .... Troy Mundle
Comanche Singer .... Curtis Vinish
Trapper .... Stephane Legault
Rambert .... Stephan Sschroeder
Trapper .... Eric Beaudoin

Additional uncredited cast:

Sarii, Naru's dog .... Coco
Ralu .... Ray Strachan^[7]
Comanche warrior .... Geronimo Vela^[8]
Native Comanche warrior .... Dionicio Virvez (citation needed)^[9]

Music[]

Prey's original soundtrack was scored by composer Sarah Schachner.

Main article: Prey (soundtrack)

Behind the Scenes[]

During an interview with SlashFilm, director Dan Trachtenberg mentioned the film's creative team struggled with what he called the "'Hunt For Red October' thing," where the characters speak Russian before transitioning into English. He said they never quite came up with a way to make that work, so instead, the film was shot in English and Comanche. "Both languages are spoken, but when you hear English, it's as if it's Comanche," he said. "But what Jhane is speaking to is on Hulu, there will be a Comanche dub of the movie, so you can watch the entire movie in Comanche with the original actors returning to perform their roles.^[10] In an interview with Empire, Trachtenberg went on to say "There’s a lip-match (choosing words to match the actor’s mouth movements as closely as possible) that we do now. It won’t be like watching old kung fu movies.”^[11]

Trivia[]

Prey is the first film in the Predator franchise to not include the name of its titular character in the title.
Prey is the first prequel film in the Predator franchise.
Prey is the second Predator story to be set in the 18th century, the first being Predator: 1718.
Prey is the second Predator story to involve the Comanche tribe, the first being May Blood Pave My Way Home.
Prey is the fourth story in the Predator franchise to include a Yautja encounter with a bear, the first being the 1997 one-shot comic book Predator: Primal, the second being the 1999 comic book series Predator: Homeworld, and the third being the 2008 novel Predator: Turnabout.
In Canada and India, Prey was released under the title Skulls.
Prey is the first film to have a Comanche dub.