This was pretty good! Most streaming service originals have been poor (the Gray Man) IMO, but this did really well. Simple plot; a predator is hunting in America and some Comanche hunters fight back.
No real spoilers here, but I’ll tag it anyone if you don’t want any other info.
Nice action, if a bit telegraphed. This particular predator was a bit of a fuckup though, wasn’t it? Everything it fought got some good shots in: wolf, bear, native hunters fighting an advanced alien with a cloaking device, didn’t matter…
But isn’t that pretty much the plot of every Predator movie? Predator comes to town, has a few laughs killing some things, deliberately handicaps itself to make things “fair”, and at some point, Clever Character figures out its weaknesses, and creates a strategy to defeat it.
The predator in the original movie didn’t get it’s ass kicked by 15 people before Arnold took it down. And this one didn’t handicap itself. It’s just in a fight and “oh shit, the fucking dog tore up my leg!” “oh shit, the guy impaled me with a stick!”
Well, I’m foregoing spoilers. Avert your gaze if need be.
It seemed the handicapping was inconsistent. The first attack was some laser-targeted pseudo-arrows (in response to bow and arrow attacks), but then there were flying bombs or buzzsaws, and that killer shield seemed unfair.
This predator seemed more physically powerful and resilient. Stronger than a grizzly? That was a surprise. Minorly inconvenienced by getting vertically impaled? Seemed like a mortal wound to me. Able to run twice as fast as a young warrior? That was unintuitive — i knew it could climb trees like a champ, but that doesn’t often translate to super sprinting (Could be an exoskeleton.)
Was there any implied reason for its resurfacing in the bog?
Oh yeah… I always thought Arnold creating huge scale booby traps in the middle of the night was absurd, but the death blow in Prey seemed even more ridiculous. Did the heroine trick the Predator into shooting itself with a four or five bounce shot?
This was set up. The arrows follow the laser. She stole the helmet so that she could use the laser designator in the trap. The predator thought he was firing in unguided mode, but she turned it on (how, I don’t know).
I enjoyed the movie very much but felt the scene where Naru fights and kills 5 guys highly inconsistent considering her difficulty fighting off just one bully earlier on, and her general screwing up her fights with the Cougar and the Bear.
This Predator was using significantly less advanced stuff than the original. First off he was mostly naked while the original had some semblance of armor. He also mostly fought hand to hand, even against people shooting him. The original used his shoulder cannon on most enemies. It seemed like he was obviously handicapping itself to better match the current technology level of the opposition. Makes sense that he would take a lot more damage without armor and fighting in melee.
Quick learning, considering her struggle to master flintlock(?) technology. And her thinking that it might be worthwhile to shoot the creature despite the trappers’ failures. And never having seen a projected light beam or any kind of electrinic switch before.
But probably there were significant clues I missed during my very casual.viewing. I didn’t even catch that the colorful medicine provided camoflauge againt the Predator’s infrared vision. (Read it on Wikipedia just now.)
I have heard a couple of reactors joke that the bog was only five feet deep so while Naru was in trouble, the Predator was all “oh, I can stand up in this”.
I have a friend who is about a hundred pounds if wet and wearing boots and she would do the exact same thing if anyone messed with her dog. Call it a John Wick shout-out if nothing else since dozens of animals died in this movie and the audience couldn’t be sure if the puppy would make it basically the whole time.
I was looking for this thread. Watched it last night and it was outstanding. Definitely the #2 Predator movie. The cinematography was awesome. I think the plain American accents and English are a bit distracting. Would have been more immersive in Comanche with English subtitles. The dog was very organically part of the movie and played a substantial role throughout. His help with the bear was exciting and well choreographed. I’ll leave it at that.
I loved the segments where the wolf and the bear fought the Predator and wounded him. They both never cowered and seemed, well, like savage animals.I loved that they both put up good fights and weren’t just mowed down in an instant squealing or yelling. The green blood on the wolfs teeth was an awesome touch. I also thought the Pred body checking the bear, followed by the bear mauling him was really cool. I thought the CGI was quite good on the animals for the most part though it sounds like not everyone agrees.
The final fight sequence was quite well done too. The brother coming over the top with the spear and then all the arrows etc was shot really well.
ETA: I almost forgot about the overhead shot of chase thru the high grass with Pred invisibility active. That was extremely badass seeing him close on Naru.
Actually I think they went out of their way to show that the helmet automatically detected weapons in the scene (the red triangles) and targetted that way. When the Pred had the weapon out it was in view of the helmet so it targetted him. I guess the logic is that any armed individual in view of the helmet can’t be the Predator so it doesn’t discriminate?
I still kind of enjoy the first Predator movie, thought the second one was crap, never saw any of the others.
I really enjoyed Prey, think it was very well done in a “B” movie kind of way. Too many implausibilities and plot holes to bother listing* but the whole premise is ridiculous to begin with so I just sat back and enjoyed it.
Oh all right, I’ll mention the one that pulled me out of the story. The notion that hypothermia would render one invisible to infrared heat sensors, AND that a person could function at high levels of physical and mental acuity in that condition.
If I’m wrong about this, fire away. My feelings won’t be hurt.
You answered your own question there. Its meant to be entertainment and that’s all. I was definitly entertained. If we can have invisible aliens then I guess why can’t we have magical plants.
I liked it quite a bit. I haven’t actually seen all the Predator movies, but this was the best one along with the original. I’d just watch those two, probably.
I thought the use of language was pretty cool. We heard the Comanches talking in a language we can understand, but the French hunters didn’t even have subtitles. So unless you’re fluent in Redneck Mumbled French, we had as little idea about what they were saying as the Comanches. It really emphasized that this whole film was from the point of view of the Comanches. They were the “normal” people dealing with invading aliens of various species.