In 1719 in Comanche territory within the new world of America a young woman is eager to prove her worth as a great hunter. Naru (Amber Midthunder) wants to emulate the skills of her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers) and when a mountain lion takes one of the siblings fellow tribesmen she gets her opportunity. However the lion seems to have been frightened away from its prey by a much larger hunter, one that Naru will have to reckon with. 

It is fair to say that the Predator franchise has had mixed success. The original Predator is an 80’s action classic whilst its direct sequel certainly has its charms whilst being a little rough around the edges. Since then though the likes of Predators and The Predator are highly forgettable and the crossover films with the Alien franchise should downright be forgotten. So what a joy it is to finally have another film that does the titular killing machine justice. I would happily vouch for this as the second best film in the franchise after the original. 

The story is beautifully simple as with the original. Naru wanting to prove her worth as a hunter sets out to find the mysterious creature leaving peculiar tracks in its wake. With her trusty dog and hatchet she tracks the monster, learns about its tactics and uses all of her ingenuity to face it in a showdown. Along the way there are some fantastic action sequences featuring alien technology as well as three-hundred year old human weaponry. 

There are some great throwbacks to the other films along the way. Some are more obvious than others whilst there was one in particular that I enjoyed more for it being a ‘bait and switch’ on audience expectations. 

Talent wise, director Dan Trachtenberg has proved with this sophomore effort that 10 Cloverfield Lane was not a flash in the pan whilst Amber Midthunder delivers a great lead action performance. 

My only qualms are purely idiosyncratic to my opinions on the lore of the Predator. The first has always bugged me across all of the films in the franchise and that is, if these creatures are such brilliant hunters why are they always using their invisibility technology to hide? Whilst the second is particular to this film in that the Predator technology whilst a little parred back is very similar to what we will see in films set three-hundred years later. Surely they could have evolved much better weaponry in that time? 

Anyway, those should not hinder your enjoyment as Prey is fantastic. Make sure you stay to watch the story played out again in animated form in the credits with an additional ending not seen in the film.