Early reviews for the Predator prequel Prey have just started rolling in, and it’s currently sitting at 96 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Prey, directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), is a different type of Predator movie as it takes place 300 years ago and follows the story of a Comanche girl named Naru.
Naru and the rest of her tribe, who are some of the ‘fiercest’ hunters of the Great Plains, get terrorised by a mysterious creature revealed to be a highly evolved and chilling predator.
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And it’s safe to say critics are loving this fresh take.
Some are even calling it the best film of the franchise since the original 1987 film. The Hollywood Reporter writer Frank Scheck said it’s ‘one of the more formidable instalments in the series.’
He wrote: “There’s enough carnage and violent action on display to satisfy Predator fans whose cinematic bloodlust knows no bounds, and the dramatic change in milieu provides some much-needed freshness.”
Film reviewer Peri Nemiroff also said Prey was ‘officially her favourite Predator movie’.
She added: “Not only is Prey an expertly crafted thriller, but the new Predator movie also heavily benefits from being a deeply personal character journey -- one powered by Comanche tradition just as much as it is by Predator-sparked thrills.”
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The Daily Telegraph journalist Tim Robey called the film's monster ‘the most thrilling opponent the Predator’s had since Arnold Schwarzenegger’, truly sending shivers down our spine.
Despite the number of adoring fans who were left speechless, alas, there are always going to be some haters.
Writer for Slant, Chuck Bower, gave the film a dismal one star, criticising the movie's ‘half-baked’ symbolism and cheesy costumes that make the actors look like they’re in a ‘school play’ instead of a Hollywood blockbuster.
Wow, Chuck, tell us how you really feel.
He added: “This sensibility, common of American action movies of the ‘80s, feels authentically volatile in our skittish modern culture, as contemporary, woefully self-conscious genre offerings can’t hope to capture such anarchy.
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"Prey proves to be an apropos title, then, as the film is cowed by its predecessor.”
While he raises some interesting points about how Prey compares to other films in the franchise, this one review isn’t enough to deter us from bingeing it on Hulu once it comes out tomorrow (Friday, August 5).
Topics: TV and Film
Charisa Bossinakis