PREY

Prey gets kudos for at least trying something novel yet ends up feeling much the same as all the other Predator movies before it.

Let me start off by confessing that I have never been a huge fan of the Predator film series. From the well-made but schlocky original, via the abysmal Aliens vs. Predator films and the better-than-expected yet trying-too-hard Predators, I have seen them all and shrugged my shoulders at each and every one of them.

So it's no real surprise that I have to do the same with Prey, a prequel set 300 years ago in a native American settlement that gets kudos for at least trying something novel yet ends up feeling much the same as all the other Predator movies before it.

My main qualm with the film is that the clear peril you should be feeling as a viewer is never there. You know most of the people in the cast don't stand a chance against the lethal extra-terrestrial menace, bar of course - the actually quite engaging - lead actress Amber Midthunder, who is always fated to outsmart the galactic hunter.

All of this could have led me to call Prey bland and inconsequential, but the fact that the theme of female emancipation is handled with a jaw- dropping lack of subtlety ultimately lands it in 'annoying' territory.

release: 2022

director: Dan Trachtenberg

starring: Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro, Michelle Thrush