I tell you what, Hulu should get an award for best original movie of the year. Last year. I'm late, I know. But I am SO glad I finally got around to seeing Prey. The concept is simple, a Predator (alien not church) lands on Earth to hunt down other predators (animals not aliens). It lands in the Great Plains in 1719, and the story follows a young Comanche warrior who is trying to find her place in her tribe. Naru is wonderfully played by Amber Midthunder, who absolutely sells the young Comanche warrior trying to prove she can be a grizzled hunter like the men in her tribe. This is easily the best movie from the Predator franchise since the original, and shames any recent remakes/sequels that have been put out there carelessly. Hulu and 20th Century Fox have really found a great concept, drop a Predator somewhere interesting in history and create some cool action and a solid story around it and bam, instant success. The strength of this movie is the simplicity of the plot, just like the original. But where the movie improves from the first is the violence. The first sequence of Predator violence is fine, but when it unloads on colonialists/fur trappers? Unreal. The action is top notch, the film is brief and to the point, and the concept can't be beat. The only thing that stood out to me as a glaring weakness was the CGI of the animals, it's really really bad, especially when they zoom in on them. But other than that, Prey is a must see movie for any film fam, and kudos to Hulu for accomplishing the rare feat, a good streaming original movie. Hopefully they keep it up and drop the Predator in different time periods, Edo Japan here we come! Or Stalingrad. Or the Civil War. Give me more!
Summary: The environment, the action, and the concept itself gives this movie more than enough to keep the audience on the edge of their seats for the brief but efficient runtime.
Score: 8/10