Although I like most of thePredatormovies, 2022’sPreywas the first one to truly reignite my interest in the franchise.ThePredatormovieshave frustrated me for a long time. Despite featuring one of the best creature designs in sci-fi horror history, the series never worked out how to make the Predator truly interesting after its movie debut. Admittedly, no one could fault the franchise for lack of trying.
Predator 2unleashed the eponymous monster in a concrete jungle instead of the original movie’s literal jungle, and this futuristic action thriller had its moments. However, it wasn’t as intense and gripping as the original, and theAlienVs Predatormovieshardly improved things. 2010’sPredatorssent a band of humans onto an alien planet to be hunted by Predators, but this compelling premise never lived up to its full potential. By the time2018’s rebootThe Predatorended, I was ready to give up on the series entirely.
Prey Is The Predator Movie I’ve Been Waiting For Since I Watched The Original
2022’s Prequel Prey Recaptured The Straightforward Thrills Of 1987’s Original
If giving ‘80s action icon Shane Black free rein with the franchise wasn’t enough to salvage thePredatorseries, I couldn’t see how the movies would ever work. It seemed as if the Predator was just destined to be one of those monsters that have one great movie and no follow-ups that could ever recapture what made that original hit work. Then I saw 2022’s prequelPrey.
Set in 1719,Preyfollowed the Comanche heroine Naru as she evaded the franchise’s titular threat while also dodging fur trappers who had invaded her ancestral home.Preywas the bestPredatormoviesince the original Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle because the prequel both reinvented the series completely and simultaneously felt entirely true to the original movie. LikePredator,Preywas a stripped-back, admirably simple chase thriller that never let up. UnlikePredator,Preywas set in the 1700s and featured the most diverse cast in the history of the series.
The Predator Movies Struggled To Win Back Viewers Over the Decades
Prey’s setting was an inspired choice, and the decision to make the movie’s heroine an Indigenous woman flipped the perspective of the original movie on its head. However, these creative changes wouldn’t have mattered ifPreyhadn’t delivered in terms of inventive scares, impactful action sequences, and original kills. Fortunately,Preyis as nasty, clever, and unpredictable asPredator, and despite the best attempts of earlier sequels, the prequel was the first time the franchise truly surprised me in decades.
The revelation thatPredatorsis set on an alien planet is a neat twist, but director Nimrod Antal’s movie doesn’t do much with the premise beyond this revelation. Similarly,Predator 2’s urban sets up some colorful characters and fun sequences, but the movie still feels like a retread of the original. Finding outmore about thePredatorspeciesin 2018’sThe Predatorcould have been compelling, but the reboot ended up feeling like an obvious attempt to make an overly familiar monster interesting again with another redesign.
Preyproved that, in this franchise, less truly is more.
All the earlierPredatorsequels made things more complex than the original movie and, thanks toPrey, I can now see that this was their downfall all along. What thePredatorfranchise thrives on is its simplicity, which is why watching Naru use every skill and weapon in her arsenal to evade the Predator was more thrilling than sending heavily armed soldiers and heroes with a Predator Killer suit after the monster inThe Predator.Preyproved that, in this franchise, less truly is more.
What Is Next For Predator After Prey (And Why You Should Be Excited)
Predator: Badlands Will Take The Series In A Whole New Direction
It would have been easy for the powers that be to immediately green-lightPrey 2, and I know I would have been first in line to watch that sequel. However, the studio wisely opted not to cash in on their big success with a retread of the same idea. The nextPredatormovie,Badlands, will be set in the future, although it will hold on to the services of director Dan Trachtenberg.
Scrapped Predator & Alien Crossover Plan Would’ve Undone One Of The Most Infuriating Movie Deaths Of All Time
Although The Predator almost undid one of the most hated deaths in movie history, it is arguably a good thing that this twist ending was cut.
Predator: Badlands’ futuristic setting means it can feel as fresh and different asPrey, which is the most important quality for this franchise going forward. I’m delighted to see Elle Fanning leading the cast, asPrey’s female lead was another major element of its success. Naru felt like a breath of fresh air in a franchise full of machismo, and her resilient personality reminded me of Ripley in her first infamous encounter with the Xenomorph. As such, thePredatorfranchise can continue to go from strength to strength now thatPreyhas proven it still has the potential I once worried the series had squandered.
