Hulu’s “Prey” is the best action film of 2022

An hour before I started this movie, I told a neighbor, “Let’s see if it’s actually good or if it just had good marketing.” I can tell you with confidence that this movie actually is good, and it’s not just the marketing. I haven’t had much appetite to write reviews lately, but this film felt like it was a rare, unique phenomenon, and was worth a discussion, so you know it comes highly recommended.

Gorgeous, textbook storytelling

All great stories begin with a protagonist who strives to overcome their flaws to achieve their goals, a vision for who they want to be or what they want to do. A great antagonist strives for the same goal, but presents an alternate view, method or philosophy for achieving it. A great antagonist forces the hero to reassess their views and either change or perish. A great director is able to take this core struggle, and set it against any backdrop, and any genre. The great director must also convey ideas, emotions and lessons as nonverbally as possible. The more complex the subject and the fewer the dialogues, the better. A great film is able to guide the viewer through this concepts, stories and struggles without holding our hands or doubling up on information. It runs lean to the themes, and doesn’t waste time with objects, ideas and characters who don’t progress the plot in a meaningful, satisfactory method.

The great director must also convey ideas, emotions and lessons as nonverbally as possible.

-my smartass

Dan Trachtenburg’s Prey is one of these films. A hero who strives to become a great predator, pit against an unstoppable alien who similarly strives to find and kill the greatest predators. We watch as a mouse kills an ant, a snake kills the mouse and the Predator kills the snake. It graduates to a wolf, a bear, and then ugly French trappers. It’s a graceful graduation and demonstration of the Predator’s motivations as simple and straightforward as possible.

Similarly, the hero Naru is shown to be a resilient, incredibly intelligent hunter. She is constantly learning, growing, and adapting to her challenges. When she finds the process of trying retrieving her throwing tomahawk too cumbersome, she attaches to a rope to the handle to easily recall it and adapts to her strengths. The demonstration of Naru’s intelligence is so succinct, it puts Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock to shame. No handholding, no exposition, just cause and affect.

There’s a lot more about this film I enjoyed. The dialogue is sparse, the cinematography is gorgeous, the horror is gory and gratuitous, the action is on par with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the portrayal of women is respectful and progressive but not overt. It’s a true action film with a female protagonist without needing to warp a grumpy old man into a woman ala Terminator: Dark Fate.

I really, really liked this movie. At multiple moments I commented aloud how excellent a sequence or visual was. I cannot believe that the Predator series was able to figure shit out and finally deliver a satisfying action film.

8/10.

Hulu needs to work on their fucking subtitles, I swear to god.

You can stream Prey on Hulu.