Prey premieres on Hulu this Friday, and apparently, it’ll be worth the wait.
Initial reviews for the new Predator film centered on a female Comanche warrior went out today, and overall sentiment for the latest installment of 20th Century Studios’ sci-fi franchise seems to be positive. This can be quickly gleaned from aggregation sites such as Rotten Tomatoes, which currently lists Prey with an impressive 96% Tomatometer score with 57 reviews counted, but closer inspection reveals some especially exciting headlines.
Gizmodo, for one, has called Prey “the best and most intimate Predator movie in years.” That seems like a pretty bold statement, with 1990’s Predator 2 being a solid sequel that introduced plenty of lore to the series (e.g., new weapons, and how the Predators/Yautja have been visiting Earth for a long time), but the author argues that Prey really succeeds by dialing the formula down, effectively returning the franchise to its roots.
[…] It’s not as concerned with expanding the mythos, or teasing global level threats. Instead, it keeps things personal—a move that puts it more in line with what made the original Predator so fantastic. Like the original film, Prey takes a slow-burn approach to dealing with the alien/sci-fi elements. Both movies tell their own story, something that would have its own outcome and conclusion if you took the alien out of the equation entirely. Either way, the story finds itself intersecting with one mean—violent—alien, at which point the focus shifts to something more akin to a mystery.
Other top reviewers have called Prey “excellent,” competent,” and “well-paced,” with Empire Magazine echoing Gizmodo’s thoughts about how the new movie is “the best since the original,” one that shows how “there’s life in the franchise yet”—a worry that’s been prompted by critically maligned entries such as Shane Black’s The Predator, which ended with an over-the-top “Predator Killer” suit.
Another top review points out the score composed by Sarah Schachner, which sounds “exactly like the primal scream it should be.” Schachner should be familiar to many gamers, being the composer behind Assassin’s Creed Origins, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and other acclaimed titles.
Prey will begin streaming on Hulu at 12:00 a.m. EST on Friday, August 5. The movie stars Amber Midthunder as Naru, a Comanche warrior “who stalks, and ultimately confronts, a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal.”
Prey was directed by Dan Trachtenberg, whose previous credits include 10 Cloverfield Lane.