Prey (2022) - Dan Trachtenberg

​I like the part where she brushes her teeth with a white, plastic toothbrush. In all seriousness, Prey is a slick, violent, compelling experience that doesn't completely adhere to the Predator ethos but it effectively forges it's own path. Justifying its decisions with efficiency in pacing, strong action set-pieces, and clever overall conception, Prey offers lots of memorable moments with sturdy direction throughout. There is always something bigger in the food chain, and I really liked how this film embraces the duality of nature - life and death are counterweights, violence intrinsic, and the hunt is embedded into living in its most primal sense. It's kinda funny that the Predator is a misogynist, not viewing our main protagonist as a threat. He is a member of the patriarchy which is a fun, compelling choice. It's not even subtext just text. I saw someone proclaim that when one removes nostalgia from the equation that it could be argued that Prey is better than the original, and well, that person is dead wrong. As a proud defender of Predator 2, I would slot Prey somewhere around the 3rd best Predator film. It's better than Predators or The Predator, and I'd likely argue on-par if not a little above AVP, particularly given AVP's aversion to macabre and Prey's embracement. Anyway, I had fun, a good movie.