Hulu's PREDATOR: PREY directed by Dan Trachtenberg (2022) 5 5

[Hawkman]

On 8/14/2022 at 7:45 AM, Jaydogrules said:

Right.  

Because watching a 110 pound teenage girl single handedly take down the galaxy's most skilled and powerful hunter,(not to mention a half dozen armed burly French trappers) without taking so much as a scratch, with nothing more than sticks and stones and a magically retractable ax is such riveting cinema.     

-J.

She didn’t single handily take it down. Her brother severely injured it before being killed. She also shot it in the back of the head with a gun and used ingenuity to effectively make herself invisible to it.

Also, not all Predators are the same apex hunter. Like humans, some are better than others. Some are still learning. They make that evident when the snake knows he’s there and his invisibility is worthless. The bear also almost takes him out. He’s still learning his new environment and they make that clear several times.

Edited August 15, 2022 by Hawkman

[Jaydogrules]

On 8/14/2022 at 11:49 PM, Hawkman said:

She didn’t single handily take it down. Her brother severely injured it before being killed. She also shot it in the back of the head with a gun and used ingenuity to effectively make herself invisible to it.

Also, not all Predators are the same apex hunter. Like humans, some are better than others. Some are still learning. They make that evident when the snake knows he’s there and his invisibility is worthless. The bear also almost takes him out. He’s still learning his new environment and they make that clear several times.

I don't think you're getting my point either so I'll make it once more -

Poking the Predator with a pointy stick should not have "severely injured" it.   Neither should have a ball from a musket ftom 350 years ago.  That is a betrayal to prior canon and what these things have withstood in prior movies from far stronger opponents with far more advanced weaponry.  At the end of the day, there was NOTHING Mary Sue, or even the French trappers were equipped with that would have been capable of "severely injuring" Feral from what we know of this species. 

Period. 

Furthermore, some of you keep saying "oh well 'this ' Predator was just stupid and inexperienced", so that's why Mary Sue was able to single handedly take it down with a magic ax without getting so much of a scratch from it.  

To that I call "BS".  First - y'all are continuing to conveniently ignore that she ALSO single handedly took down an entire encampment of armed burly French trappers , on an ankle that was supposedly previously injured on a bear trap, but apparently magically healed.  

Second, saying this Predator was "stupid and inexperienced" is nothing but a weak excuse for the very sort of poor writing that is associated with Mary Sue characters-  dumbing down everybody and everything else so there is never any doubt, suspense , or question that the Mary Sue will prevail. Look, i get it, the movie would have only been 5 minutes long if Feral wasn't "inexperienced and stupid", at least with the sort of writing this movie had, but a better writer would have found a way for these people to defeat this creature in a "believable" manner while remaining true to prior canon, and what we know of Predators as a speicies and that would have made it a MUCH better movie.  That is what brought this potential "7" down to a "4" and put it firmly in the bottom half of Predator movies.  And her only "fault" in the beginning of the movie is she just hasn't had a chance to show all the mean boys how awesome and perfect she is at everything  yet but don't you worry, the plucky Disney princess- I mean Comanche warrior- will sure show them, even if it means putting her entire tribe in mortal danger, getting every young able bodied hunter in her tribe killed, ensuring her tribe's eventual starvation, and oh look!, turns out she was the one that "really" killed the lion in the tree after all.   

Barf.

This movie was lame.  But it was "good" compared to The Predator, which is the one that came out before it.  That's the only reason why some people are acting like it's Citizen Kane.  

I'm glad some of you evidently enjoyed this movie, but I would not be able to recommend it, not even to Predator movie completists because it hardly qualifies as being a Predator movie, despite the kinda cool call back/connection  to Predator 2 (which is a FAR superior movie to this in every single way).

-J.

Edited August 15, 2022 by Jaydogrules

[▫️]

On 8/15/2022 at 6:15 PM, Jaydogrules said:

I don't think you're getting my point either so I'll make it once more -

Poking the Predator with a pointy stick should not have "severely injured" it.   Neither should have a ball from a musket ftom 350 years ago.  That is a betrayal to prior canon and what these things have withstood in prior movies from far stronger opponents with far more advanced weaponry.  At the end of the day, there was NOTHING Mary Sue, or even the French trappers were equipped with that would have been capable of "severely injuring" Feral from what we know of this species. 

Period. 

Furthermore, some of you keep saying "oh well 'this ' Predator was just stupid and inexperienced", so that's why Mary Sue was able to single handedly take it down with a magic ax without getting so much of a scratch from it.  

To that I call "BS".  First - y'all are continuing to conveniently ignore that she ALSO single handedly took down an entire encampment of armed burly French trappers , on an ankle that was supposedly previously injured on a bear trap, but apparently magically healed.  

Second, saying this Predator was "stupid and inexperienced" is nothing but a weak excuse for the very sort of poor writing that is associated with Mary Sue characters-  dumbing down everybody and everything else so there is never any doubt, suspense , or question that the Mary Sue will prevail. Look, i get it, the movie would have only been 5 minutes long if Feral wasn't "inexperienced and stupid", at least with the sort of writing this movie had, but a better writer would have found a way for these people to defeat this creature in a "believable" manner while remaining true to prior canon, and what we know of Predators as a speicies and that would have made it a MUCH better movie.  That is what brought this potential "7" down to a "4" and put it firmly in the bottom half of Predator movies.  And her only "fault" in the beginning of the movie is she just hasn't had a chance to show all the mean boys how awesome and perfect she is at everything  yet but don't you worry, the plucky Disney princess- I mean Comanche warrior- will sure show them, even if it means putting her entire tribe in mortal danger, getting every young able bodied hunter in her tribe killed, ensuring her tribe's eventual starvation, and oh look!, turns out she was the one that "really" killed the lion in the tree after all.   

Barf.

This movie was lame.  But it was "good" compared to The Predator, which is the one that came out before it.  That's the only reason why some people are acting like it's Citizen Kane.  

I'm glad some of you evidently enjoyed this movie, but I would not be able to recommend it, not even to Predator movie completists because it hardly qualifies as being a Predator movie, despite the kinda cool call back/connection  to Predator 2 (which is a FAR superior movie to this in every single way).

-J.

So.. you liked it?

[MetalPSI]

He put AvP before it, which totally invalidates any opinion he has

[Gatsby77]

On 8/15/2022 at 11:15 AM, Jaydogrules said:

I don't think you're getting my point either so I'll make it once more -

Poking the Predator with a pointy stick should not have "severely injured" it.   Neither should have a ball from a musket ftom 350 years ago.  That is a betrayal to prior canon and what these things have withstood in prior movies from far stronger opponents with far more advanced weaponry.  At the end of the day, there was NOTHING Mary Sue, or even the French trappers were equipped with that would have been capable of "severely injuring" Feral from what we know of this species. 

Period. 

Furthermore, some of you keep saying "oh well 'this ' Predator was just stupid and inexperienced", so that's why Mary Sue was able to single handedly take it down with a magic ax without getting so much of a scratch from it.  

To that I call "BS".  First - y'all are continuing to conveniently ignore that she ALSO single handedly took down an entire encampment of armed burly French trappers , on an ankle that was supposedly previously injured on a bear trap, but apparently magically healed.  

Second, saying this Predator was "stupid and inexperienced" is nothing but a weak excuse for the very sort of poor writing that is associated with Mary Sue characters-  dumbing down everybody and everything else so there is never any doubt, suspense , or question that the Mary Sue will prevail. Look, i get it, the movie would have only been 5 minutes long if Feral wasn't "inexperienced and stupid", at least with the sort of writing this movie had, but a better writer would have found a way for these people to defeat this creature in a "believable" manner while remaining true to prior canon, and what we know of Predators as a speicies and that would have made it a MUCH better movie.  That is what brought this potential "7" down to a "4" and put it firmly in the bottom half of Predator movies.  And her only "fault" in the beginning of the movie is she just hasn't had a chance to show all the mean boys how awesome and perfect she is at everything  yet but don't you worry, the plucky Disney princess- I mean Comanche warrior- will sure show them, even if it means putting her entire tribe in mortal danger, getting every young able bodied hunter in her tribe killed, ensuring her tribe's eventual starvation, and oh look!, turns out she was the one that "really" killed the lion in the tree after all.   

Barf.

This movie was lame.  But it was "good" compared to The Predator, which is the one that came out before it.  That's the only reason why some people are acting like it's Citizen Kane.  

I'm glad some of you evidently enjoyed this movie, but I would not be able to recommend it, not even to Predator movie completists because it hardly qualifies as being a Predator movie, despite the kinda cool call back/connection  to Predator 2 (which is a FAR superior movie to this in every single way).

-J.

As others have noted, she's far from a Mary Sue.

The crux of a Mary Sue is infinite plot armor - that she's magically able to have whatever skills required from her in that moment - without training, failure or growth.

We clearly see Naru's growth, as a tracker and warrior, throughout the film - replete with hunting failures, practice, trial and error, etc. (And, as noted above, her growth as a hunter mirrors that of the Predator's.)

That's the crux of it - she's a totally different character by film's end -- prior to the final battle -- than she was at the beginning.

Further, it's reinforced several times in the first hour that she would have been disrespected by her tribe even if she were a male because she was so inexperienced - having not yet completed the rite of passage that would make her worthy of her first hunt.

"How awesome and perfect she is at everything" - LOL. Did you just ignore the first 90 minutes of the film?

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by Gatsby77

[MetalPSI]

You're all missing the fact that the dog kicked everyones azz

The bear, the frenchmen, the Predator 

Took em all out 

[Bosco685]

On 8/15/2022 at 1:44 PM, The Meta said:

You're all missing the fact that the dog kicked everyones azz

The bear, the frenchmen, the Predator 

Took em all out 

How that dog survived all of those journeys confirms he was the real predator, watching and waiting to feel out everyone's weaknesses. Then, when his kind has gauged their best attack points in the future - THAT is when they will strike.

[MetalPSI]

On 8/15/2022 at 2:19 PM, Bosco685 said:

How that dog survived all of those journeys confirms he was the real predator, watching and waiting to feel out everyone's weaknesses. Then, when his kind has gauged their best attack points in the future - THAT is when they will strike.

Such a beautiful breed. I imagine they are much too energetic for my ability to adopt

[sd2416]

On 8/14/2022 at 9:45 AM, Jaydogrules said:

Right.  

Because watching a 110 pound teenage girl single handedly take down the galaxy's most skilled and powerful hunter,(not to mention a half dozen armed burly French trappers) without taking so much as a scratch, with nothing more than sticks and stones and a magically retractable ax is such riveting cinema.     

-J.

But a pregnant waitress took down a T-800

[MetalPSI]

On 8/15/2022 at 2:23 PM, sd2416 said:

But a pregnant waitress took down a T-800

Be fair, she was like hours pregnant. Didn't even have morning sickness yet

[Sauce Dog]

Since this movie will reignite all discussion around getting more period-specific Predator films (which fans have always been clamouring for) might as well post one of my favourite fan trailers, as this is the setting I would prefer them explore next.

'Zatoichi vs Predator' demo/trailer

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by Sauce Dog

[Jaydogrules]

On 8/15/2022 at 9:59 AM, Gatsby77 said:

As others have noted, she's far from a Mary Sue.

The crux of a Mary Sue is infinite plot armor - that she's magically able to have whatever skills required from her in that moment - without training, failure or growth.

We clearly see Naru's growth, as a tracker and warrior, throughout the film - replete with hunting failures, practice, trial and error, etc. (And, as noted above, her growth as a hunter mirrors that of the Predator's.)

That's the crux of it - she's a totally different character by film's end -- prior to the final battle -- than she was at the beginning.

Further, it's reinforced several times in the first hour that she would have been disrespected by her tribe even if she were a male because she was so inexperienced - having not yet completed the rite of passage that would make her worthy of her first hunt.

"How awesome and perfect she is at everything" - LOL. Did you just ignore the first 90 minutes of the film?

 

Lol what "growth"?  Tying a vine to her magical ax handle, turning it into an even more magical and physically impossible yo-yo ax, which she is immediately the best ever at?  

That ""growth"?  

Or maybe I missed the montage of her hand to hand combat training that allowed her to IMMEDIATELY best an experienced young male hunter in her tribe, and then a group of armed, burly French trappers on an ankle that "should" have been maimed for life after being snapped in a bear trap.  

I already addressed the absurdity of all of this. 

She is a classical Mary Sue.  And that ruined the movie.  There is no suspense or drama involved with stories revolving around Mary Sue's.

-J.

[Bosco685]

On 8/15/2022 at 4:38 PM, Jaydogrules said:

Lol what "growth"?  Tying a vine to her magical ax handle, turning it into an even more magical and physically impossible yo-yo ax, which she is immediately the best ever at?  

That ""growth"?  

Or maybe I missed the montage of her hand to hand combat training that allowed her to IMMEDIATELY best an experienced young male hunter in her tribe, and then a group of armed, burly French trappers on an ankle that "should" have been maimed for life after being snapped in a bear trap.  

I already addressed the absurdity of all of this. 

She is a classical Mary Sue.  And that ruined the movie.  There is no suspense or drama involved with stories revolving around Mary Sue's.

-J.

[MetalPSI]

When I was little, we found a man. He looked like... like, butchered. The old woman in the village crossed themselves... and whispered crazy things- strange things. "El Diablo cazador de hombres." Only in the hottest years this happens- and this year, it grows hot. We begin finding our men. We found them sometimes without their skins... and sometimes much, much worse. ..."El cazador trofeo de los hombres" means "the demon who makes trophies of men".

Im hoping to see something more like this in the future 

Lieutenant Mike Harrigan: What is this?
Keyes: How many times do I have to tell you? You don't know what you're dealing with! [points to ghostly image on pheromone sensor display] There's your killer. Wonderful, isn't it? Pheromone signature left by his body. These are scent molecules. [to tech] Punch up three. Ten years ago, one of his kind stalked and eliminated an elite Special Forces crew in central America. There were two survivors. They indicated that when trapped, the creature activated a self-destruct device that destroyed enough rain forest to cover 300 city blocks. Remarkable weaponry. That's right, Lieutenant. Other-world life-forms.
Harrigan: Huh?
Keyes: A ****ing alien. Iwo Jima, Cambodia, Beirut. Drawn by heat and conflict. He's on safari. Lions. The tigers. The bears. Oh, my!
Harrigan: Trophies. That's the game, isn't it, Keyes?
Keyes: You're the lion. This is his jungle.

[Buzzetta]

On 8/14/2022 at 11:56 AM, Sauce Dog said:

Just because a woman wins in the end doesn't mean it is a 'Mary Sue', and I find cries of such a trope pretty common by those who don't actually know what it is. Naru was a very flawed character in contrast to her tribesmen; stubborn, independent, impulsive, and goes through much before barely wining in the end due to being constantly underestimated (by friend and foe alike)

I agree with you, the term "Mary Sue" is thrown around too loosely and like you, I do not believe it applies here in this movie.  But the issue these days, is not just who is throwing it around but why. 

I have come to learn or accept that those that repetitively and consistently use terms like "woke" and "Mary Sue" in their criticisms of things seem to demonstrate severe shortcomings in their own person.  They can only accept things that portray their idealized image of themselves so they can more closely identify with it otherwise they get no enjoyment from it.  Basically, if they are a purple male elf, they have a hard time finding enjoyment in something that does not feature a strong protagonist of a purple male elf.  Maybe their focus is on their own masculinity or lack thereof.  Maybe their focus is their own purpleness, or elfishness. 

When they can only identify with things that are "like them" it  allows them to elevate their own sense of self so they can give themself the proverbial fist bump.  It is only through this that they can ignore their personal shortcomings or secret feelings of inadequacy they have that make them so miserable to begin with.  

Basically, these are people that cannot enjoy others winning at some level.  For some it is extreme and for some it is minor.  If someone who does not look like or they can easily identify with "wins" at something then they feel a loss at some level be it major or minor. 

 

[WeR138]

I watched it. I liked it. I can chalk up the trapper fight to: she had the element of surprise, was used to combat, and these are trappers, not brawlers.

The scene that was cringe worthy is the deer hunt scene.

You could ask a 500 hunters if this scene was plausible by any stretch of the imagination, and 500 would say no. I don't care if she had the dog trained to corral deer like sheep, she's getting one shot at that deer. That's giving the benefit of the  doubt that she would have gotten that close.  A human, any human, is not going to get a second shot. Running after an animal that can move up to 30 - 40 mph, and sliding like the Black Widow was a head shaker for me. The type of scene that I would expect someone who doesn't know a thing about hunting would write.

Having said that, I would give it an 8 out of 10.

 

[▫️]

On 8/15/2022 at 11:38 PM, Jaydogrules said:

Lol what "growth"?  Tying a vine to her magical ax handle, turning it into an even more magical and physically impossible yo-yo ax, which she is immediately the best ever at?  

Reckless and dangerous? Yes. Physically impossible? No.

[MetalPSI]

Anyone give consideration as to why Ghost chose Harrington as his trophy?

I think Savage picked Dutch through process of elimination. Having killed 8 berets already, plus numerous drug cartel guys, he was basically just picking people off one by one and Dutch just happened to be in spots that made him more difficult as a target of opportunity compared to the others

As for Harrington, Ghost ran into him fairly early and could have taken him down, but on the rooftop where he killed the gangsters, Harrington basically spotted him bang to rights. I think Ghost was impressed by his perception and thats when he began to stalk Harrington 

[MetalPSI]

Now to bring up the major flaw in this movie

Feral is 100% 1 dimensional and completely flat as a character. Just a mindless windowlicker running around killing things, practically with no rhyme or reason

This was the biggest disappointment for me. The other Predators had personality, and even charm. Ghost "Want some candy?", Savage "Anytime"

Feral was portrayed as a complete insufficiently_thoughtful_person.

Maybe this was done on purpose

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

On 8/15/2022 at 8:48 PM, The Meta said:

Now to bring up the major flaw in this movie

Feral is 100% 1 dimensional and completely flat as a character. Just a mindless windowlicker running around killing things, practically with no rhyme or reason

This was the biggest disappointment for me. The other Predators had personality, and even charm. Ghost "Want some candy?", Savage "Anytime"

Feral was portrayed as a complete insufficiently_thoughtful_person.

Maybe this was done on purpose

He rode the short bus to earth.