Prey Moments That Really Upset Fans The Most
The "Predator" franchise has seen its fair share of ups and downs since director John McTiernan first introduced the dreadlock-sporting beastie into cineplexes way back in 1987. Thankfully, 35 years and five sequels later, Hollywood has finally delivered a worthy follow-up to the Arnold Schwarzenegger action classic in the direct-to-Hulu adventure "Prey."
Starring Amber Midthunder, director Dan Trachtenberg's "Prey" takes "Predator" back to basics and relocates the action to the early 1700s, where a skilled Comanche warrior battles the famed alien in the pre-colonial American frontier. Critics and audiences have embraced "Prey," with many praising the film as a refreshing reinvention of a stagnant series. Others, like Dev Crowley of Fansided, have gone so far as to call it the best "Predator" film to date.
Still, despite the near unanimous support for "Prey," the film does have its detractors who have taken to comment sections, social media, YouTube, and blogs to criticize various elements of the plot, characters and even the Yautja itself. Here are the "Prey" moments that seem to upset fans the most, listed in no particular order.
Not everyone is into the new Predator design
By far the biggest complaint among fans is the controversial redesign of the Yautja, which presents the creature in a decidedly more monstrous form than we're used to. Dubbed "the Feral Predator," it's an ancestor to the beast seen fighting Schwarzenegger's Dutch in the original film, 300 years after the events of "Prey." Director Dan Trachtenberg told Digital Spy, "I wanted to make this version of the Predator so much more feral and ferocious and animalistic, from its movements to its silhouette and its design."
While Trachtenberg's explanation makes sense, some "Predator" fans have responded negatively to the new look, which is revealed during an action scene midway through the film. One need only peruse the comments section on the website AVP Galaxy to see the disdain many have for the design. "The Predator is a moronic buffoon throughout the movie and his redesigned face calls to mind Sir Alec Issigonis' quote, 'A camel is a horse designed by committee,'" one fan cries. "They took Stan Winston's fine stallion and turned him into a lumpy mess."
"Feral's weapons were interesting and it was fun watching him on screen," says another user. "My one gripe is that I wasn't crazy about the face redesign. It was just okay for me."
Similar sentiments appear in various comment circles across the web, though the new look does have a number of fans. "'Prey' is a solid #predator movie," Steve Ferguson tweeted. "Predator redesign seemed unnecessary, but didn't bother me. Way better than expected."
The Predator dies in a disappointing fashion
The Yautja seen in "Prey" lives up to the species' storied reputation. The big guy hunts and kills a rattlesnake, a wolf, a bear, a group of Comanches, and a whole squad of French trappers in brutal fashion. These scenes offer some of the best action of the entire "Predator" franchise, as the our alien baddie utilizes an assortment of unique weapons and abilities to take out his foes.
Perhaps that's why some fans were left feeling shortchanged at the monster's demise. Following his trail of carnage, the Yautja chases Naru (Midthunder) — who stole his mask in a previous scene — into the forest and eventually becomes stuck in some mud. He disappears below the surface, but manages to pull himself out of the trap long enough to aim his arrow launcher at Naru's head, unaware that the clever warrior has placed his mask on a nearby tree. As such, when the Yautja fires his weapon, the laser-guided arrows fly to the target — in this case, the monster's head. Our antagonist can only tilt his head in confusion before an arrow streaks through his skull, killing him instantly.
Several fans echoed the sentiments of Twitter user Tango, who noted, "[T]he Predator dies in what I think is the dumbest way for a Predator to die ... It would be a badass kill if he didn't stand there looking all 'oh s***' for a few good seconds."
Predator can't kill a small young woman
Another complaint about "Prey" among fans is the Predator's inability to kill a young woman with minimal combat experience. Indeed, one fan made a graphic that shows off the crew of the original "Predator" with the caption, "A team of highly skilled badasses with years of experience had almost no chance versus a Predator," juxtaposed with an image of Naru and the text, "A girl with almost no experience beats a Predator alone."
One could argue the point of Naru's character arc is to show the merits of brains over brawn in outwitting an interstellar killing machine. That isn't convincing enough for some, including Twitter user Weymer, who states, "In this movie the predator 1 punch kills a 1k pound grizzly but can't strangle the 110-pound protag even when it has its hand around her neck." Twitter user Donatello the Plug agreed, writing, "[I'm] all for girl power But it is MUCH more belivable [sic] that a Man could beat a predator over a woman. Especially a 120lbs chick like in prey, who literally suffered a concussion early on."
One could also point out that a theme of the entire original "Predator" film is that Dutch is the last one standing (and ultimately victorious) because he realizes that the combat experience and physical might of his team is no match for the kind of clever strategy that both he and Naru rely on in their respective climactic battles. Still, there's no pleasing every fan.
Naru is better than seemingly all her fellow tribesman
Naturally, because Naru is a strong female protagonist, the term "Mary Sue" has begun to pop up amongst fans. Now, to be fair, Naru does display some extraordinary skills, but nothing she does is outside the realm of possibility. Her actions are perfectly in line with other larger-than-life heroes of the "Predator" franchise, and we see enough of her life to understand what has prepared her for what's coming. Still, certain fans have taken to YouTube to explain that Naru is nothing more than a "Mary Sue," a dismissive term given to female characters who seem to lack any sort of discernible weakness.
Case in point, YouTuber Tyrone Magnus jumped on his personal channel to offer his own conclusion. After praising the Predator action, Tyrone went on to label Naru a Mary Sue, reasoning, "She beat up and killed four men by herself, and of course took out the Predator by herself ... everything to do with hunting, she knew what the guys knew, but she knew more stuff then the guys knew about hunting." He then went on to discuss the scene in which Naru takes on one of her tribesmen and beats him. "She knew everything, she was unstoppable," Tyrone says.
While an argument could be made that we don't get as much insight into Naru's characterization as we could have, tagging her as a "Mary Sue" feels disingenuous, as it ignores the many obstacles and failures the character endures and must overcome throughout the film.
Shoddy bear CGI
"Prey" is certainly not a perfect film — there may not be any such thing. There's plenty to love, sure, but Dan Trachtenberg's "Predator" prequel has some glaring issues that have drawn the ire of the online community. Notably, the wonky CGI that stands out during the bear fight. Even fans who like the film, such as the hosts of The Angry Movie Review on YouTube, point out that some of the visual effects in this sequence are simply not up to modern blockbuster standards.
"A couple of intro shots of the bear were not very good," one of the critics said. "Later on when the bear and Predator were fighting was much much better, but you can tell they were like, 'This part doesn't matter all that much, but this next part will be in the trailer.' It was a little rough."
Twitter user Mc_Knasty wasn't as kind, tweeting, "Prey was basically 'what if the power rangers movie had very bad CGI?'" He went on to praise the action scenes in the ensuing thread, but clearly had no love for the admittedly distracting effects. Likewise, Optimus Wilbur exclaimed, "Well #PreyMovie wasn't bad very much the same movie from the original only bad points the cgi did look off at times like with the bear and it looked very clean."
Tribesman bully Naru
Naru is largely seen as a misfit by her fellow tribesman who don't support her rebellious ways. In fact, with the exception of her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers), no one steps up to support Naru or her quest to become a great hunter. But the understatement of this aspect is one of the reasons critics such as The Au Review's Harris Dang praised "Prey," noting, "The subtle approach to the arc of Naru is appreciated as Trachtenberg and [co-writer Patrick] Aison rarely resort to forced antagonism via the tribespeople to make their point."
Some fans don't agree, with many, including those on The Angry Movie Review, citing the scene in which one of the men in Naru's tribe orders her to go back to the village. "[Naru] kind of tags along," one of the Angry Movie Review members explains, "and that's when you've got this f****** bully character and I'm like, 'Alright, I get it.' It's to build a little bit of conflict, a little bit of character arc, but is there a better way they could have gone about it?"
The others on the show agree, feeling that while the overall purpose of the scene was fine, the silly dialogue undercuts the tension. "Instead of hokey dialogue, it could have all been done in looks or different ways. Just adult it up a little bit."
Naru walks away virtually unscathed
"Prey" ends much like the original "Predator," with Naru defeating the alien hunter by utilizing her wits and escapes with her life. Some have complained that Naru should have been roughed up a bit more during her battle with the Predator, noting that even Arnold Schwarzenegger was left bloodied and broken at the end of the original film.
"The film was ok," wrote John Folly on a Movie Web Facebook post. "Not a wound on her yet she manages to massacre the alien." He goes on to note that "Arnie and his gang" had difficulty bringing down the original alien even with their high-tech weaponry. Reddit user InvasionOfTheFridges stated that they enjoyed "Prey," but added, "I miss how clever the predator used to be." They went on to lament they're starting feel like the Predators no longer seem like much of a threatening presence after a few movies that have seen them beaten with relative ease.
A lack of developed supporting characters
Not a moment, per se, but an aspect of "Prey" drawing criticisms from fans is the lack of memorable supporting characters. It's almost a tradition for "Predator" films to features great ensembles surrounding the central protagonist in their battle with the Yautja. John McTiernan's original 1987 film included the likes of Dillon (Carl Weathers), Mac (Bill Duke), Billy (Sonny Landham, whose character inspired Dan Trachtenberg to make "Prey," according to AVPGalaxy), and Blain (Jesse Ventura), among others. While later sequels arguably dipped quality from the original, Hit or Miss TV host Andrew Tate opined that even the lesser films had solid supporting casts.
"Prey," he argues, "doesn't have supporting characters other than the brother — the lead character's brother. He's in it — I thought he was really good — but he wasn't in it enough. There wasn't enough development." Tate felt none of the deaths in "Prey" really mattered. "There's too many other characters that get wiped out and I'm just like, 'Oh well, it's just another generic NPC from Skyrim. I don't care about them.'"
On IMDb, user jtindahouse awarded "Prey" four out of ten stars and in a fairly scathing review, wrote, "The Comanche people portrayed in the film have only one thing to live for — survival ... It is also makes it very hard for them to be personable and likable. Every character in the film other than the main girl might as well have been the exact same person."
If it bleeds, we can kill it
"If it bleeds, we can kill it." So says Arnold Schwarzenegger in the original "Predator" — a line that ranks right up there with the actor's iconic "I'll be back" from "The Terminator." The same line is repeated in "Prey," albeit via Naru's brother, Taabe, while they're both tied to a tree during the battle sequence with the French fur trappers. For some, the moment was a goosebumps-inducing callback to "Predator," but others felt the bit of dialogue felt shoehorned into the film.
"No I totally missed the 'If it bleeds we can kill it' line shoehorned in Prey for no reason other than to give fans a sad h******," tweeted Pete Catania in response to a discussion of the movie's Easter eggs. In the comment section below his tweet, Pete admitted that he was "just being a jerk" about the line, but posited, "It would have been better if they gave one of Billy's lines to them. 'There's something hunting us, and it ain't no man ... we're all gonna die.' And then they all indeed die."
The Predator never really attacks Naru
About midway through "Prey," Naru comes to a startling conclusion while tied up to a tree with her brother: the Predator won't kill her because it doesn't see her as a threat. This ties into the overall theme of "Prey," in which Naru is constantly trying to prove her worth to those around her, while many of them see her as little more than someone who needs to learn her place within the tribe.
However, some fans were angered by this twist. In their negative review of the film, Bad Movie Reviews claimed, "The movie constantly panders to gender politics as apparently, in this movie, the Predator isn't attacking the female lead because it doesn't see her as a threat ... Since when does the Predator care about the gender of its victims?"
In the comment section for the same video, a user named Megatron 2000 noted that the Predator slaughtered "the injured guy" (referring to fur trapper Raphael) despite knowing he didn't have a weapon and was physically hampered. "He certainly wasn't a threat," Megatron explains, "but that didn't stop the predator from killing him." Others in the comments agree with another user arguing, "Don't let anyone fool you, Predators have attacked women with weapons in other movies only exception was P2 where the woman was pregnant and he didn't."
Raphael Adolini raises some important questions, then dies
In one particular way, "Prey" seems to be messing with "Predator" franchise lore, which is a bad idea when dealing with hardcore fandom. The character of Raphael Adolini plays a huge part in the franchise, at least in terms of comic books and spinoffs. See, Adolini was the name inscribed on the gun given to Danny Glover by one of the departing Predators at the end of "Predator 2," seemingly as a sign of respect. For years, fans wondered who this mysterious man was and why a Predator would carry around his weapon, clearly seeing it as some sort of prized trophy to be handed off when bested in combat.
As it turns out, the answers lie in a 1996 Dark Horse comic book titled "Predator: 1718" by Henry Gilroy and Igor Kordey, a storyline "Prey" completely ignores. Instead, the film features a man named Raphael (played by Bennett Taylor), who is killed in quick fashion by the Predator after handing his flintlock pistol to Naru. While it's neat to see the "Predator 2" Easter Egg in "Prey," the complete disregard for previous comic book canon has disappointed some, much like Disney's retconning of pre-existing "Star Wars" Expanded Universe stories.
Twitter user Deion_Slanders had praise for "Prey," but outlined the comic story for anyone who missed it. "The only hiccup with Prey is the origin of the gun," the Twitter thread reads. "Raphael Adolini is a Black Pirate in the Caribbean. He and the Predator, Greyback, the one that gave Danny Glover the gun as a prize in Predator 2 formed an unlikely team because Adolini's crew mutinied over treasure."
Naru takes out an entire group of French trappers
One of the coolest scenes in "Prey" features Naru taking out a group of French trappers using her throwing axe and some well-timed flips. Shot to look like one long take, the sequence is violent, gory and completely badass as Naru slices and dices enemies left and right without remorse.
Still, there were quite a few fans who decried the moment as unbelievable. Reddit user Ceez92 noted that Naru was mostly seen as "useless" by her tribe for much of the film, "Then when the movie calls for it she can suddenly slaughter a camp of 10 or so men in 45 seconds ... It would have been a better step imo for her to have been a capable hunter and warrior ... rather than making her instantly go into beast mode for the last 15-20 minutes."
Other have joked that Naru's abilities are more akin to Keanu Reeves' killer assassin in "John Wick" than a real-life Indigenous warrior. "Naru in 'Prey' is very obviously the founder of the assassins guild in John Wick," wrote user sabreunite on Twitter. "The obvious fact that John Wick, Predator, & Alien is a shared universe is basically the greatest gift 2022 could have given me."