Prey (2022 Film)

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About

Prey (2022) is a science-fiction horror film directed by Dan Trachtenberg and starring Amber Midthunder who plays the protagonist Naru. The story is the fifth installment of the Predator movie franchise and acts as a prequel to the first four films. The straight-to-streaming film was accused of using the trope of a Mary Sue protagonist by several reviewers in the weeks leading up to its release, but ultimately received overwhelmingly favorable audience and critical reviews after it premiered on Hulu in early August 2022.

History

Development for Prey began before the release of The Predator (2018), with screenwriter Patrick Aison and 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg approaching producers with an idea for a prequel to the Predator series. The film then began production under the codename Skulls and under the premise of a "Comanche woman … (going) against gender norms and traditions to become a warrior."

On November 12th, 2021, the film was given the title Prey and announced for a 2022 release on Hulu and Disney+. The teaser for Prey was released on May 16th, 2022, by YouTube^[1] channel Rotten Tomatoes Trailers, and gathered over 300,000 views in two months. The trailer for Prey was released subsequently on the 20th Century Studio's YouTube^[2] channel on June 7th, 2022, and gathered over 8 million plays in two months (see below). On July 21st, 2022, the Prey premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con and the film was released on August 5th on Hulu to generally favorable reviews.

Reception

The film received positive critic reviews, with an aggregated critic score of 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.^[3] As of August 8th, 2022, the film had an 81 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and an average rating of 7.3 on IMDb.^[4]

Online Presence

"Mary Sue / Wokeism" Accusations

Prey received harsh reviews in the weeks leading up to its release, with a host of internet movie reviewers accusing the film of being "woke," "pandering" and the lead character of being a Mary Sue. Reviewers were critical of what they speculated would be a girlboss feature film with unrealistically skewed fight scenes.

On May 16th, 2022, YouTube^[5] channel "Geeks + Gamers" released a reaction video to the teaser for Prey where host Josiah Swanson pans the film, citing "a lot of red flags," which include what he calls "woke themes." He goes on to speculate about whether the film would set up a "man versus woman" dichotomy or an "overpowered woman warrior" trope. The video has over 60,000 views as of August 8th, 2022 (seen below, left). His critical review is mirrored in a video released on June 8th on his own YouTube^[6] channel "JosiahRises," with over 60,000 views in two months (seen below, right).

On May 20th, 2022, YouTuber^[7] "The Critical Drinker" released a video on his alternate channel "Critical Drinker After Hours" that also gives a negative review to the teaser trailer, speculating that the Predator is "going to be battling these Native Americans (…) and then a bunch of (…) white invaders are going to show up (…) and the Predator's going to stop and say 'Wait, these are the real enemy.'" The video has approximately 200,000 views as of August 8th, 2022 (seen below, left). The YouTuber goes on to give the trailer a negative review on his main YouTube^[8] channel as well, releasing a video on June 13th titled "Prey Trailer – Doesn't Look Great." The video has over 1 million views as of August 8th, 2022 (seen below, right). The Critical Drinker also released a review on August 8th after viewing the film, in a video titled "Prey – No Masterpiece But Surprisingly Good."^[9] The video gathered approximately 200,000 views in five hours.

Favorable Reactions

On June 7th, 2022, YouTube^[10] channel "AngryJoeShow" released a reaction video to the trailer for Prey, giving it a favorable review and expressing excitement at the idea of Native American lore making an appearance in the Predator canon. The video gathered over 130,000 views and 5000 likes in two months. YouTube reviewers Chris Stuckmann^[11] and Jeremy Jahns^[12] gave the film favorable reviews on August 8th and August 4th as well, commending its return to the original Predator films' genre-bending horror-survival themes. Their videos received over 200,000 (see below, left) and 500,000 (see below, right) views respectively.

Reactions from fans of the film started pouring in after the film's streaming release on August 5th. Several viewers commended the movie's depiction of Native American Comanche culture, a tribe known for being fierce warriors, and its depiction of a female lead in the vein of Ripley from the original Alien movie franchise.

Other fans commented on critical reactions from popular film reviewers. On August 5th, Twitter^[13] user @swifferwetjet2k tweeted a now removed segment from a video by YouTuber Tyrone Magnus's review of Prey, saying "Tyrone Magnus’s Prey review beginning with him screaming “Mary Sueeee” at the top of his lungs tells me that the movie is probably good and I should watch it." "Mary Sue" is a derogatory character trope used to describe an author-insert character that skews the canonical facts of a fictional setting. The term originated from Star Trek fan fiction written by young teens.