By Jamie Miller
Hello again ladies, gentlemen and everyone in between. it is I, the would-be patron saint of pale-skinned paranormal enthusiasts Jamie Miller here with yet another issue of Nightlight. Now friends, as I have stated many times, I love action and horror movies. So as you can imagine “The Predator” franchise is one of my favorites. However, as the films went on they got worse and worse. “Predator” was phenomenal, “Predator 2” was still pretty good, and “Predators” was decent but not as good as the original. The “Alien vs. Predator” movies were in many ways wasted potential and “The Predator” was an abomination not even fit for the bargain bin at your local Walmart. So when I learned they were making yet another movie by the name of “Prey,” I was skeptical. I thought to myself, great, I wonder how they’ll screw it up even more, maybe they’ll bring back Arnold Schwarzenegger only to kill him off and replace him with a new hip Mary Sue type character like a lot of modern day entries in beloved franchises seem to do. Either way, I didn’t go in with high hopes. Thankfully, I was surprised. Blown away even.
“Prey,” which was released back on Aug. 5, tells the familiar tale of a sneaky alien hunter picking off dangerous targets one by one in increasingly brutal ways. This time around our hero is young Naru, a young Comanche woman who wants more than anything to be a great warrior for her tribe. She trains and hunts every chance she gets, yet most of her tribe still scoff at her. They think of her as little more than a child who should be staying at camp not in the middle of fights. However, Naru will get the chance to show her tribe that she is a warrior. In order to do this she will have to do battle with a threat from beyond our stars, a threat that considers hunting Xenomorphs fun.
“Prey” stars Amber Midthunder of “Legion” fame as Naru the resourceful heroine, and Dakota Beavers as Taabe, Naru’s brother, a skilled hunter and pride of their tribe. Michelle Thrush known for roles in “Forever Knight” and “Fargo” plays the part of Aruka, the mother of Taabe and Naru. Former basketball player Dane DiLiegro stars as what we fans are referring to as the feral predator. Bennet Taylor also appears in the role of Raphael Adolini, a translator for a group of French fur traders.
This movie was phenomenal! The action, the acting and the gore were all top notch and the feral predator was legit frightening. The creators genuinely understood what made the predator films work, there was no needlessly complicating the established lore and motivations like there was in “The Predator.” This film also gets points for being incredibly historically accurate aside from the giant skull clad alien hunter. This film also shows how you should write a strong female character. Naru is strong and confident but never veers into Mary Sue territory. She’s not perfect, she doesn’t dominate every fight she’s in. Heck, she gets the crap beat out of her more than once. Her strength lies in the fact that she gets up every time. It is just an awesome film. In fact, it’s such an awesome film I’m going to do something I’ve oddly never done before, I have to give it 10 torches out of 10. You need to watch this film.
