Prey has swiftly become the highest-rated Predator movie of all time, according to critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
The fifth installment of the Predator franchise was released on the American streaming service Hulu back on August 5, much to the delight of sci-fi fans.
There was much anticipation and buzz after it was first revealed that Prey would star many up-and-coming Native American actors. Hulu even released a version that would be dubbed in Comanche, the mother language of the Native tribe in the film.
Prey is set 300 years in the past, and follows the story of a young Comanche woman, Naru (played by actor Amber Midthunder, a Fort Peck Sioux Tribe member), who takes it upon herself to protect her tribe from being hunted by the Predator that is taking over their land.
The film has set high standards for Native American representation. In fact, Prey has become the first film in cinematic history with a full dub in Comanche. Not only this, but it is also the first film to premiere in English and a Native language simultaneously.
This is due to the efforts of director Dan Trachtenberg, who wanted to ensure that the portrayal of Comanche warriors was as accurate as possible.
Dakota Beavers, who plays Naru's brother, told Variety: "I saw certain people talking before the previews came out about, ‘How are these people with sticks and rocks supposed to be able to defeat the Predator?' And I would like people to know that they were intelligent. They were very capable people."
The original film, Predator, was released in 1987 and starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as Major Alan Schaefer (aka "Dutch"), a Vietnam veteran tasked with rescuing a group of US politicians held hostage in a Guatemalan rainforest.
Predator consistently appears on 'best of' lists, and has become a cult favorite of sci-fi fans. At the time of its release, it had a budget of $15 million, and raked in a cool $98.3 million at the box office.
So far, Schwarzenegger's film is ranked #2 in the Predator franchise, with film critics rating it an admirable 80%. As of this week, Prey has taken over the original, with an impressively high Rotten Tomato "Certified Fresh" rating of 93%.
Film critics, such as James Dyer of Empire, have highly praised the latest film for not following the tired cliche of testosterone-fuelled machine gun fights and "oiled-up musclemen with biceps" that made up the first film.
Instead, Dyer commended the latest installment on its incorporation of a female lead who does not rely on shows of masculinity to prove her worthiness as a warrior.
Even amateur film critics have taken to Twitter to rave about Prey, congratulating the film on its casting, cinematography, and costumes.
One fan tweeted, "Prey might have given us the most BADASS predator look ever."
"#PreyMovie slaps so damn hard! A truly brilliant installment to the Predator franchise. It's beautiful, epic, fun and absolutely kickass. Amber Midthunder is amazing in the lead and the cinematography and brutal action is on point. Easily one of my faves this year," another user commented.
Many viewers were impressed with the Comanche dubbed version of the film, which was actually dubbed by the film's actors themselves. "Not only did #Prey release with a Comanche dub, Dan Trachtenberg [sic] got the WHOLE cast to come back dub their voices themselves. That is actually so sick," one account posted.
Die-hard fans of the sci-fi franchise even noticed a clever throwback to the original 1987 film; when one of the Comanche warriors repeats Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous line: "If it bleeds, we can kill it."
Thankfully, Prey has managed to revive the sci-fi franchise. The other three films haven't ranked so high; with the fourth flick in 2007 receiving scores as low as 12%.
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