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Prey 2022 tries to be annoying to concervatives
October 14, 2025👁 16
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#Prey #Predator #movies #review #film #cinemastodon #DanTrachtenberg
by Blender Dumbass
Aka: J.Y. Amihud. A Jewish by blood, multifaceted artist with experience in film-making, visual effects, programming, game development, music and more. A philosopher at heart. An activist for freedom and privacy. Anti-Paternalist. A user of Libre Software. Speaking at least 3 human languages. The writer and director of the 2023 film "Moria's Race" and the lead developer of it's game sequel "Dani's Race".
8 Minute Read
The Predator franchise started its life as a masculine super-macho, mega-violent little B-Movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger. In my review of the first film, I even speculated, for a second, that it might have even been racist. Something that a certain side of political spectrum finds to be a quality of a movie. That certain side of the political spectrum really didn't get when Dan Trachtenberg decided, he is making a feminist, native-American movie in the same franchise.
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The film Prey ( which is a very fun play on words, considering the story the movie is telling ) is set in America before there was USA. The entire movie there is not a singe modern type of American. You have a native-American tribe ( that speaks English only so the audience will understand them ) and you have French colonizers. That's all.
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And more than that, the film's main character is a woman. A woman who is desperately trying to prove men, that she is as capable as they are. The film is asking way too much from the conservatives. Or even, it might be possible, the movie is specifically trying to be annoying to conservatives.
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So here is main issue people saying about it. Remember how Arnold Schwarzenegger with a full squad of Rambos had a hard time killing one Yautja? In this movie the Yautja is killed by one girl. Unrealistic, isn't it? Also what... there is a super-trained girl assassin? What is this, Marry Sue? What is going on? Where is the "realism"? Where is the "logic"?
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Well I guess Trachtenberg counted that conservatives would bring up specifically these issues. And he kind of made the movie in such a way as to almost count on the fact that conservatives would not watch it. So he could later giggle to himself with his friends, every time somebody brings up any of the criticisms I just brought up. Because those criticisms are kind of invalid when it comes to the movie itself.
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I mean, yes. She does defeat the damn Yautja. And yes, she is trying to prove her people that she is as capable as the men. But it is not a simple Marry Sue story.
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Our main character Naru ( Amber Midthunder who may know from Novicaine ) is a teenage-ish girl in a native-American tribe somewhere in the forest. She is a cook and a doctor. But she wants to be a hunter. For that she needs to graduate through a hunting ritual. She needs to hunt something that is hunting her.
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By the way, her casting is fucking amazing. She is just about cute enough and just about angry enough to achieve the "short orgasmic blackout". A thing that happens to me when I see characters just like her. They make my brain very happy for some reason. Maybe I need to see a therapist. Anyway...
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The funny thing is, she is kind of pathetic. She knows how to throw an axe. And she is rather smart. But her battle inexperience makes her rather clumsy in the beginning of the film. Only by the end of the film she becomes a descent fighter, through going through shit. So it isn't a Marry Sue story per se.
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Now, does she become such a great fighter as to defeat a fucking Yautja? No. What we get is a her problem solving skills combined with the little bit of fighting skill she has. Which ultimately defeats the damn ugly motherfucker.
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For example, in the original film, Arny defeats the motherfucker by getting dirty in cold mud, making Arny invisible for the Yautja. Leveling the playing field, so to speak. Since those Predators have an invisibility tech on them. Here in Prey Naru finds out that a drug that she is using to stop people from bleeding ( that makes their blood colder ) makes those people invisible to the Yautja. We do have a mandatory mud sequence. But that is used for a different thing.
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In a way, she uses all the information she observes about the forest and the creature, to trick the creature. To play mind-games with the creature. To ultimately have a chance to defeat the motherfucker. Yes, she needs to use her body here and there to stub him and stuff. But that "fighting" was never a part of the killing plan. She didn't want to stab him to death. She wanted to stab him, to manipulate him into trying to kill her. Which she used to kill him. Kind of using his own weapon against him in a way.
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When she saw ( toward the beginning of the film ) that this motherfucker can kill a bear with his bare hands ( shit... I want to say how I came with this pun intentionally. But unfortunately no pun intended. lol ), she knew that she can't fuck with him. There is no way in hell. She even says this to her brother later in the film. She literally doesn't believe anyone can kill it. But as her brother ( Dakota Beavers, I couldn't come up with a better name, lol ), does a reference to the first film, by telling her "if it bleeds, we can kill it", she starts to think that maybe she can possibly come up with something. Maybe some trap, or sorts. Something that she can do with her mind, rather than her physical strength. And that is exactly what ends up happening in the end of the film.
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I could say that Trachtenberg made a slight directorial mistake. In the final battle, there are moments where Naru does fight the creature here and there, while trying to force him into the trap of hers. And you kind of start thinking about the fact that the creature isn't fighting as well as he used to fight when killing all of the unnamed background characters earlier. It is not illogical per se. She did take her drug, which makes her invisible for him. And therefor he is a bit clumsy when trying to kill her. But Trachtenberg seemingly forgets to show it clearly. There are no shots of the Yautja's POV during the battle, which reminds the audience that he can't see her. We kind of have to remember the fact that she took the drug earlier. And actually flex a little to understand how everything works.
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The film does show the drug in action earlier, before the fight, once. There is a POV shot, where Yautja sees a different character, but not Naru, who just took the drug. Maybe, an argument could be made that refusing the constantly remind people of the fact that he can't see her, is Trachtenberg respecting the audience.
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Or you can theorize a completely different thing. Maybe Trachtenberg refused to remind people of the drug, to catch conservatives.
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Think about it, Trachtenberg specifically makes a movie that annoys the fuck out of the conservatives. The period of time is chosen to annoy them. The main character is chosen to annoy them. The main character's main motivation is chosen to annoy them. And then all of the criticisms that he knew they will have, are addressed, but are addressed in such a way that you actually need to watch the movie and focus on it to notice them. If you simply skim it, to make an angry post about how "unrealistic" or "illogical" it is due to all of the things the movie is going for, well... then... I'm sorry, but the joke is on you.
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Happy Hacking!!!
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How didn't I know about Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec?
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/da/Adele_Blanc-sec_Louise_Bourgoin_Luc_Besson.jpg/250px-Adele_Blanc-sec_Louise_Bourgoin_Luc_Besson.jpg)
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D'une manière ou d'une autre, je ne connaissais pas le film de Luc Besson 2010 Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec. Excusez mon français. I will continue in English now. I just had a pleasure of listening to people speak French for 2 hours straight, because I just learned about the existence of a movie that for some reason passed my radar. As you know I'm a big enough Luc Besson fan that sometimes I take his personal life blunders personally. I knew about his more obscure Arthur films. And I am anticipating his upcoming 2 films, that nobody seem to know nothing about. But somehow only now I heard about the 2010 Luc Besson film The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec.
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Predator: Killer of Killers knows how to do a lot with very little
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9c/Predator%2C_Killer_of_Killers.jpeg/250px-Predator%2C_Killer_of_Killers.jpeg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 58 💬 4
It seems like the movie Trachtenberg was going for here was way too risky and way too ambitious for a studio to green-light it normally. But if he can do that on a fraction of budget. As animation. And not a budget, something like Pixar uses for their ultra-realistic stuff and fluent motion. But on a fraction of that. He can use the trend of animating on-twos and making everything painterly, to cut all of the corners necessary to make this insane movie with the small amount of money that he is given.
#predator #killerOfKillers #PredatorKillerOfKillers #animation #film #movies #cinemastodon #review #DanTrachtenberg
Children of Men (2006) predicts the present
![[thumbnail]](/pictures/user_upload/Troler/LTQZI6WA62O2EPCB.jpg)
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👁 14 ❤ 2 🔄 1 💬 5
When I came to watch Alfonso Cuarón's dystopian film Children of Men, the UK depicted seemed quite up par to what I've heard. That UK had outlawed immigration. Looking at the present day land, if not for influx of migrants, the Kingdom would become a Kill-dome with how fast the population is aging. No need for a world-wide infertility disease.
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Prey 2022 tries to be annoying to concervatives
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f4/Prey_2022_poster.png/250px-Prey_2022_poster.png)
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The Predator franchise started its life as a masculine super-macho, mega-violent little B-Movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger. In my review of the first film, I even speculated, for a second, that it might have even been racist. Something that a certain side of political spectrum finds to be a quality of a movie. That certain side of the political spectrum really didn't get when Dan Trachtenberg decided, he is making a feminist, native-American movie in the same franchise.
#Prey #Predator #movies #review #film #cinemastodon #DanTrachtenberg
Until Dawn is good if you cut out the beginning
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fc/Until_Dawn_%282025%29_poster.jpg/250px-Until_Dawn_%282025%29_poster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 11
I enjoyed the movie. The actors were more than good enough, apart from the first scene. The director is phenomenal, especially at this kind of stuff. The image looks good. I dislike the fact that it is Sony. But what the hell. The film overall is kind of amazing.
#untilldawn #davidfsandberg #film #review #movies #horror #cinemastodon
Dissecting Chernobyl 2019 episode 1
![[thumbnail]](/pictures/user_upload/Troler/J0QVIYWKZ8DDTSDQ.png)
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This is why I'm going to speak about the Nuclear Power Plant of V. I. Lenin 2019 historical drama television miniseries called Chernobyl. But It'll be done differently. There'll be no description of how the screenplay was adapted, only the plot and script itself.
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My Neighbor Adolf 2022 expresses the longing for peace
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/18/My_Neighbor_Adolf.png/250px-My_Neighbor_Adolf.png)
Blender Dumbass
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My Neighbor Adolf is an Israeli, English language film about an old Jew living in Argentina, who got a new neighbor, who has a striking resemblance to Adolf Hitler. And it is about the paranoid obsession of this man with his neighbor.
#myneighboradolf #leon #udokier #film #movies #review #cinemastodon
Ambulance 2022 is a fucking masterpiece
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d2/Ambulance_film_poster.jpg/220px-Ambulance_film_poster.jpg)
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Critics often think Michael Bay doesn't give a damn about characters, but how can you believe that when everything in the film is shut deliberately to be from a perspective of a character? Michael Bay is Lars Von Trier of action. Lars uses strange chaotic camera work and weird editing choices to elevate the emotion on screen and Michael Bay uses chaotic camera work and weird editing choices to elevate the emotions too. If you take him seriously everything clicks into place. It's just Michael Bay likes it louder.
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Blue Steel 1990 is the seed that grew into the reason Avatar didn't win best picture
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/37/Blue_Steel_%281990_film%29.jpg/250px-Blue_Steel_%281990_film%29.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 12 ❤ 3 🔄 1 💬 3
So it's 1990 and Kathryn Bigelow writes and directs an action thriller about a police officer. The police officer is female and the movie almost refuses to sexualize her. Bigelow casts a nice half-Jewish girl Jamie Lee Curtis. And pretty much the whole movie, not a single shot of her emphasizes or admires her body ( apart from one sex scene where we see a very erotic closeup of her stomach ). Making that movie technically feminist. Few years later, in 1994, as James Cameron ( who was married to Bigelow between 1989 and 1991 ) is trying to find the actor to play the wife in his film True Lies. He is reminded of Blue Steel by Bigelow. And decides to cast Jamie Lee Curtis in his film. Giving us that very strange, almost pornographic scene where she does a very erotic strip-tease scene with Arnold Schwarzenegger. More than a decade later, in 2009, both Bigelow and Cameron make a movie. And both of those movies are nominated for the best picture. Yet Bigelow takes home the price. Did Cameron lose due to his pussy curse?
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What is the meaning of "The Lovely Bones" 2009 by Peter Jackson?
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9e/Lovely_bones_ver2.jpg/250px-Lovely_bones_ver2.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
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In my review of Transformers 4 I touched upon the uncanny resemblance of it to Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones. I have not seen the movie when I did that. I knew it existed. I knew what it was about. I've only seen it now, for the first time. And the uncanny resemblance ( as in, the father is played once again by Mark Wahlberg and the villain is played once again by Stanley Tucci and we have Steven Spielberg's involvement ) is rather strange. It begs a rather profound question, what was the point to make the movie?
#TheLovelyBones #PeterJackson #SaoirseRonan #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Nomads (1986) is quentessencially 80s Citizen Kane
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/Nomadsposter.jpg)
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The movie is not told by walking to various unreliable witnesses. The second protagonist, Dr. Eileen Flax (Lesley-Anne Down) just gets the pieces of the visions, as if this was some sort of Edgar Wright film.
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The 1933 film itself is not too special. For its time, there's a lot to laud. Comparing what Peter Jackson would do later, there's night and day. I do not mean the special effects, which are exceptional.
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