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Prey 2022 tries to be annoying to concervatives
October 14, 2025π 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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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)
Blender Dumbass
π 16 π¬ 114
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
Predator: Badlands 2025 is like Avatar 2009 but Horror
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/90/Predator_Badlands_Poster.jpg/250px-Predator_Badlands_Poster.jpg)
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Predator: Badlands is Dan Trachtenberg's third Predator movie after Prey 2022 and Killer of the Killers 2025. And strangely enough non of these movies have any kind of connection to one other. They are not sequels. They are stand alone films, different in style and tone. Telling different stories and having different structure. The only thing that binds them together, so to speak, is the fact that they are all technically a part of the Predator franchise.
#predatorBadlands #predator #ellefanning #DanTrachtenberg #horror #action #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Gone in 60 Seconds ( 1974 ) is an enjoyable mess
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0c/Gone_in_sixty_seconds_1974_movie_poster.jpg/250px-Gone_in_sixty_seconds_1974_movie_poster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
π 14
Watching the Nicolas Cage and Jerry Bruckheimer remake made me extremely curious to see the original Gone in 60 Seconds. And let me tell you that, the film is impressive when it comes to the shier production value H. B. Halicki ( writer, producer, director and star ) put into this film. But on the other hand the film is very hard to follow.
#goneinsixtyseconds #hbhalicki #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Was the 2014 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" directed by Michael Bay?
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/09/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_film_July_2014_poster.jpg/250px-Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_film_July_2014_poster.jpg)
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While Steven Spielberg was producing a Michael Bay film Transformers 4, Michael Bay was producing a Jonathan Liebesman 2014 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And like with a Spielberg-produced film The Poltergeist by Tobe Hooper about which people started claiming that Spielberg himself directed the movie in question. With the 2014 TMNT people started claiming Michael Bay was the actual director on this film. It is absolutely and utterly poetic that both Tobe Hooper and Jonathan Liebesman also made movies in the The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise.
#tmnt #michaelbay #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
The Lunacy of Buckaroo Banzai
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Blender Dumbass
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Few films come close to the shier amount of WTF moments as the 1984 W. D. Richter film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. The best way to describe this film is "WTF". Let me explain.
#BuckarooBanzai #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Rollerball 2002 at least attempted something
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1d/Rollerball_2002.jpg/250px-Rollerball_2002.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
π 11 π¬ 1
When looking at the poster of 2002 film Rollerball you ask yourself 2 questions: 1) Why somebody thought it would be a good idea? 2 ) Why this somebody is John McTiernan, the filmmaker that brought us classics like Predator and Die Hard?
#Rollerbal #JohnMcTiernan #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
How CuarΓ³n builds tension in Children of Men
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fc/Children_of_men_ver4.jpg/250px-Children_of_men_ver4.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
π 10 β€ 2 π¬ 2
2027 is around the corner and thank God babies are still being born. That is not the case in the 2006 Alfonso CuarΓ³n film Children of Men. Children of Men is bleak and depressing. It is without hope. Without hope, that was lost, long time ago, because children are not being born anymore. The world has gone to shit. The world has gone to shit because there are no children. There are no Children of Men.
#childrenofmen #AlfonsoCuaron #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
I don't remeber Wanted ( 2008 ) to be that good
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/98/Wanted_film_poster.jpg/250px-Wanted_film_poster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
π 61 π¬ 14
If you never was in post Soviet country in 2008 you don't know how much of a big deal this movie was. For Americans, I suppose, it was just another action film. For anybody who speaks Russian it was a miracle.
#wanted #TimurBekmambetov #JamesMcAvoy #AngelinaJolie #film #review #action #movies #cinemastodon
Ultraviolet 2006 is my guilty pleasure movie
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3a/Ultraviolet_poster.jpg/250px-Ultraviolet_poster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
π 14 β€ 1 π¬ 3
With 9% Rotten Tomatoes score 2006 Kurt Wimmer film Ultraviolet starring Milla Jovovich cannot possibly be any good, can it? Well I re-watched it for this review and while I somewhat see where the critics are coming from, I also have enjoyed the hell out of it.
#Ultraviolet #MillaJovovich #KurtWimmer #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Together 2025 is yet another Romantic Comedy disguised as a Horror film
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e0/Together_film_poster.jpg/250px-Together_film_poster.jpg)
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I see a trend lately with films like Spontaneous where it seems like the writer / director is trying to do a romantic comedy, but knows it is not going to sell, so the movie is sold as a horror film instead. Michael Shanks's 2025 film Together starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie is another such film.
#together #horror #film #review #movies #cinemastodon #davefranco #alisonbrie
DΓ©jΓ Vu 2006 is Tony Scott's Minority Report
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cf/DejaVuBigPoster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
π 13 π¬ 2
Tony Scott famously didn't care about the time travel plot of DΓ©jΓ Vu which freaked out the writers of the film. As they said, he cared more about the action and surveillance aspects of the movie. He famously cared a lot about surveillance, as visible from his previous Jerry Bruckheimer collaboration Enemy of the State. And that means, that a sort of sci-fi surveillance movie, marks DΓ©jΓ Vu as the closest thing Tony Scott did to Steven Spielberg's Minority Report.
#dejavu #tonyscott #DenzelWashington #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Lethal Weapon is what happens when a good screenwriter writes his first script
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d9/Lethal_weapon1.jpg/250px-Lethal_weapon1.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
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Directed by Richard Donner ( Superman, The Goonies ) from a script of Shane Black, Lethal Weapon is a film about cops. On the surface there is no concept to the movie what so ever. It is just simply a regular, straight forward police bromance. Yet somehow the movie moves.
#lethalweapon #film #review #movies #action #cinema #cinemastodon
Weapons 2025 should be nominated for best picture
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6d/Weapons_film_2025.jpeg/250px-Weapons_film_2025.jpeg)
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It is not often that a horror films appears to tickle the right nerves from the high-brow crowd of cinema critics. With 93% Rotten Tomatoes score though, it is safe to assume that Zach Cregger's Weapons from 2025 is one of those rare movies.
#weapons #horror #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Please Don't Feed the Children 2025 shows that Destry Spielberg has more balls than her father
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/79/Please_Don%27t_Feed_the_Children.jpg/250px-Please_Don%27t_Feed_the_Children.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
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Steven Spielberg directed some rather intense movies throughout his career. He made Duel in 1971 about a maniac truck driver. He made a blog-buster sensation Jaws in 1974. And he made films like Schindler's List and War of the Worlds that could be considered horror films. But he never did a true, scary horror film. My mother used to say that "Steven Spielberg is too sentimental to make truly scary movies". But that statement isn't true about his daughter Destry. 2025 film by Destry Allyn Spielberg Please Don't Feed the Children shows that she is capable to rival fucking Eli Roth if she wants to.
#PleaseDontFeedtheChildren #DestryAllynSpielberg #StevenSpielberg #horror #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Nomads (1986) is quentessencially 80s Citizen Kane
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/Nomadsposter.jpg)
Troler
π 9 β€ 1 π 1 π¬ 2
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.
#Nomad #BillConti #JohnMcTiernan #LesleyAnneDown #PierceBrosnan #AdamAnt #film #movies #review #cinemastodon
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