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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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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
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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
Frankenstein 2025 is... wow... just wow!
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/94/Frankenstein_2025_film_poster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
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Let's get this out of the way: Guillermo del Toro knows how to make a movie. The man is a fucking genius. And yet it seems apart from just being technically proficient, he is also a master of making corruption of the audience emotionally satisfying. Let me explain.
#Frankenstein #GuillermodelToro #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Final Destination ( 2000 ) is a suprisingly well directed movie
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a3/Final_Destination_movie.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
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There is this hype wave over the Final Destination franchise because of a new movie that was released in the series. At first I resisted it, but then I saw a few shots from the opening of the first film, directed by James Wong and thought that it was actually something good, that at least worth my attention.
#finaldestination #jameswong #film #movies #review #cinemastodon
Is "The BFG" 2016 about the Epstein files?
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/af/The_BFG_poster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
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2016's Steven Spielberg movie The BFG ( or the Big Friendly Giant ) is about a relationship between a little girl ( played by Ruby Barnhill ) and a giant old man ( played by Sir Mark Rylance in his second collaboration with Spielberg ). At some point the movie becomes about a conspiracy to manipulate the Queen of England herself ( played by Penelope Wilton ) to use her help, so that haters of BFG's relationship with the girl will be defeated with military force. So obviously it begs the question: Is this movie actually about Jeffery Epstein?
#thebfg #RoaldDahl #StevenSpielberg #Epstein #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Machete 2010 is about US politics of 2025 somehow
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6f/Machete_poster.jpg/250px-Machete_poster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
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An exploitation film is a film that exploits some talked about fear or trend in culture in order to sell tickets to a movie that is probably not very good. Exploitation films are usually low budget, badly made B-movies, with a certain charm to them, if you like Tommy Wiseau's work. 2010's Robert Rodriguez film Machete is, somewhat of an intentional attempt at recreating the exploitation film phenomenon. Which exploits US politics of 2025, somehow. ( Rodriguez must have a time machine somewhere in his studio ).
#Machete #RobertRodriguez #film #review #movies #cinemastodon #trump #uspol #kirk #ice
Bad Boys 1995 is a Tarantino picture gone Bayhem!
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a8/Bad_Boys.jpg/250px-Bad_Boys.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
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The first thing you notice when watching Michael Bay's directorial debut Bad Boys is that the movie is not trying to be a Michael Bay film. There was no Michael Bay films prior to it. Bay was doing music videos and commercials before this film. And while those do have some of the style Bay will eventually bring over to his cinema pictures, here it seems he is actually trying something else entirely. The best analogy for the movie would be Tony Scott's 1993 film True Romance written by Quentin Tarantino.
#badboys #michaelbay #willsmith #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Iron Lung undersells itself
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/af/Iron_Lung_%28film%29_poster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 17 ❤ 4 🔄 2 💬 4
Watching the trailer of Markiplier's Iron Lung movie made a certain type of impression on me. The movie is obviously low budget. The set looks hilarious ( outside of the context or the source material ). And shot choices look rather amateurish. Watching Iron Lung itself, on the other hand, makes me believe that Mark Fischbach ( Markiplier ), the writer and director of this movie, had a cinematic Ace up his sleeve. And he was just playing the long game.
#markiplier #ironlung #film #review #movies #horror #cinemastodon #games #youtube
Trap 2024: oh... M. Night Shyamalan is Back, Baby!
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5e/Trap_2024_%28film_poster%29.jpg/250px-Trap_2024_%28film_poster%29.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
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We are living in the most exciting era when it comes to M. Night Shyamalan. The era I would call "A lottery". M. Night started strong. Critical acclaim and commercial success hit him hard, when he was a young film-maker. They were calling him "the next Spielberg". Then doubt possessed his sole. Some critics said something about something he did. And there he went. On a downward spiral towards the bottom. The Happening, The Last Airbender, After Earth... M. Night never truly recovered from this turmoil. He did great films since: The Visit, Split, Knock at the Cabin. But he then made strangely not so great films in between: Glass, Old, the strangely The Happening esque ending of Knock at the Cabin. Going today to an M. Night Shyamalan movie is truly a lottery. You never know what you are gonna get. With Trap we all got a fucking jack-pot!
#trap #mnightshyamalan #shyamalan #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Broken Wings ( 2002 ) is satisfyingly depressing
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7e/BrokenWINGS.jpg/250px-BrokenWINGS.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
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There is a feeling I'm chasing sometimes that only a few things can give me. A feeling of satisfying depression. Films like Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, or Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away give me that feeling to some extent in some of the sequences. But Nir Bergman's 2002 film Broken Wings gives it all throughout.
#BrokenWings #film #movies #review #cinemastodon
F1 is suprisingly relatable
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/38/F1_%282025_film%29.png/250px-F1_%282025_film%29.png)
Blender Dumbass
👁 16 💬 2
As you probably figured out, the movie is about racing. It is kind of similar to Ford v Ferrari where you have an underdog team trying to compete on a race with Ferrari to win the race. In this case though, Ferrari was not the fastest car on the track. The fastest one was from Red Bull. And not just from Red Bull. It was Lewis Hamilton who is an actual real F1 driver, who also played himself in the film and who was one of the producers on the film.
#F1 #racing #movie #film #review #movies #cinemastodon #BradPitt #JavierBardem #JosephKosinski #formula1
Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood 2019 is Tarantino respecting the audience
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a6/Once_Upon_a_Time_in_Hollywood_poster.png/250px-Once_Upon_a_Time_in_Hollywood_poster.png)
Blender Dumbass
👁 47 💬 1
People often complain about dumb movies with too much unnecessary spoon-feeding. We get so much explaining and over-explaining that the brain hurts sometimes. You already know what is going on. You are following the story. You don't need no god damned reminder of what you are watching. And yet the studio heads still think that you are too dumb to understand what's going on in front of you on the screen. Respecting the audience on the other hand is a leap of faith on a part of a film-maker and only the greatest do that well. Quentin Tarantino with his 2019 film Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood takes the hardest such leap of his career.
#OnceUponaTimeinHollywood #QuentinTarantino #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
She Rides Shotgun 2025 is a hidden gem of near perfection
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7d/She_Rides_Shotgun_poster.jpg/250px-She_Rides_Shotgun_poster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 16 ❤ 1 💬 22
I'm furious! How the fuck nobody knows about the 2025 Nick Rowland film She Rides Shotgun starring Ana Sophia Heger and Taron Egerton? What the fuck is this? This movie is so good, yet because studio-heads apparently didn't get it, there was no advertising for it. And only a limited theatrical run. Which resulted in very little people seeing the damn film in the cinema. This fucking film! Are you fucking kidding me? They have fucking best picture Oscar material, and yet they try to hide it from everybody? What the fuck is wrong with you, Lionsgate? Fuck!
#SheRidesShotgun #AnaSophiaHeger #TaronEgerton #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
The Rock 1996 is Michael Bay's James Bond movie
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/82/The_Rock_%28movie%29.jpg/250px-The_Rock_%28movie%29.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 16 ❤ 1 💬 4
The Rock by Michael Bay is about an FBI chemist agent ( Nicolas Cage ) who calls for help from an old retired British Intelligence Agent played by Sean Connery himself. No wander there are theories that this agent character could be James Bond, making this film a kind of unofficial Bayhem!ed sequel to Connery Bond films. It's not like he didn't play James Bond outside of the main franchise. He did play James Bond in Never Say Never Again which is a real James Bond film, which is not a part of the main franchise. So maybe, possibly, he did that again here too. We will never know.
#TheRock #MichaelBay #NicolasCage #JamesBond #SeanConnery #QuentinTarantino #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
What "Zero Motivation" tell us about the self-awareness of the IDF?
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/81/Zero_Motivation_POSTER.jpg/250px-Zero_Motivation_POSTER.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 10 ❤ 3 🔄 1 💬 8
Due to the renewed interest of the public in the conflict at the middle east, some filmmakers tried pushing and pulling a political pendulum when it comes to accepting / boycotting Israeli film-makers. It is known that film-makers ( being in the art of empathy ) usually tend to be on a progressive side. That makes a concept of an "Israeli filmmaker" a rather strange thing to fathom. But since we see filmmakers from far more restrictive parts of the middle-east find ways to speak their true minds about complex topics, despite heavy censorship, there is no shortage of progressive Israeli films. One of them Zero Motivation ( אפס ביחסי אנוש ), a tale about IDF itself, has some rather interesting points. No... Not the ones you might expect.
#אפס ביחסי אנוש #zeromotivation #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
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