Prey (Predator 5)

[Bottled_Water]

7.5 for me.

In short the first half was great, even 3/4 of the way through I was still enjoying it, but the last 15/20 minutes lost me.

Naru was great. She had to persevere through her failings as opposed to being naturally good at everything she does. She also had moments of doubt, such as when she learned the Predator didn't see her as a threat, until she realized that that gave her a great advantage. The actor was mostly good, though for some reason she seemed a tad too modern compared to the others (perhaps because of her speech/accent?).

The fight scenes were phenomenal, far better than in any other Predator film (personal opinion of course).

The scenery and cinematography were also top notch.

The issues I have revolve around the final confrontation. The mud camouflage was always a bit silly, but what's more silly is a herb that is able to make one's blood turn so cold it doesn't give off any heat. The body would go into hyperthermia, yet she wasn't even shivering. Secondly, the final battle ends far to quickly. The thing that made Predator's final act so engaging was the hunter/hunted game Arnold and the Predator were playing, with both characters switching back and forth between being the hunter and the hunted. There is none of that here, or at least very very little of it. The battle starts, and in a few moments it's over.

At the end of the day I'd recommend giving it a watch, I'd probably rank it above Predator 2.

[ZenLogikos]

Easily second or third best Predator. Is that really saying a lot though?

But I enjoyed it. As mentioned, the cinematography, especially in the first half, is great.

The Pred becomes less of a hunter in the second half though. He just starts wading into combat, like a videogame character. Points off for that.

Oh, and when she uses the last Frenchman as bait, and lowers her body temp with the drug...makes no sense. The Pred should still have been able to see her standing there, albeit with lowered body heat (appearing 'dead')...which would be a red flag because she's...STANDING! He can still make out shapes of things, otherwise he'd being tripping over foliage and running into trees constantly. lol

The mud didn't make Arnold or Adrian Brody invisible, it made them harder to discern from the ambient environment. Arnold was in amongst branches. He just didn't stand out with the mud applied.

[Bottled_Water]

Originally Posted by ZenLogikos

Easily second or third best Predator. Is that really saying a lot though?

But I enjoyed it. As mentioned, the cinematography, especially in the first half, is great.

The Pred becomes less of a hunter in the second half though. He just starts wading into combat, like a videogame character. Points off for that.

Oh, and when she uses the last Frenchman as bait, and lowers her body temp with the drug...makes no sense. The Pred should still have been able to see her body, with lowered body heat, but appearing dead...however - STANDING...which should be a red flag. He can still make out shapes of things, otherwise he'd being tripping over foliage and running into trees constantly. lol

The mud didn't make Arnold or Adrian Brody invisible, it made them harder to discern from the ambient environment. Arnold was in amonsgt branches. He just didn't stand out with the mud applied.

You make a good point. In the first film, the Predator's thermal vision was low quality (due to it being the 80s most likely); however, in this film we can see things quite clearly, even if they're not giving off heat. I did question how she knew it had something to do with the herbs, as the french guy was playing dead amongst several other dead french guys. She could have easily assumed it was the act of playing dead instead of heat.

[ZenLogikos]

While I'm thinking of it, I happened to enjoy the callbacks.

Two that haven't been mentioned - when Naru falls in the mud the first time, meant to make you think she's going to use the same technique as Arnold, but it's a fakeout, since she washes it off the very next scene. And then, at the end at the same mud location, she says "do it", goading the Predator.

That scene was little hokey though as it relied on too precise positioning of the Predator to work. Wasn't as well laid out as Arnold's trap.

By the way, I wouldn't anticipate a follow-up. The end indicated that the Pred ships returned, likely to clean up the mess, eradicate that tribe, and take the gun. I guess you could film that, but it would probably be redundant.

[NorthernLadMSP]

I really enjoyed it. 8/10 for me.

[azurepred]

I have it as P1, P2 and then Prey.

We can sit here and nit pick dumb stuff like the antigen that makes her blood turn so cold that the Pred can't see her. Let's not forget that mud can't hide someone's body heat in reality too, so there is going to be stuff like that in all Predator movies.


The Pred looked bad ass (minus having the ugliest mug of them all), had boss weapons and there were plenty of cool kills. None of the actors in this movie were annoying, which was a huge plus compared to more recent movies.

Like Damien mentioned, I would've loved to see more expansion to the Pred culture here. That was kind of a missed opportunity and has been for awhile. We don't need to know everything about Predators, but a little more would help excite fans imo. There is a lot of potential there. It just feels like an improvement to the recent franchise, but doesn't move it anywhere. I loved the easter egg pistol at the end. We always see the Predator die; I felt this would be a good opportunity for them to fight it out and he just barely survives. This could have maybe been a great opportunity to bring a Machiko character into the Predator universe??

8/10 for me......

[IcedDog]

I liked it quite a bit. The photography was excellent, and the predator design with that bone-covered visor was great. The Comanche angle was refreshing, and Amber Midthunder (love that name) was good in the role. Predator 2 definitely had its moments, but I think this tops it...the original is still a ways better, but that's a really high bar, so no shame.

I'll make it three in a row...8/10

[Iko Iko]

I don't know if it was a great movie but it wasn't a train wreck either. i was pretty engaged from the start. I sort of wish they could have had a little more money for the budget and had another script doctor tighten it up.

I especially enjoyed the fight scenes and liked the nature vs. tech theme. I also thought the Predator looked pretty cool. The main actress was pretty good overall (I also enjoyed her on the tv show Legion).

Overall, 7/10.

[protector2814]

Really enjoyed it. More than made up for all the Predator movies that followed the 1st. This is definitely the 2nd best in the series. Beautiful to watch & the star was amazing.

[SDguy]

Watched it last night. Loved it. Agree with everyone else, visually beautiful. I'm still on the fence with the unmasked predator design. He's just so fugly, and I'm not sure I love the weirdly angled, large eyes, and insect like mandibles.