Bloody 'Predator' prequel 'Prey' features cheer-worthy Indigenous hero

The 35-year-old "Predator" film franchise goes back in time and gets back to basics with its lean, mean and thrilling new prequel, "Prey."

Set in 1719 on the Northern Great Plains of the Comanche Nation, the latest installment of the bloody sci-fi series introduces a hero worth rooting for in Naru (Amber Midthunder, Netflix's “The Ice Road,” The CW's "Roswell, New Mexico"), a would-be Comanche warrior.

A skilled healer and tracker, Naru is determined to prove herself a capable hunter like her male peers. Her widowed mother, Aruka (Michelle Thrush, “The Journey Home”), would prefer that Naru stick to the safer, more traditional path of gathering. When Aruka wonders why becoming a warrior is so important to her daughter, Naru defiantly replies "because you all think that I can't."

Surprisingly, Naru's older brother, Taabe (newcomer Dakota Beavers), a revered young hunter and leader in their tribe, respects his sister's skills and supports her aims. He knows she has a sharp, strategic mind and has long trained for combat in solitude, with her loyal dog Sarii as her only companion.

So, when an aggressive mountain lion seems to be threatening the tribe’s hunting parties, Taabe invites Naru to help track the marauding cat and take part in the coming-of-age ritual of hunting something that hunts her back.

Naru's plan to kill the cougar is thwarted when she is distracted by mysterious lights in the sky. Of course, no one believes her claims about seeing an unidentified flying object — or pays any heed to her concerns about a viciously skinned snake or a gruesomely mutilated bison herd.

But Naru persists and discovers that a spacefaring Predator, one of the universe's fiercest and ugliest trophy hunters, has arrived on Earth. Boasting the species' signature cloaking armor and early versions of their brutally advanced weapons, the alien huntsman (Dane DiLiegro, “American Horror Stories”) is on a mission to hunt and kill the planet's apex predators.

And that means Naru, her tribe and a pack of interloping French trappers are all in danger of becoming his prey.

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg ("10 Cloverfield Lane") and written by Patrick Aison ("Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan"), "Prey" is the best movie in the beleaguered "Predator" series since the 1987 original starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers.

Despite the vast differences in time frame and technology, the new installment gets back to the basics of what made "Predator" so enjoyable in the first place: the cat-and-mouse suspense of the hunter on the prowl, the horror movie thrills of the creatively gory kills and the display of human ingenuity that allows our protagonist to ultimately defeat the more powerful alien foe.

Filmed in the Stoney Nakoda Nation near Calgary, Alberta, Canada, "Prey" boasts several pulse-pounding action sequences, from a chase through the waving wheatgrass and a savage smackdown between the Predator and a massive bear to a precariously sticky situation in a mud pit and a tense showdown cloaked in fog and smoke.

Midthunder, who is Sahiya Nakoda, is tasked with practically carrying the film — and arguably the future of the franchise — on her shoulders, and she rises to the challenge with aplomb. She's a standout addition to the small but growing number of female cinematic action heroes.

With the film's tight focus on Naru, the prequel's supporting characters are thinly drawn and underdeveloped. But the cast is primarily First Nations performers, and at least they aren't boxed into the usual overused stereotypes of Native Americans we're so used to seeing on screen.

Following recent releases like “Reservation Dogs,” “Rutherford Falls," “Wild Indian" and "Dark Winds," "Prey" marks another step in the right direction in film and television representation of Indigenous peoples. Produced by Jhane Myers, a Comanche and Blackfeet artist, dancer and filmmaker who hails from Oklahoma, the movie boasts a cheer-worthy Indigenous hero, authentically recreates 18th-century Comanche culture and celebrates the warrior spirit and fighting prowess of Native Americans.

The film even incorporates several Comanche words — the characters mostly speak English, and the mix of languages sometimes gets a bit tricky — and a dubbed version of the movie entirely in Comanche will be available upon its Aug. 5 release on Hulu.

Although that's a trailblazing moment made possible by streaming — Myers said it's the first time for viewers to have the option to watch a film totally dubbed in Comanche, much less a new release — one of the biggest weaknesses of "Prey" is that it’s coming out exclusively on Hulu. An action movie this entertaining deserves a chance to be seen in theaters on the big screen.

'PREY'

3 of 4 stars

Rating: R

How to see it: Exclusively on Hulu starting Aug. 5

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Indigenous prequel 'Prey' is best 'Predator' film since the original