Director Dan Trachtenberg Justifies Creature Design As First Image of the Predator In Prey Surfaces
The first image of the Predator redesign in the prequel Prey has been released and it’s naturally receiving a mixed reaction from fans of the original starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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The original Predator starred the former action star and governor of California and is an undeniable classic, so it logically follows diehard devotees of the picture are partial – to the film itself and no less to its Stan Winston-created alien monster.
But that isn’t stopping Redditors from roasting the new design and its premise of a young First Nation woman (Amber Midthunder) standing up to a creature that’s born to hunt and kill – and does so, leaving a trail of blood and body parts, across the galaxy.
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“Arnold with machine guns, explosives, and a highly trained team of commandos, all armed to the teeth, barely killed a Predator,” said one comment in the thread attached to the post above. “But one young girl with some sticks, ‘no problem.'”
The comment sarcastically concludes, “Yeah. I’m pre-ordering tickets right now. No way this can be bad or anything.”
Another comment points out, “Don’t forget the squad of warriors he’s [gonna] clap before she fights him when he first shows up.” The reply refers to the Comanche people the Predator takes on before the girl, Naru, steps up to prove herself to her tribe.
Even before the Predator shows up, based on the trailer and synopsis, Naru defiantly wants to break from tradition and show her people she can hunt as well as the men.
This twist has led many to believe the film will be woke like the reboots of just about every franchise Hollywood resuscitates for the money. Others are more optimistic, holding out hope Prey will be good, and the debate between the two sides played out in the thread.
“So this is some sort of ‘get woke, go broke’ [dog whistle] right? Maybe try the ign comment section or something,” went one reply to the first comment above.
The sarcastic Redditor clapped back. “No, it’s a comment that casting this actress in this role is like casting Charlie Day as Conan the Barbarian,” he wrote, referring to another popular Schwarzenegger film property.
“She looks like the heaviest thing she ever had to lift was her extra-large soy mocha latte,” he continued. “Why they want me to take this character seriously as a potential opponent for the PREDATOR when her equivalent in the first movie was a foot taller and 200 pounds heavier and STILL got thrown around like a rag doll, I have no idea.”
He added that former MMA fighters Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano or Michelle Rodriquez would’ve been better casting than Amber Midthunder who’s known mostly for smaller roles and television.
She is smaller than a Predator or Yautje’s usual quarry but the prey isn’t the only thing that’s slimmed down. The Yautje in the new film is noticeably leaner and its head doesn’t appear to be as gigantic as it was in prior installments.
Prey’s director Dan Trachtenberg explained to TimeOut there are some good reasons for that. Above all, he wanted the Predator to be scarier than before and more primal.
“I wanted to make sure the head was more proportional to the body. This predator is much slimmer and less armored than it’s ever been,” he said. “It’s more ‘creature’. It’s still hulking and ferocious.”
Trachtenberg added, “I wanted the Predator to be scarier than we’ve seen it before. It’s intelligent and it has advanced technology, and that makes it even more difficult to take on.”
Advanced in technology as much as in difficulty compared to who it fights, yes (as always), but the historic time period was taken into consideration.
“But because the movie is set 300 years in the past, those things need to feel a little bit older than we’ve seen before, but also still far more advanced than what we think our earthlings would be able to handle,” Trachtenberg said.
How Naru handles the alien threat and what everyone thinks about the film’s chances of wokeness will be confirmed when Prey drops on Hulu on August 5th, so pre-ordering tickets isn’t required.
Do you agree with the Redditors? Or are you willing to give Prey a shot? Comment below or on our socials.
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