Dan Trachtenberg lobs a logic bomb in the direction of trolls who are still somehow pushing the narrative that Prey didn’t work.
A spoiler for Prey lies ahead. And for 1987’s Predator.
We all know that unanimous harmony is the stuff of utopias and adverts for carbonated soft drinks, but it’s been more than a little amusing to watch one section of the internet fruitlessly try to push the narrative that 20th Century Studio’s Prey doesn’t work. This vocal minority (who seem to have a knack for attacking films with female leads) have taken umbrage with Amber Midthunder’s character, Naru. They argue that in taking on the fearsome alien hunter all by herself, that discredits the film, with some pointing to the 1987 original as a point of contrast. In that film, it took an entire unit of heavily-armed, highly-trained commandos to take down the creature which in turn surely means that Midthunder’s Naru wouldn’t stand a chance.
Dan Trachtenberg, Prey’s director is having none of that, however. Speaking to Radio 1’s Screen Time podcast, he set the record straight, explaining that those who were so beholden to the original that they couldn’t appreciate the new film were actually forgetting a core element of the conflict between Schwarzenegger and company’s battle with the alien warrior.
“It’s almost a Mandela Effect thing of the way people misremember the original movie”, he argued. “But I never really wanted to correct that thinking, because it helps the movie. This movie is more exciting the more you feel like ‘how is she gonna pull this off?’”
“I’m happy for people to think that way, even if you think a little bit harder about Predator, the end of that movie is where she begins, you know? Like he ends up in a place where, all the Comanches sort of have that knowledge-base that Arnold has to resort to … But I was happy for people to forget that. I think people remember Predator as guys with big guns fight the thing, you know?”
Trachtenberg’s point is simple, and exposes the inherent irony at play in the complaints about the film and unerringly hits the mark. For all their muscles, machine guns and gung-ho abandon, Schwarzenegger’s crew barely scratch the creature as they are slowly and violently picked off, one by one. It’s only at the end when Arnie begins to use techniques that Naru has been aware of all of her life that he sees any success.
Whether Trachtenberg’s point finds its mark with those who continue to criticise the film is of course, debatable. Like most who have sought Prey out however, we’re fans of the film and you can check out our thoughts here on why the film is a legacy sequel done right.
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