The Predator franchise is unusual in several respects. One of those being that there is more good than bad installments. While there is some debate over the 2nd and 3rd installments, they are still generally considered good overall. The 2018 film “The Predator” is the only installment considered genuinely bad, or at least poor. But for a film series that has been around for over 30 years, that’s still impressive. Luckily the most recent installment continues the trend of having more good films. In fact, “Prey” is an excellent film that has both gory action and great characterization.

The first prequel of the franchise, we focus on a story that takes place in 1719 in North America. We follow a young Comanche woman named Naru that wants to become a hunter. And while we do see early on she has some skills with tracking and weaponry, we also several attempts of her failing to actually kill the creatures she hunts. But then the Predator arrives and Naru goes out to hunt the creature in order to protect her tribe.

I think one thing many people might be concerned about regarding this film is that the writing for the female protagonist won’t be up to par. There have been many films in recent years with female leads where the writing does nothing to help flesh them out as real characters. Instead, the films often portray them as flawless from the beginning and end up being somehow even more flawless. But that is not the case with “Prey”. As mentioned, we see several instances in the first act where she is unable to actually land the killing blow against an animal. There is a deer and a mountain lion in the first act the film she goes up against but fails to kill. However, we do see her practice with her weaponry and work with her trained dog named Sarii. In addition, she has skills as both a tracker and as a healer. It’s just that she never seem to have been able to actually prove herself to her tribe.

However, her brother Taabe does show support for her and does help give her a couple of chances in the hope she will finally land the kill. Their connection does end up bringing a fair deal of heart to the film and help us care for both characters. As the film goes along, Naru is shown using the skills she has and observe the events happening to eventually become the hunter and warrior she wishes to be. Speaking of characterization, there is a fair bit of it for the Predator of the film. First though, the design of the creature looks cool. It does have a more primitive design and feel in a few areas. Not so drastic it is unrecognizable from what we’ve seen in other movies, but enough to stand out as unique to this story. In the first act, we see it hunt other predators native to the ecosystem. But it always waits to see those predators make their own kills uninterrupted. Almost as if it is waiting for proof they are worthy to be killed. And even though it has a variety of weapons, it starts with using just it’s hands and a couple of blades. Showing this is a creature that does have a more personal, up close fighting style a little similar to the Comanche tribe.

Obviously this film does a great job of having characterization for both hero and villain. And managing to do so with mainly visuals as opposed to the movie telling us. But don’t worry, we still have that intense gory action. There are several kills that are brutal and blood is spilled all over the great plains. Interesting thing to note is that as we move from fight to fight, Naru does pay attention to some of the details about the Predator. The way it fights, how it decides who to go after, the way it moves. As she gathers that knowledge, she finds a way to use her skills and the knowledge of her land to go up against the creature in a final showdown that is very enjoyable. It isn’t often we have an R rated action/thriller film that also serves as a coming-of-age story. But this film has found great success in the way it blends those different styles and executes the final product.

A couple of other elements that help suck you in to the movie are the visuals and the sound. Several memorable scenes and landscapes do stick out in memory and the sound helps engage you in the action unfolding. You will feel yourself get tense during certain scenes as you try and anticipate what will happen next.

After being in production for the better part of a decade, “Prey” finally releases and sticks the landing. It even shows the franchise and the direction it probably should follow. A series of anthology films taking place in various time periods, showing how the people and culture of the times dictate how we interact with the arrival of a Predator. One of the best things of the franchise is seeing how humans and Predators react to each other, maybe even work with each other on occasion. Regardless if they go this route or maybe continue with these characters, we can rest easy knowing the franchise has remembered how to entertain us and keep us engaged.