Disney Plus’ Prey review: ‘most effective Predator flick since the first one” | Films | Entertainment

We’re in North America in the year 1719 following an ingenious and very acrobatic young Comanche woman (Amber Midthunder).

Desperate to become a hunter, she has retooled her foraging axe as a sort of boomerang tomahawk which she can return to her hand with a leather rope. While the menfolk scoff, she notices something is afoot when a cougar runs off before devouring its prey.

Soon humankind will experience first contact with a Predator, the dreadlocked, alien, big-game hunters who will go on to torment Arnie two-and-a-half centuries later.

Here his tech isn’t quite so developed. He has that invisibility cloak, but his helmet looks like a skull and his main weapons are a sword, crossbow and retractable claws.

Cleverly, Trachtenberg only reveals this new design halfway through the film, tempting us with scary blood-splattered glimpses.

The action scenes are slickly choreographed, it’s well cast and the details of Comanche culture feel refreshingly authentic.

Older viewers may miss Arnie’s quips but it’s still the most effective Predator flick since that first one.

• Prey, Certified 15, On Disney+ now