Prey (2022)
Watched Prey (2022) last night. I didn't finish it. I'm like that with things that I like. I leave it unfinished to consume later. I'm at the part where Amber Midthunder's character parted ways with her brother after escaping from being tied as bait, so that she could find her beloved doggie. So she was able to find him, dog name's Sakii, very good boy assists in hunting is a great guardian to Amber Midthunder, and she frees him but not without a fight from these bunch of European fur hunter scumbags. She defeats them all pretty quickly. But then arrives this probably also native guy who is suffering from his freakin' foot being cut off on account of having been earlier attacked by the Predator alien creature. He points a gun at Amber Midthunder's character (the name escapes me right now), but lowers it and instead asks her to help him with his wound. As tit for tat, he offers to teach her how to operate the gun. So I'm at that part, and it's all great so far this movie. It's basically sci-fi action survival, but set in the early 1700s Northern Plains in what is now the United States. The Predator really isn't that scary. He's just a force of nature, like say a bear or a wolf. The movie then is about how the people confronting this force of nature survives his/her (we don't know the creature's sex or gender) onslaught. It's kind of overkill that the creature is also invisible besides being physically strong (the thing kills a fucking bear barehanded), fast and technologically-advanced compared to the humans. I like how Amber Midthunder (I just like the name, will repeat it as much as I can) 's character is competent, but not fully competent that it is ridiculous. It shows that she is still in the process of learning and improving, not totally perfect and unassailable. The latter is something I've always disliked in action characters. For a character to be likeable, she or he has to be imperfect or rather capable of being hurt, capable of failure. The brother character is also great in this. He is kind and gentle to Amber Midthunder's character, besides being a great hunter and leader. Maybe a bit haughty at times, but way much better than male lead characters that display machismo. I was anxious that he would turn out to be a not good character, but I was glad to be proven wrong.
Just finished the movie earlier, and it was good. I don't know why I kept having trouble focusing. I had to stop watching, then browse the internet for a while, then watch again, repeat until I finally finished the movie. The final scene was iconic - the female native hunter finally returning to camp after having vanquished the enemy, with the green neon-glow of its blood on her face. I like that it's simple basic fighting with time-appropriate tools/gadgets. My only criticism here, something which I already wrote about above/earlier, is that the Predator is powerful but kind of dumb. I guess that's okay. We can't have this creature be smart as well, otherwise he'd be too difficult to actually defeat. It's a breathe of fresh air that the moves aren't flashy. It's just simple kicks and smashing/hitting using weapons. None of the that kung-fu stuff. It wouldn't be appropriate for the time and place after all. The visuals in this movie is really good - from the nature shots, the fight scenes, etc. It's visually-oriented, it's action-oriented, lots of movements. The eye is never bored. There is always something that catches our attention. So why then did I have trouble focusing on it? I think this is more on me. I'm very sleep-deprived. Now on to the kdramas. I just started the zombie series 'Happiness' yesterday last night. Turns out I've watched this before, months ago, just did not get very far before it lost my attention. I liked the part where the main female lead, in a flashback to when she was a rookie, was overenthusiastic and ended up stabbing another recruit/rookie in an attempt to revive the latter.
9 AUG 2022
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