Prey was a brilliant prequel that successfully adapted one of Predator’s most subversive and best storytelling tricks. Following the disappointment of Shane Black’s, The Predator, the temptation to have produced a relatively safe franchise reboot would have been strong. However, rather than leaning too heavily into fanservice and easter eggs, Dan Trachtenberg chose to make Prey something that was distinctive among Predator movies.
Setting Prey in the Great Plains in 1719 was an especially good decision. Prey being a prequel to the other films in the Predator movie franchise effectively altered audience expectations about the nature of the conflict with the so-called "Feral Predator" (Dane DiLiegro), which in turn raised the stakes for the survival of the female Comanche warrior, Naru (Amber Midthunder). Added to this, the setting also provided a completely distinct visual aesthetic from Predator, Predator 2, Predators, and The Predator which was another factor in making Prey feel unique.
While Prey undoubtedly felt different from previous Predator movies, there was a subtle and clever use of a storytelling trick that was used especially well in both Predator and Predator 2. This was because the narrative of John McTiernan’s first Predator movie began as a hypermasculine 1980s action movie with hidden depths until the Yuatja started killing off the members of Dutch’s (Arnold Schwarzenegger) team. Similarly, the opening action scene of Predator 2 positioned it as an ultraviolent police procedural about Lieutenant Michael Harrigan’s (Danny Glover) battle against gang warfare in Los Angeles. In both movies, it was only when the nature of the Predator’s threat was revealed to the protagonist, that the movies shifted gear into full-blown sci-fi. Essentially, the beginning of Prey did the same thing by telling an entirely different story until the narrative and genre of the movie shifted from a rite of passage historical western into a sci-fi survival movie because of the Predator's arrival on Earth.
Why Prey Is A Great Prequel
Film history has illustrated that prequels have been notoriously difficult to get right. The Godfather Part II was a huge success, although only half of that story was a prequel to The Godfather, and more recently, Bumblebee, which, though well-liked, still lacked the box office clout of the Michael Bay Transformers movies. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that prequels have often tended to be divisive or even genuinely disliked by franchise fans.
It can be argued that prequels have increasingly relied too heavily on the kind of fanservice that the Prey movie largely avoided. For example, one of the strongest criticisms of box office disappointment Solo: A Star Wars Story was that there were times when its storytelling consisted of little more than explanations for how Han Solo got his ship, gun, best friend, and even his last name. Ironically, it could be argued that prequels’ over-reliance on fanservice began with Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, which contained several supposedly fan-pleasing storytelling retcons and references to the original trilogy, to appease audiences after the backlash to Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
While audiences have increasingly warmed to the Star Wars prequel trilogy, the fact that Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones was also poorly received at the time only shows how difficult it can be to make an audience happy. This said, going the opposite route with prequel storytelling can be equally difficult. As a result, the streaming success and positive response from audiences regarding the Prey movie were even more remarkable. Clearly, director Dan Trachtenberg made a prequel movie that told its own story, while giving enough callbacks to honor the franchise and satisfy longtime Predator viewers. Even so, the fact that subtly reimagining a storytelling trick from Predator was so significant underlined the success of Prey in balancing the familiar and unique within the franchise in ways that made it one of the most successful prequel movies of recent times.