Late To The Party - Prey

We dive into the Predator universe through Prey and find a lean, authentic thriller that restores menace to the monster while spotlighting a compelling Comanche lead. We weigh practical effects against wobbly CGI, praise the setting and representation, and debate pacing, violence, and franchise future.

• Casting a primarily Native team and Comanche language option
• Amber Midthunder’s grounded lead performance and character build
• Practical suit work and period-appropriate Predator design
• Weak CG animals versus strong creature effects
• The trappers set piece and creative kill design
• Pacing risks in the first hour and payoff balance
• Franchise context and hopes for Badlands and crossovers

Letterbox'd Synopsis: When danger threatens her camp, the fierce and highly skilled Comanche warrior Naru sets out to protect her people. But the prey she stalks turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal.

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Chapters

• 0:12 Kicking Off With Prey
• 1:17 Franchise History And First Impressions
• 2:05 Synopsis And Setup
• 2:29 Authenticity And Representation Wins
• 4:14 Practical Predator Design And Presence
• 6:12 CGI Animals And Budget Tradeoffs
• 7:26 Violence, Ratings, And Kill Highlights
• 9:44 Pacing, Tropes, And Story Nitpicks
• 11:09 Comanche Dub And Rewatch Value
• 12:07 Streaming Release And Franchise Context
• 13:26 Spectacle Cinema’s New Opening
• 15:05 Scores, Rankings, And Reception
• 17:00 Would You Rather: Prey Vs Others
• 19:36 Director Track And Cloverfield Tangent
• 21:11 Wrap Up And Calls To Action

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:12

This is the Wait For It Podcast.

SPEAKER_02: 0:16

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Wait For It Podcast. I'm your co-host, Phil Barrera, aka Phil the Filipino.

SPEAKER_01: 0:21

And I'm your other co-host, Mr. Eric Almighty, and we are back to late to the party. And what else would we do after featuring Alien the month prior, but to go to the other side of the coin and do Predator? And really, we're talking about a movie you might not have seen in that universe, which I feel Phil nobody has seen, that movie being Prey.

SPEAKER_02: 0:42

Yeah, interesting tactics that they dispensed for this movie that came out in 2022. So yeah, as far as like the Predator franchise, oh I left my water in the bedroom in the kitchen.

SPEAKER_01: 0:56

That's unfortunate. Let's start over. I need my water. Let's just let's just clip you in with your water. Ready? Hold on. Hold on. Ready? Just like hold hold hold up where your water would be in one hand. Pick it. No, pick a hand now. Oh, okay. Got it, got it. Go empty now.

SPEAKER_02: 1:08

Alright. Ah, there we go. Much better. The power of editing. That was fantastic. So yeah, a prey, as far as like the Predator franchise in general, it's nothing. It's something that I've never really dove into, which is interesting because like it is kind of well, it is a monster movie, and then it's like kind of like kaiju adjacent as far as like the design. But you know, it's one of those classic films that we just have not dove into. So it'll be interesting to see like as we after we have this conversation, like, are we going to watch some of those original Predator films? I would be interested to see how you feel about it going forward. But yeah, Eric, let's talk about Prey 2022. Uh, if you want to know where you can find the rest of our content, as well as where to follow the Wait For podcast, make sure you stick around to the very end. We'll let you know where you can find all of that. But first, a synopsis prey was directed by Dan Trachtenberg. The tagline in letterboxed is They Hunt to Live, It Lives to Hunt. When danger threatens her camp, the fierce and highly skilled Comanche warrior Nadu sets out to protect her people, but the prey she stalks turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal. Uh so Eric, I'll throw this to you first because I just want to get your history with the Predator franchise. Have you seen any of those original can't be Arnold Schwarzenegger films? Or was this something that you dove into, I know, a couple of years or a couple months back? Was this your first foray into the Predator universe?

SPEAKER_01: 2:46

No. So we kind of touched on this a little bit in the Alien episode, very slightly, about my history with Alien and the fact that Alien versus Predator was always on the docket. Earlier than that was the original Predator, and I'm pretty sure I've seen Predator 2. Again, it's one of those movies. Was it on TNT or TBS one day? And I watched like an hour of it when I was younger? Probably. I might have also seen the whole thing. It's hard to tell way back then. It wasn't a movie or a franchise, though, that stuck with me. And then in the 2010s, they started the whole reboot thing and tried that out. And then they came into the 2020s, reinvigorated with Prey, which is really nice to see. There's also Predator Killer of Killers that released, and I did not get to see that before the recording of this episode, but I'm hoping to see that before the release of Predator Badlands, which comes out right around the time of this episode. And I have tickets to go see in theaters. All that to say, I have more predator experience than I do with the Alien franchise, but it's still not a franchise that I thought I'd find myself coming back to very often.

SPEAKER_02: 4:01

Yeah, it's just something just like Alien, where it just never. I won't say it never interested me, but I just wasn't going to go out of my way to watch that film, seek it out in streaming. You know, I was just focused on other stuff. I think what we're really benefiting from over the last few years is we're finding new franchises to be interested in as the MCU obsessed brain has worn off, right? We've moved on from that. We no longer like obsess over theories. We're not watching a TV show every single week in regards to what's happening there. So that's allowing us, and it's a it's a great benefit, of course, to start these new franchises. You know, you had gotten into Alien before I did, but now I'm very much interested in watching more of those films. And now the same here uh when it comes to the Predator franchise. It's uh after seeing this, I'm certainly intrigued. And like seeing bits and pieces of like again the campiness of the 1980s Predator, uh, that's something that certainly interests me. I probably won't watch like the new one, like 2018's Predator, The Predator. That's not going to happen. But as far as the original ones, yeah, I might dive in. So uh yeah, let's jump into our takeaways when it comes to this film, Eric and you had alluded to. You mentioned before we started, you watched the kill count for this film, which means we've seen it twice, actually. So you watched it once uh on what that means and again on YouTube. So that's fantastic. You know, one thing I do want to shout out that I learned as well, because I rewatched uh because I uh watched the uh the prey kill count as well. I must have actually started this at one point and then stopped myself because I wanted to watch the movie because I had not watched all the way through the prey kill count. So it was already on my radar somewhere in this brain. But one thing that was really cool is they used primarily an entire uh Native American cast and crew, which is really great, which really lends to the authenticity of this. They went through a lot of work to ensure that the background and the people involved and how everything looked as far as set design was as accurate as possible to this time frame. That really, really shows in one of my first takeaways, and that it's shot very, very beautifully. Um, you know, when it comes to open planes, like I think some of these movies can tend to just be really bland and just like a you know, a plot of dirt and some grass, and that's really about it. But it was really, really beautifully shot, and um, it gives it like a really like immersive natural setting, and that really plays to the primal nature of this Predator, which is uh, you know, does not have a lot of the technical gadgets that we see later, but still obviously has a lot of uh the the gadgets are still out of place enough to really stand out against this backdrop. So that was always one of the things. Even going back to seeing the trailers for this back in 2021, 2022, I was like, well, that's really cool, like as far as going back to pre-colonization times. Although there are colonizers in this, we'll talk about them. Really cool scenes there, and uh, but yeah, as far as the setting, Great Plains looked really cool, and they put a lot of work into it.

SPEAKER_01: 7:20

Yeah, I that was one of the things I really appreciated about the kill count and the presentation, so I will give you that. Uh, those were some of the things that I guess I assumed, but I was like, you know, whenever you go to look up stuff, it's hard these days. Like when you're looking up stuff about films, like if you're not looking on Wikipedia, where exactly are you finding this information? You know, like it's not like there's a whole directory of here's how the movie was made, here's how they hired their staff, here's all the intricate ins and outs or the trivia of it. It's almost like this information scattered. So the kill count was really nice to kind of condense a lot of that into one location, and it starts off with that, which is a great place to do so because for my first takeaway, Phil, I agree that I really enjoyed all of that representation and that inclusion, and that includes Amber Midthunder, who was really great as our main character. Some would say if this is considered a horror film, our final girl. Luckily, not a Mary Sue, which I'm learning, kind of in reading some reviews or watching some reviews around that time period. A lot of people were talking like that, whether it was in the comments or the reviewers mentioning that commentary. It seemed like there was a lot of discussion about oh, can a girl even kill the predator or fight the predator? The girls are small, the predators big. All this alpha male talk, uh, literally the embodiment of the first predator, where Carl Weathers and Arnold Schwarzenegger lock fucking arms and they start arm wrestling in a handshake. Yeah, that's like again, that's the energy it's giving, but in a bad way. And I just don't understand how anyone could feel that way after watching the movie because a lot is placed on her shoulder specifically. There is a cast here, there are other people we could talk about, but if she doesn't work for this film, the film does not work. It's the same thing as if the Predator doesn't land, right? If that doesn't land, this movie doesn't work. She's an equal part in this, and I thought she did a great job from her facial patterns and recognition there, and a lot of the things she was doing in silence, or when she had her open dialogue. I thought she was a well-ridden character. I thought they maybe spent a little bit too much time, but they spent a lot of time character developing her, and I thought that was a good thing when it comes to putting it all on the shoulders of one actor or actress. You kind of have to do that to buy into them. And I gotta say, at least for her character, Phil, I definitely was bought in.

SPEAKER_02: 9:50

Yeah, shout out to to Amber, really, really great performance. Um, you know, Nadu was a really, really solid protagonist. And um, yeah, like you mentioned, you know, if you don't buy into her, me versus like this misogynistic camp that is happening, like the the where she is trying to like break into this. If you don't feel like she belongs, like you said, then like it does not work. If you don't feel like she can actually genuinely hold her own throughout this and leading, even leading into the showdown with the Predator, then yeah, it all it all really does fall apart. So she she was really, really good and made me like want to seek out more of her performances. I know she's in Nova Kane, which is probably something I won't watch. Um, and she's in a couple other things that maybe uh I'll look into. But yeah, a really, really great performance for sure from Amber. To get into my next takeaway here, Eric, it is going practical with the predator. Shout out to Dane uh Deligrio, uh, who was actually also in the kill count. I thought that was a pretty funny bit. Huge guy, which is crazy, 6'8, but he is like the shortest person to play a predator to date, which is nuts because that's a 6'8 is a power forward uh in the NBA. Uh, so that is a pretty large man. And yeah, you know, between him being, of course, in the getup, but also being in the like the CGI suit or the green screen suit, whenever he is cloaked, all that is really, really cool. The design of the predator. One thing, and I think it's just because we're so desensitized to the predator from the original films at this point, it's in Fortnite, right? Like, we just see that kind of more upscaled technological, the suit and the mask and all that, and it just isn't scary. This predator's fucking terrifying, man. It's so cool. I would want to have this if like if they put put this skin in Predator, like or in Fortnite, like that's a that's a really, really cool skin, but it also lends itself to, you know, I think a really memor a lot of memorable moments when it comes to the design of this character. I mean, the even the mask, like the skull of its of its enemies is really, really cool. So, and then when it's juxtaposed against those, it when it comes when it has like the shield and it still has the lasers, but it shoots you know shoots the arrows instead of the instead of bullets or instead of like explosives. All that just works really, really well. And to see see it move and see the weaponry, um, again, all of that looks really really great. And uh especially again, as I talked about in my first takeaway, the setting. So, hey, we are all we talked about this in length with our friends a couple weeks ago with with Blythe and with Sophie as far as like what people want to see in movies, like this is what we want to see. Like that we want to see people put in the work and go practical, and it really pays off, and that happens here, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01: 12:47

Yeah, there's a lot of stuff from that aspect that goes really well. I think one of the things on the opposite end, which was one of my takeaways, so I'll kind of throw in maybe my my negative here. This did have a budget of 65 million dollars. It's not the worst-looking CGI animals and stuff like that, but there are moments and scenes where it doesn't always work. And I I kind of wish that if budget was an issue, that that wouldn't have been the case for a franchise like this. Uh, which is why I'm excited that Predator Badlands is looking at at least a hundred million dollar budget for the sequel, and it's well on its way, it looks like, for projections to be one of, if not the highest predator-grossing film in theaters for its opening debut. So I'm excited to see like what improvements they make, and I hope in those dollars we don't lose some of the practicality that you mentioned because it's definitely present here, and it's also a layered-down story, very easy entry as well. That might even be like a bonus takeaway here, because I think the easy entry into this is the nice thing about it. In addition to a lot of the things that we've mentioned so far, I don't think you really have to have seen any of the other films to enjoy this or to get what's going on. And I think that's extremely enticing for people to watch, especially the fact that it got released on streaming, it's accessible on Hulu, probably now Disney Plus as well, with how that platform is working. So it's only going to get more exposure. The increased popularity in Alien also helps this, that it's an entry point, and I think that speaks to why Badlands is projected to do so well. In addition to the you know, animated movie that came out that came to some pretty good reception as well.

SPEAKER_02: 14:39

Disney Prince or Princess Feral Predator, uh, since it is on Disney Plus. Yes. So yeah, it is interesting because, like you said, it I think specifically the bear doesn't look very good. Like the coyote or the wolf's fine, even yeah, the the what was it, a mountain lion that also it's dark, but you can also tell like that didn't look great. And I think and I haven't seen this movie, but I think a lot of people praise the bear and the revenant, right? So, like, and I don't know what what they use the comment if they use like a combination of the real bear and C J. I'm not sure what happened there, but like that movie came out 10 years ago, you know, and this one came out in 2022. So it should you do always wonder, and you always have to be cautious, like bringing animals on set. You know, of course they went uh when they went with an actual dog, so thank goodness, considering how much the dog is in the movie. But yeah, I think that would have certainly enhanced those scenes because they were so focused, and obviously it's going to be a big part of the story when it comes to this tribe where it's uh you know, where there are going to be all these wild animals as part of their life. So yeah, that is one of the things that it's it was like, man, that that probably could have been a little bit better, but also maybe they just committed to having that low because they had that lower budget, they knew it was gonna go straight to streaming. They were just like, let's just do what we can here and you know it'll be fine. It didn't bother me too much, but it certainly was a point of it's very I it's pretty obvious, like if you even if you're not necessarily fully paying attention. But yeah, uh I'll get to my last takeaway here. I feel like we're definitely gonna have some some bonus ones because I do want to ask you a question here in a moment. Um, and it's really, I mean, talk when we talk about the kill count, it's the kills, man. The kills are especially when he slaughters the French conquistadors or whatever they are, like that scene is dope. I mean, when it comes to like using the shield and then uh the net that just disintegrates that that dude. And then the best kill in the movie when the bullet just ricochets over the mouth of its helmet. Which, like, adding that little bit of humor here and there worked really, really well. But again, even in like in the earlier scenes when they first were when they were trying to bring Nadu back to camp, uh, when they when they run into the Predator for the first time, all look really, really good. And uh, you know, again, that's a partially when it comes to using those practical effects again. But like, yeah, I you you know, you always hear about this really intimidating and like bloodthirsty character, and again, it is someone who's this was my first introduction to a predator film. I was like, okay, cool, that's I I get that, and that makes me want to see some of the other kills that are in the other movies, and some of the campiness. Like you you have the again, him using the shield to like cut that guy's head off, and then you follow it up with the bullet to the like bullet bouncing off of his skull. I think I thought it was a really nice uh mixture there in that moment, but yeah, it's always nice to see colonizers get their get their dessert just desserts, and uh, just happen to be at the hands of the predator, and uh that that was uh a lot of those kills were really cool.

SPEAKER_01: 17:38

Yeah, and I feel bad because like spoiler alert, my score for this movie is positive. Like, I I enjoyed this film. Phil has like taken each one of my positive like takeaways. Sorry. So I'm no, and it's okay. Some and sometimes what we'll do is we'll uh we'll jump in and we'll we'll kind of say, Yeah, that was also mine. Here's some extra commentary, but you're doing such a good job of like laying it out that I'm like, well, let me just provide like something else. And I do have nitpicks with this movie, so what I'll do is my my final takeaway is going to be those nitpicks and just mention maybe a couple of things that didn't work for me. You know, the the inclusion of the Frenchman, like it was like, okay, they're basically fodder. They're most of the kills in the second hour of the film, like after the first hour. So that first hour it risks dragging on too long. Like, I could see someone I wasn't, I was ready for the ride, and I knew it would pick up in the second half, but I could see someone getting pretty bored in that first hour if they're not really connecting uh with the characters and specifically our league character. I also think this movie never really gets too interesting. And I think that's definitely something that I feel at about the ending. I feel like the ending does kind of play it safe to the tropes a little bit when it comes to how we end, certain people that die, those type of things. And I don't know, it's all little nitpicky stuff that I think about when I I think about this movie. Nothing that really takes me out of the film necessarily, but you know, for a movie that has an R rating, the kills are cool, but there are times where they like cut away from the kill. And it's kind of like I wonder what the thought process was there. Like you're already getting the R rating. I don't know. Sometimes it felt more PG 13 when it came to the violence, sometimes it didn't. But then there were times where it did. So I felt like it was kind of teetering on that. I don't know if you felt that way at all, Phil. Uh, when it comes to that, you're the guy who watches the kill counts, so you watch a lot of death and gore all the time.

SPEAKER_02: 19:43

I don't know if more savant.

SPEAKER_01: 19:45

I don't know if you feel that way, but I did feel like there were times where they reigned it back. And for an R-rated movie, I guess I would have just maybe hoped for more for a franchise like this.

SPEAKER_02: 19:55

It seems like that's happening a lot, though. So, like some when I watch some of the newer kill counts and some of the films that are a little bit newer, Sinners even did this where they're starting to cut away from kills, and maybe that's just because like audiences are just getting a little they're they're not having positive reactions to that much gore and that much violence. Maybe because of like how things are right now, they just it's still going to be bloody and violent. Like, it's not like Sinners or or this were lacking in violence, like you said, but like they're cutting away. I feel like I'm seeing that more than we did in like older films when we watch where they're like, let's zoom in, like on this. It's uh I'll tell you one franchise that's not doing that is Final Destination. They don't give a shit. So they're they're still very much exactly let's zoom in on the phone.

SPEAKER_01: 20:36

And again, maybe maybe I'm numb because I watched uh the terrifier film and I watched a person literally get chainsawed in half. So, you know, maybe maybe I'm numb to it.

SPEAKER_02: 20:46

Just levels to it, you know what I mean? Like there are different levels of rated R now, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01: 20:53

So but all like again, minor nitpicks that don't take away the things that I appreciated about the film, but it there are things since we've talked, I agree with so many, all of your positives. There are just a couple, again, small menu.

SPEAKER_02: 21:08

The story is paid by numbers. The story is we are, you know, I they don't believe in me. I'm going to prove myself, and then I come out on top at the end. And again, the way that all that happens is entertaining, but like there's not a lot of risks here when it comes to the story. So uh the colonization stuff, like all of that I think is a a good inclusion for, but if they really are, like you said, just there to rack up the kills and to get their come up ins. And all that is fine. And I I think for this, like I'm I'm coming into a prey or a predator movie just wanting that. I I don't I'm not looking for an a next level story, and even though there is that here, they're trying to do that narrative-wise. Um, it's just like, yeah, you know, I I had a good time, and like the people that I wanted to die for the most part. Well, actually, all the people that we wanted to die did end up dying, and then, you know, we have a noble sacrifice, and then you get and then she is able to take them on and outsmarts him, you know. So that's pretty much it. Point A to B to C, you know, and that's what they did. Um, I do want to ask the question I wanted to ask before we get into scores and stuff. Um, I thought it was really cool that there is a Comanche dub of this. Would you rewatch this in Comanche in sub? Potentially, yeah. I think it's really cool, like that they reshot the movie. In that. Yeah. I didn't know that was an option.

SPEAKER_01: 22:31

I might have watched that. I might have watched I I might have tuned out at that point. I was getting I was getting information. Okay. Yeah, that might have been it. Yeah, I probably would. Uh, if I honestly, if that was presented to me in a clearer light, like when I went to press play, I probably would have watched it that way. Honestly, that would have been really cool. Re-watching the movie, I don't know. I'm torn. I'm torn on that. If I was to re-watch it though, yeah, I'd like to get that aspect. So if I rewatch it, I would.

SPEAKER_02: 23:01

Yeah, well, one thing as far as re-watching it is it should have been watched on in a movie theater. Would I have necessarily gone? Probably not. I just because of my at 2022 specifically, probably not, but um, unless somebody told me, I'll be totally fine, which I was totally fine here on this. Uh yeah, the fact that this just released on Hulu, I mean, I guess we would have to take a look at where the Predator franchise was at this time because 2018 was a disaster. Uh I haven't seen it, but it's got a 2.1 rating on letterbox. Keegan Michael Key is in it. And listen, we love Keegan Michael Key, but that's always an interesting sign for you. Uh but Sterling K. Brown, Olivia Munn, like they're good actors in this, but I can just refer to Cinema Joe's review of a one and a half that says I blame Deadpool for how this turned out, or the MCU. Probably both, to be honest. So that kind of tells you everything.

SPEAKER_01: 23:56

It was probably really, yeah, it was probably a little too campy. And again, that comes after the Adrian Brody remake, which I had no interest in seeing him basically cosplay Arnold Schwarzenegger, and he, you know, he's not even close. But that's what I that's what I heard. I didn't watch that one either. So again, it I think at that point, that was like the third iteration of I think them trying to do the same thing with a singular title predator that wasn't part of the AVP series.

SPEAKER_02: 24:23

Yeah, see, this is not an instance where it's Predator, and they're like, Man, you know what this movie needs? More predators. And then someone's like, oh my god. Oh my god. That's not what happens here between aliens. Like with the aliens. Yeah, so um, yeah, I mean, I I will, I mean, now I've I guess I've seen both alien. No, I've only seen one AVP, so I guess this was my second predator film. But I do want to watch Killer of Killers. And depending on Oh, and also want to see the uh the animated one, which uh who which name That's the one that you just named. That is Killer of Killers. Oh, the one that's what's the one that's about to come out that you're seeing.

SPEAKER_01: 25:00

Uh Badlands.

SPEAKER_02: 25:01

Badlands. So uh yeah, if I get the go-ahead from you, that's probably something I would dive into as well. What what um not to get into Badlands, but what movie is she from, the girl? Because she's I obviously she's an android, but what character, what what movie is she from? Is she from one of like one or two?

SPEAKER_01: 25:17

No, I don't she's ne she's from neither.

SPEAKER_02: 25:19

Um but I think Okay, I thought she was like a okay.

SPEAKER_01: 25:22

No, but she my understanding from what I've heard people speculate is that she comes from the corporation that is in the alien franchise, so that's the type.

SPEAKER_02: 25:31

Oh, got it.

SPEAKER_01: 25:32

Okay, yeah, so it's it's almost like a pretty obvious tie-in. I'd be shocked if I don't walk out of there with some type of some type of post-credit scene or some sort of allusion to the fact that these two franchises will probably come together again at some point. Because they they've talked about it openly.

SPEAKER_02: 25:48

Yeah, I mean we've successfully, and granted they're part of the same thing, but like we've successfully you may argue with this, but we've successfully done Godzilla and Kong and made that work to an extent.

SPEAKER_01: 25:58

Yeah, some people might say successful.

SPEAKER_02: 26:00

Yeah, well, you know, it's making money. People people that like to have a good time, but but like there's no reason that you can't do Predator vs. Alien correctly in 2020, whatever that that whenever that's gonna come out. The alien movies are in a good place, predator is in a good place. Again, everyone's benefiting from the fact that Marvel's shit now. So there is space for these franchises to come back in.

SPEAKER_01: 26:23

That isn't uh that is an interesting take that there's like an opening for like spectacle movies. Like, we are if we if you kind of think about it, the last couple of Vin Diesel can't get his movie. He doesn't want to make those budget cuts. But outside of that, like it is kind of interesting. The last couple years, that might be an interesting then thing to look at, is like the last couple years what those spectacle moments have been. Your Barbenheimers, your stuff like that, like Jurassic shit, like yeah, there's no Star Wars movies right now, like it's not it's not what it used to be where Star Wars, Jurassic, uh, Marvel was taking the cake um and just not leaving any any breadcrumbs for anybody else. Like, it's it's really out there for people to go get. I I think that's an interesting take.

SPEAKER_02: 27:03

And that's why Superman did so well because people are like, Man, I really would like to watch a good superhero movie right now. I mean, Fantastic Four is fine. What else came out this year? Chainsaw Man. Oh, um, yeah, Chainsaw Manime is thriving.

SPEAKER_01: 27:17

That was a fucking spectacle.

SPEAKER_02: 27:18

It was um Thunderbolts. Thunderbolts, and those were fine. They were fine movies, but like everybody was so desperate for a good Superman, we got one, and now everybody's excited about the DC you again, you know, like DC films. Like, I can't wait for Supergirl. And then when they have already announced Superman 2 and we have a release date, like, yeah. There was an open space and people are anime and horror are like through they're like up right now. Like they're killing it. So it's a good time to be a fan of both of those things.

SPEAKER_01: 27:48

Well, film, I know we do more like this and we talk about similar films. Do you want to do that before or after we give our scores?

SPEAKER_02: 27:56

Let's do it after. So let's go to the scores here for Prey 2022. Interesting balance or imbalance when it comes to tomato meter. 94% tomato meter score certified fresh, and then 74% popcorn meter score, which I thought was very interesting. Um, it has a 7.1 over on IMDB, and then an average rating of a 3.6 over on Letterboxd. I ended up giving this a 4. I think as far as a film goes, it's a 3.5 when it comes to the story aspects and some of those things. But I gave it that extra 0.5 just because I had such a good time watching it, and it's made me want to watch more of this franchise and duo deep dive into that. So because it accomplished all that, I gave it a bump, uh, an extra half a point bump.

SPEAKER_01: 28:46

Yeah, that's an interesting way of putting it, Phil, because everything you just said explains my score. I just didn't give it the bump, which is a three and a half. I really did think about it, and I think I'm not surprised at the I'm not surprised at the critic score or the audience score for Rotten Tomatoes, because I could see critics liking this more than most audience members. I mentioned this earlier in my nitpicks. I don't really know if this is a movie for everyone, especially that first hour. I I could see again somebody responding to that pretty negatively and being like the payoff wasn't there by the end and not enjoying the film overall because of that. And again, it's not a long film. This movie again, hour and a half, a little over that. So it's not a long investment when you're saying that first 45 to 60 minutes could be a drag. It's a hard sell. I think this movie sits at a three and a half, isn't gonna be a four eventually, maybe upon a rewatch, maybe in the subbed version. I definitely could see some additional bump in points being there. I just don't know that this would be a movie I would sit down with just anybody with, despite the fact of my earlier comments that this is probably the easiest entry into this franchise that I would think of based off of my experiences. So with all that being said, so we have. Multiple movies that we have watched for the League to the Party series. Where did this rank overall for you? For me, it ranked at 22, right behind films like Edge of Tomorrow and Top Gun, and right above films like Klaus and Nope.

SPEAKER_02: 30:16

Yeah, mine, uh, of course, I my you know, my score is a little bit higher, so I put it at 16, uh, right in front of Paddington 1 and the whale, but behind Alien. I do acknowledge that Alien. Alien is a like true four, whereas like I gave Prey that, like I said, I gave it that bump. So yeah, right behind Alien and you know, Pretty Woman, but yeah, still right there in the middle. Like I said, very much enjoyed my time with this movie.

SPEAKER_01: 30:41

Yeah, I think looking at your list now, pretty woman is going to be that barrier of like, all right now, what are we doing? What are we?

SPEAKER_02: 30:48

I'm gonna be honest. Like, I might switch like Pretty Woman and John Wick.

SPEAKER_01: 30:51

Um Yeah, no, Pretty Woman's gotta go up.

SPEAKER_02: 30:54

Yeah. You know that. Well, no, you you have Pretty Woman. I mean, you could crazy high. You could put Alien Woman in front of I will move it to 12.

SPEAKER_01: 31:02

12's fine. I'll accept it.

SPEAKER_02: 31:04

I'm gonna move the last crusade in front of John Wick as well.

SPEAKER_01: 31:07

Yeah, bump that down. Would you keep John Wick over Alien? I feel like you bump it down over.

SPEAKER_02: 31:14

I'm sorry, John Wick. Man, I gotta watch more of those. What about Maps? I just need to rewatch.

SPEAKER_01: 31:18

How far? Oh no, no, no, no. Then it's in front of Prey. Okay. No, you're good. Yeah. Films like this film. I have a lot. These are primarily from Letterboxd because the IMDB ones are the ones you know it's gonna recommend, which is all the other Predator films, all the other alien films. So I'm gonna have to ignore all of those given the fact that you haven't watched them, and I'm not gonna ask you because you just explained that Alien is higher than Prey. So there's gonna be a weird mix of movies here. Again, don't shoot the messenger. Phil, would you rather watch? And I guess we'll do the one that you've seen to start off. Would you rather watch Prey or Aliens versus Predator?

SPEAKER_02: 32:01

Prey. Okay, get it out of the way.

SPEAKER_01: 32:05

Would you rather watch? And you said this the other day, I don't know if you've actually watched this. Would you rather watch Prey or Riddick?

SPEAKER_02: 32:12

The Chronicles Chronicles Riddick uh Prey. Okay. Yeah, Prey of Indiesel's last good movie. I don't know. Well, Fast Seven's pretty good.

SPEAKER_01: 32:20

Yeah. I do want to make a comment here. The Tomorrow War is on here. And every time that the Tomorrow War is on here, that movie with Chris Pratt, I really want that to be a late to the party episode. So I think in 2026, I'm gonna make you watch that.

SPEAKER_02: 32:34

Oh, Tomorrow War. Never mind. I was thinking about his other shit movie, the one that came out on Netflix with Millie Bobby.

SPEAKER_01: 32:40

Oh no, the Electric State.

unknown: 32:41

Yeah, I guess.

SPEAKER_02: 32:42

What are these titles? They're all the same. Tomorrow War, the Electric State. You know what's like frustrating too? Because I watched a video about the electric state, is like the kind of similar to like World War Z, the fucking the source material for the elect uh the electric. I just almost combined them with Electric War. The Electric State is interesting. It's just a shit movie, which is not surprising.

SPEAKER_01: 33:01

Not surprising. Uh, Phil, would you rather watch Prey or Avatar?

SPEAKER_02: 33:07

Prey 17, 18, 19, 20 times before I ever watched it.

SPEAKER_01: 33:12

Your hatred of Avatar needs to be studied.

SPEAKER_02: 33:15

It's a terrible movie.

SPEAKER_01: 33:16

For some reason, a TV series is on here, so I'm gonna just bring it up. Would you rather watch Prey or the Book of Boba Fett?

SPEAKER_02: 33:23

I didn't watch the Book of Boba Fett.

SPEAKER_01: 33:24

Nor should you not. You should not do it.

SPEAKER_02: 33:26

Isn't that the one you told me not to? But except for the three episodes with the Mandalorian in it.

SPEAKER_01: 33:30

Yeah. Yeah, it's better.

SPEAKER_02: 33:31

Which I'm not gonna do.

SPEAKER_01: 33:32

Which you're not gonna do.

SPEAKER_02: 33:33

Alright. Tapped out on the Mandalorian. Sorry, Pedro.

SPEAKER_01: 33:36

Would you rather watch Prey or After Earth? Again, the movie with James Smith's come up more than once. You know, I have two pennies.

SPEAKER_02: 33:46

Yeah, for every time After Earth was mentioned in this podcast. Which is not a lot of pennies, but it's weird that it's happened twice. Yeah, Prey, definitely Prey.

SPEAKER_01: 33:57

Okay, uh, I'll do a film that we have covered on the podcast. Would you rather watch Prey or Man of Steel?

SPEAKER_02: 34:03

Prey, yeah. Definitely, definitely Prey. Although I would like to see someone get murdered in Prey and then see Henry Cavill yell.

SPEAKER_01: 34:14

Would you rather watch Prey or Star Wars Episode 3, Revenge of the Sith?

SPEAKER_02: 34:22

Listen, those movies, you know, everyone was harsh on them, but now we feel a little better. Recency bias would say prey, but I'll go episode three.

SPEAKER_01: 34:33

Fair enough. Would you rather watch Prey or the Hunger Games?

SPEAKER_02: 34:36

The Hunger Games. Yeah, sorry. Put Prey put Predator in the Hunger Games. I'd watch that question.

SPEAKER_01: 34:44

Would you rather watch Prey or the first Dune?

SPEAKER_02: 34:48

Dune. Yeah, I gotta be fair and say Dune. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 34:52

Do I have to ask you if you'd rather watch Prey or Godzilla King of the Monsters? You don't.

SPEAKER_02: 34:59

You don't know.

SPEAKER_01: 35:01

Would you rather watch Prey or the First Transformers?

SPEAKER_02: 35:07

Man. The first Transformers in Theaters was a fun time. That was a good, that was a good time for if I wanted just like stupid fun, it'd be Transformers. If I wanted a better movie, I'd watch Prey. But like, yeah, Transformers, like, man, we saw that twice in theaters, I'm pretty sure, when that came out. Like, yeah. Thank goodness he's making more.

SPEAKER_01: 35:26

Yeah, and like the Megs, the Megs on here, Rogue One's on here. I know you would pick those. There's some other ones here.

SPEAKER_02: 35:33

Yeah, I think that's pretty much Is the Meg an international film? Would you watch it?

SPEAKER_01: 35:39

It's a great question. Do I have to look that up? I don't wanna. Ben Weak. Isn't the Is it English?

SPEAKER_02: 35:45

I was gonna say, isn't the I'm pretty sure the the director is English. Um Australia, and it was weird smell inside of potatoes. I don't know what they eat.

SPEAKER_01: 35:56

Well, I'm looking at that. There are other films on here I know I've seen that you haven't seen. I remember seeing Cowboys and Aliens, the movie with Harrison Ford and uh uh Craig not Craig David. Daniel Craig David Daniel Craig. Daniel Craig. That'd be interesting. There's also I Am Number Four, which is a film that was not received very well, but is a movie I remember enjoying when it came out. I it's one of those like shit movies that I personally liked. I have like a weird list of those. Which one? Um no, the wellboys. The Meg. Well, there you go. China. Hmm. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 36:40

Well watch both of them.

SPEAKER_01: 36:42

That was our more like this section of the episode, and Phil picked most of those other movies, I think.

SPEAKER_02: 36:48

Yeah, I think it was split. No, it was Prey Heavy in the beginning.

SPEAKER_01: 36:52

Yeah, we did start picking like your favorite District 9. Would you rather watch Prey or District 9?

SPEAKER_02: 36:57

That was also a like really interesting time. That was when we really started like analyzing film, I think was District 9. District 9. We were like, whoa, what could this mean? Can't wait for District 10. Cuts to us as like skeletons. Yeah. Here, do the do the editing again, make me a skeleton.

SPEAKER_01: 37:14

No, no, no, no, that's too much. Yeah, uh, now do you have a skeleton somewhere around and you want to put it in your chair?

SPEAKER_02: 37:20

No, I don't. You don't, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01: 37:22

We should have one just readily available.

SPEAKER_02: 37:24

Yeah, yeah. Uh we'll put it in the we'll budget it in for 2026. I would I I'd think I'd say District 9. Just because yeah, I'll go District 9. Um that's got a slow burn as well, but yeah. Do you think we'll ever get that? District 10? Do you think that's ever gonna happen?

SPEAKER_01: 37:42

No, we will not. That ship has sealed. I mean, things are coming back all the time, but I think that ship has sealed.

SPEAKER_02: 37:48

Well, what do you think is more likely to happen? We get Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 or District 10.

SPEAKER_01: 37:53

Sam Raimi's. Yeah. Just because superhero movies still for nostalgia get that poll. At least right now.

SPEAKER_02: 38:00

Did you ever see his other film, uh, Dan Trachtenberg? Did you ever see 10 Cloverfield Lane? I've never seen it.

SPEAKER_01: 38:05

I've never seen it either. I'm kind of surprised we haven't. That would be a late to the party contender. Yeah, just also for life personally.

SPEAKER_02: 38:11

It also like what didn't start off as a Cloverfield movie. I think they just added the Cloverfield shit. So it's something we probably like, it's I'm surprised we have not seen.

SPEAKER_01: 38:20

Yeah, I'm gonna add it.

SPEAKER_02: 38:23

Yeah. Oh, he also directed Killer of Killers?

SPEAKER_01: 38:28

Yeah, yeah. He's like, he's like the guy right now for the Predator franchise. Oh yeah. And I'm pretty, I'm pretty sure he's doing Badlands. Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 38:34

Okay. Go, Dan. Good for you. Cool. Yeah, we should definitely watch 10 Cloverfielding. Did you ever watch the shitty Netflix one, the straight to Netflix one? What was it called? The Cloverfield Paradox?

SPEAKER_01: 38:48

No.

SPEAKER_02: 38:48

Dude, that movie sucked, man. That movie was so bad. It was so bad. Again, not did not start life out as a Cloverfield movie. They just added Cloverfield shit to it later. Because of JJ Abrams. So have I rated that movie? I have not. Let's give it a two. Oh, yeah, I do. I have a I gave it a two. Nice.

SPEAKER_01: 39:07

So wrap us up. Wrap us up. You could you can do all this in the post show.

SPEAKER_02: 39:11

Cloverfield. Would you rather boss Cloverfield or Prey? The original Cloverfield.

SPEAKER_01: 39:17

Oh, I mean, we love the original Cloverfield, no?

SPEAKER_02: 39:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 39:21

Yeah, that's a hard. Yeah, I'd say Cloverfield.

SPEAKER_02: 39:23

Yeah. Cool, cool. Well, what would you rather listen to? Another podcast or the Wait for it podcast? The answer should definitely be the Wait for Podcast. So if you want more of us, make sure you click the Linktree link in the show notes of this in every single episode. You can follow us on social media over on TikTok, Instagram, follow us on Twitch where we stream each and every single week. You can also find video content over on YouTube. So make sure you like, share, and subscribe. Make sure to follow Eric and I on our personal accounts as well as we put out content over there. And if you uh want to support the podcast a little extra, you can head on over to Apple Podcast Spotify, your podcast player of choice, and leave us five stars. Again, a very uh very beneficial way to help support the show. But if you want a little bit extra from the podcast, maybe getting episodes earlier as well as having a hand in the content that we put out, Eric will let you know a little bit about that before wrapping us up.

SPEAKER_01: 40:14

Yeah, so over on Patreon where patrons of the show, Briar, T3KO, Vintage Macaroni, Corey from The World of My Burrito, Nick Casbaro, the author of the Vitalarium series, and Potter from the Shortbox Podcast are supporting us monthly in exchange for certain benefits like getting behind the scenes and early access to episodes like this one. We also just ended Patreon month, so they've had a hand in selecting certain episodes from time to time. If you want to be a part of that community, join us over on Patreon, support us monthly there. It helps the show keep the lights on. But if you can't do that, you can also do something equally valuable, which is everything that Phil mentioned that only takes a moment of your time, and we are eternally grateful for that. But this is the end of our episode. My name is Mr. Eric Almighty, that is a co-host of the podcast, Phil the Filipino. And please remember that we release new episodes every Wednesday for the podcast, and all you have to do is wait for it.

SPEAKER_00: 41:13

This is the Wait for It podcast.