PREY (2022)
Exciting, beautifully filmed, and bloody at the end.
Should You Watch It?
PREY is an exciting, beautifully filmed adventure with strong editing and intense action. Its natural environment is photographed beautifully, and its story stresses courage, empathy, and sacrifice.
The cost is substantial. The third act contains intense, bloody violence as the alien kills many Comanche Indians and French fur trappers. The movie also includes four obscenities, two in French, along with alcohol use and a feminist subtext.
Adults who can engage those elements with discernment will find a gripping, well-made film. Children and young teens should stay away because of the violence. The practical answer: WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESOn the American Plains in 1719, Naru and her brother, Taabe, belong to a Comanche tribe threatened by an alien hunter with futuristic technology.
Naru wants to hunt with the young men, but they laugh at her skills. Taabe is sympathetic yet doubts she is ready. As strange signs appear and danger closes in, Naru sets out to track the threat herself.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means PREY is an exceptionally entertaining film. It is incredibly well filmed and edited, with a beautifully photographed Comanche village and natural environment. The action is intense, and Naru’s encounters with a bog, an angry bear, and a mountain lion add to the adventure.
The film’s main drawback is its bloody violence, especially in the third act. Even so, the filmmaking is strong enough that the source review calls it an incredibly well-made, exciting adventure.
The Worldview
PREY presents a light moral, redemptive worldview that stresses courage, empathy, and sacrifice. Those virtues give the story a positive moral center, particularly as Naru pursues a difficult task despite other people’s doubts.
The film is marred by a feminist subtext in Naru’s desire to hunt with the young men. When her mother asks why she must hunt, Naru says she must because everyone tells her she cannot. The story’s central emphasis remains courage and sacrifice.
That emphasis aligns with Scripture’s honor for courage, compassion, and self-giving love. Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Light moral, redemptive worldview stresses courage, empathy and sacrifice, marred by a feminist subtext
Foul Language
Two obscenities in English, two obscenities in French
Violence
Extreme, intense bloody violence where a large alien predator guts a wolf and is shown from a distance holding aloft the wolf’s head and spine, alien slashes a bear and holds it above his head to bathe in the animal’s blood, alien cuts off the arm of an Indian brave, alien chops the body of another brave, a splash of blood occurs when the alien catches up to another brave he’s been chasing, alien decapitates several men, alien gets his arm chopped off, Indians use spears and axes to fight alien, and the dead body of one Indian brave has an arrow in his eye, plus lots of strong action violence includes young woman loses her balance and false from a tree limb, young woman gets stuck in a bog and has to pull herself from safety, woman has to run from bear and swim into a beaver dam, bear tries to grab her with his snout while she cowers in the beaver dam, fur trappers shoot guns at alien, alien fires his arrows at the people, alien uses a sharp two-bladed knife in fighting people and to pierce the head of a rattlesnake, dog’s tail gets caught in a trap, but its owner puts some mud medicine on it, woman’s ankle gets caught in a trap, and fur trapper knocks young woman unconscious
Sex
No sex
Nudity
Upper male nudity as Comanche hunters go bare-chested
Alcohol Use
Alcohol use by French fur trappers and some of them seem to be a bit drunk one night
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
No smoking or drugs;
Miscellaneous Immorality
French fur trappers kidnap two Comanche Indians and use them as bait, and young men mock a young woman who wants to hunt with them.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Naru continues pursuing a difficult task after others doubt her. How should courage be guided by wisdom and humility?
Proverbs 3:5–7 · James 1:5The story stresses empathy and sacrifice. What does Christian love ask us to give up for another person’s good?
Philippians 2:3–4 · John 15:13Naru is mocked because she wants to do what others say she cannot. How can we encourage one another without turning courage into pride?
Romans 12:3 · 1 Thessalonians 5:11The Final Word
PREY is exceptionally well-made, exciting, and beautifully filmed. Its intense, bloody third act and other mature elements make it unsuitable for children and young teens. For discerning adults who can handle those concerns, the answer is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY.
