What I Love Most About Naru in Prey

[Winter]

She's a screw up yet never to the point of being stupid. Naru makes a number of mistakes in Prey and is often shown to be outmatched throughout the film, by the Predator, by her fellow hunters and by animals she's hunting. She almost dies via quicksand at one point and only survives because someone saves her or because she is not seen as a threat.

And yet she is a badass and her victory against the Predator doesn't feel cheap. She doesn't beat the Predator because of some super-weapon she's never seen before but somehow knows how to use she wins because she learned how the Predator hunts and how sees how it tech works and turns it to her advantage. To contrast, in Predator 2, Predators and The Predator the heroes defeat the titular monster by just hitting/shooting it a lot until it finally dies or getting a lucky shot on it when it's not looking.

But in Prey, the reason the Predator is defeated is due to Naru using everything she learns to her advantage. It uses the trees to get around so set a trap in the tree to injure it. It's weapon hones in on whatever it targets so use its helmet to set another trap for later. It's stronger than even a bear so use my smaller size and my surroundings to my advantage.

The only thing that strains disbelief is the flower that lowers body heat which IS based on a real thing it just doesn't work like it does in the film but that's about it and it's only used at the start and it's made clear that the affect was only temporary and the Predator is able to see her soon after.

I love this because Naru goes through an arc, the fact that she doesn't score any real victory throughout most of the film against the Predator is believable yet so is her victory. She observes, she learns and she grows which makes her all the more engaging as a protagonist.

[Meushell]

Spoiler Warning…

I enjoyed the movie, but I wish the Comanche males lasted longer. I wanted to see their reaction, to see how they would respond and fight. They were always going to lose, but they died before they could really do anything. Remove the French to develop them more. Aside from Naru’s brother, named Taabe, we had Extra Sexist Guy and…the rest.

I liked Naru’s interaction with Taabe. I wish he had killed the lion on his own though, so that he would have one victory to himself before he died. That’s a minor thing though, and he was a great character.

The flower lowering the body temperature to that degree is no worse than mud still working, even when it’s uneven and has dried. I get what you are saying, but that just didn’t bother me.

[hammerofglass]

Did the movie ever explain why the tribe had no adult men? There's a bunch of hunters who are maybe like twenty and some elders, nothing in between. Plenty of mothers, but no fathers.

Also they seem to have taken all the horses with them.

[Meushell]

Did the movie ever explain why the tribe had no adult men? There's a bunch of hunters who are maybe like twenty and some elders, nothing in between. Plenty of mothers, but no fathers.

Also they seem to have taken all the horses with them.

I don’t think they did though maybe they thought young adults would be their primary audience? I was surprised that Taabe was the chief.

[hammerofglass]

Did the movie ever explain why the tribe had no adult men? There's a bunch of hunters who are maybe like twenty and some elders, nothing in between. Plenty of mothers, but no fathers.

Also they seem to have taken all the horses with them.

I don’t think they did though maybe they thought young adults would be their primary audience? I was surprised that Taabe was the chief.

I think war chief is different than chief? Like a general basically? I don't really understand it.

I'd love to see somebody who knows what they're talking about break down all the social elements and symbolism in this. Like I'm vaguely aware the two feathers Naru wears in her hair means something specific but I don't know what.

[Meushell]

I think war chief is different than chief? Like a general basically? I don't really understand it.

I'd love to see somebody who knows what they're talking about break down all the social elements and symbolism in this. Like I'm vaguely aware the two feathers Naru wears in her hair means something specific but I don't know what.

You already know more than me then, but even then, it seems like the war chief should be older…or maybe the actor just looks younger than he is.

*Looks him up.*

He’s played by Dakota Beavers, who is 22.

[TGLS]

Also they seem to have taken all the horses with them.

Apparently the script didn't have any horses in it until their consultant complained, so there was one scene added with a horse.

[hammerofglass]

Also they seem to have taken all the horses with them.

Apparently the script didn't have any horses in it until their consultant complained, so there was one scene added with a horse.

They wrote a script entirely in the language of a horse nomad culture about members of that culture and completely forgot to include horses? That's just... wow.