Is the "Magic Flower" in Prey Really That Bad?

[Winter]

Amongst the various arguments against Prey one that sticks out the most is the Orange Flower that Naru uses to cool someone's blood and, as a result, render them invisible to the Predator's heat vision. Now, there are drugs that can lower ones blood pressure and as a result cool someone's body heat however, none work as fast as what we see in the film and none lower the body temperature THAT much and the Predator would still see something... However!

If we're bringing pointing out the flaws of this flower then it's only fair play to point out that the method used in the first film and Predators is also compete BS. Yes mud CAN mask ones body heat but A) it has to be laid on THICK! I mean you have to caked in mud for it to hide your body heat and the small amount Dutch uses both when he learns this and the amount he has on in the climax wouldn't be enough to hide his body heat. And B) even if you had the right amount on it wouldn't work for long because your body heat is going to heat up the mud and make you visible ESPECIALLY if your in a hot environment with no means of cooling yourself.

So really BOTH methods wouldn't work as shown in either film and both ignore actual science for this method to work. So, what conclusion can we draw from this? Simple really. Who cares, it's just means to work around the Predator's heat vision to show how clever they are against their opponent even though both methods are stupid if you know ANYTHING about either method. I for one don't care either way as I love both films and neither of these moments are bad enough to break by suspension of disbelief.

[hammerofglass]

Honestly this series is already such soft sci-fi if the flower was literally magic I wouldn't even blink

[Frustration]

Mud would work very effectively for a brief time, and less so as body heat warms the coating. But even after a while, the evaporation of the water in the mud would reduce the temperature of the coating. If the 'visible' thermal imaging was limited enough, covering oneself with mud would be a great method of stealth for a while.

[Frustration]

Blushing shows up easily on thermal imaging, which is just blood vessels dilating and letting more warm blood infuse the skin. Presumably there are drugs which could trigger the body's normal response to cold, which is to withdraw blood from the extremities and divert it to the core organs. This wouldn't render someone invisible to IR imaging, but it would make them less 'bright'.

But anything which substantially alters body temperature is going to be life-threatening, and would severely impact the ability to fight.

This 'magic flower' is just a plot excuse written by people who have no understanding of physics or physiology, for similar people.

[hammerofglass]

That is the smuggest I have seen anyone get about shit every middle-school child knows.

[Riedquat]

Mud would work very effectively for a brief time, and less so as body heat warms the coating. But even after a while, the evaporation of the water in the mud would reduce the temperature of the coating. If the 'visible' thermal imaging was limited enough, covering oneself with mud would be a great method of stealth for a while.

Mud passes the turn off brain threshold long enough for a film like this to work. It's got enough plausibility to get by if you don't actually think. It didn't make me facepalm the moment I saw it, even if it might bother me later and affect rewatchability. Whereas it sounds like this flower satisfies the "will accept whatever crap I'm given" crowd (TBF I've not seen the film) - facepalm as soon as I see it territory.

[Frustration]

One of the subtle points of the original movie was that it was in a tropical jungle, where even at night the air is quite warm. The difference between human body temperature and the ambient was modest, so thermal imaging could only work in a relatively narrow spectral window. Wet mud would screw that up for a time.

A drug that would lower body temperature enough to fool thermal imaging in a relatively cold temperate area... would reduce the taker to a corpse.

[Winter]

One of the subtle points of the original movie was that it was in a tropical jungle, where even at night the air is quite warm. The difference between human body temperature and the ambient was modest, so thermal imaging could only work in a relatively narrow spectral window. Wet mud would screw that up for a time.

A drug that would lower body temperature enough to fool thermal imaging in a relatively cold temperate area... would reduce the taker to a corpse.

Only if the mud was laid on thick as I said at the start. The amount Dutch has on him when he first uses it wouldn't hide $#!t and the amount he has on in the final battle also wouldn't hide him as the amount of time between the preperation for the battle and when the Predator shows up had to be AT LEAST 15 or 20 minutes, at which point the mud would have gotten up to body temperature as it takes 5 minutes for your body heat to start having a notable effect on the mud.

And that's when the mud has been laid on thick, the amount Dutch has on him would have gotten to body temperature in about 3 minutes at ROOM temperature. In a hot jungle it would have gotten as warm as his skin in about 2 minutes, which is me being generous and assuming that Dutch took a brief swim to lower his body heat because if he didn't the mud would have stopped hiding him after about 1 minute.

So, again, the mud is just as stupid and magical as the flower and let's not forget that neither is as stupid as what Predator 2 does which includes but is not unlimited to patching up gun wounds with cocaine powder, the metal from the Predator's weapon being made of a metal that is not on the periodic table and Harrigan assaulted a DEA agent and just walking away.

And after the offensive stupidity of The Predator a flower that lowers ones body heat is semantics when the series has done far more stupid things.

[clearspira]

I'm getting serious "magical native" vibes from this flower I have to say.

[hammerofglass]

Is it even supposed to be real IR in Prey? It sees a cold-blooded snake just fine.