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Naru Prepares For Battle – Analysis of the New Prey Trailer

I’m sure by now, many of you will have seen the thrilling new trailer for Prey. It looks great and completely different to any other Predator movie we’ve seen before. Here’s my analysis of the trailer. I’ve tried to put the scenes together in some sort of chronological order and figure out how the film will play out.

Prey is set 300 years ago, in 1719 to be specific, in the Great Plains, United States. The trailer soon introduces us to our heroine – Naru, played by New Mexican actress Amber Midthunder. Naru is part of the Comanche – a Native American tribe that inhabited the Great Plains in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Great Plains refers to much of the interior of the United States – a region west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains. The Comanche are still around today and are known as the Comanche Nation.

The film is about Naru proving her worth and showing to the rest of her tribe, especially to her brother Taabe, that she is a skilled warrior like them. The film features the Comanche tribe, as well as European Settlers who are caught in the crossfire when a Predator stalks them. We do see one Predator in the trailer but it’s rumoured that there might be two in the film.

Naru Wants To Hunt

The trailer begins with a narration from our 15 year old heroine Naru. One Comanche asks why she wants to hunt and Naru replies “Because you all think that I can’t.”

 Naru Prepares For Battle - Analysis of the New Prey Trailer

A Storm is Coming

There’s a shot showing something coming down from the dark clouds. Could this be a Predator ship landing? Naru can be seen sitting on the cliffside with her dog and she sees this as a sign. We next see her returning to her camp.

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Observing the Bear

In some of the earliest scenes, Naru is out in the forest with her dog. She spots a bear eating a carcass by the river. She turns to her dog and she tells it not to do anything.

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Dead Animals

There’s an important shot showing Naru overlooking a field where numerous animals have been slaughtered and skinned. This might be the first tell-tale signs for Naru that something is not quite right and that a Predator is here.

 Naru Prepares For Battle - Analysis of the New Prey Trailer

Naru Warns Taabe

In some scenes during the night, Comanche people can be seen carrying something and Naru tries to warn her 18 year old older brother Taabe (played by Dakota Beavers) that something is out there. She says she wants to come with them but he refuses to let her. She says she’s trying to protect him and Taabe asks “From what?”.

I think this scene is not so much Naru warning the tribe about the Predator, but about the Comanche fighting the Settlers or Taabe proving his worth. Naru wants to go with them. This whole sequence is difficult to place as I feel it should take place after the bear attack but it has to take place before, as Naru’s makeup changes after the bear attack.

There’s a shot later in the trailer where, I think, Taabe fights a cougar in the treetops which I think is following the previous scene. At first glance it looks like a Predator fighting the beast but you can make out the Comanche clothing. A bit later, Naru spots a lot of blood running down one of the trees.

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The Comanche Prepares for Battle

There are scenes showing the Comanche preparing for battle. Somebody off-camera says “It’s time”. We can see the Comanche in the forest with bows and arrows. There’s one shot of Taabe drawing back his bow. I feel this is connected to the previous scene where Naru is wanting to go with Taabe to fight.

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Naru Preparing to Hunt

After Taabe refuses to let Naru come with them, I feel she tries to prove that she is a worthy warrior. We can see Naru in the forest preparing to hunt. She makes a tomahawk that can be thrown on a rope.

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Bear Attack

In a subsequent scene to the earlier bear one, she attacks a running bear from across the river with an arrow. The arrow hits the bear in the head but it chases her. She dives into the river and surfaces in a dam. The bear tries to break its way through the branches. As it does, a cloaked Predator kills the bear and lifts it up.

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Naru Fight In The Forest

Naru appears and she has a bloodied lip. In the first teaser trailer, we can see her about to confront the Predator with an axe. This scene looks like it’s right before she runs into the field.

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Predator Chases Naru Into The Field

Here is Naru running out of the forest with a bloodied lip. She is stopped by another person from her tribe. They see something in the jungle and run into the tall grass. As the boy draws back his bow to shoot an arrow, the Predator lines up his targeting laser on the young warrior. Naru moves him out of the way as the Predator fires a projectile. They both run through the field with the Predator in pursuit.

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Misty Night – The Predator Attacks The Settlers

There appears to be quite a lot of scenes happening on a misty night in the forest. Horses can be seen running through the forest. Naru has a bloodied lip from the previous scene.  There looks to be a third group in the film – European Settlers. One of them is seen running away from the Predator when it throws his spear. It goes straight through a tree next to where Naru is hiding.

The Settlers can then be seen firing their guns, presumably at the Predator. We can see the Predator using a new piece of equipment – a fan-like shield that blocks the incoming bullets. We get a good look at the Predator mask design which features a skull. The Predator also seems to be injured as you can see green blood on his left arm.

A silhouette of the Predator can be seen. The hunter can also be seen jumping from the tree branches. At some point, the Predator grabs one of the Settlers by the throat as another one attacks him with an axe. The Predator guards with his wristblades and catches the axe and hits the Settler.

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Taabe on Horseback

Taabe can be seen on horseback with a spear. We can see a cloaked Predator lifting one of the Comanche up and thrown up while another one stands close. I think this is Taabe as you can see the specific spear in the shot. The Predator’s cloak seems to be malfunctioning – it’s flickering orange unlike the blue flickering we’ve seen in previous films. There’s a part in the trailer where Naru says she can kill it. There’s a shot of Naru laid in mud and she throws the tomahawk. She has new makeup across her eyes here.

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Naru vs Predator

There will be a final showdown between Naru and the Predator. We also saw quick glimpses of Naru screaming with green glowing Predator blood on her chest. The Predator then lunges in to attack her from the trees. She dodges out of the way and the Predator impales a tree with its wristblades.

 Naru Prepares For Battle - Analysis of the New Prey Trailer

What does everybody think? Is this the right sequence of events in the film? Some of the scenes are very difficult to place but I think they key is Naru’s makeup which changes as the film goes on.


Analysis Notes: The original casting call said that Naru was 19 years old and her brother Taabe was 17. But another report said Naru was 15 years old and Taabe was 18. I would say the latter is probably more accurate judging from the trailer. I would also add that we’re still not sure if Taabe is the name of her brother in the final film. Naru was known as Kee initially so it’s possible it could have changed. For the purpose of the article, we’ll refer to him as Taabe.



Post Comment
Comments: 8
  1. BigDaddyJohn
    I mean, there's many ways for her to defeat the predator, as long as it feels earned, and that we feel she has gone through A LOT in the movie in order to succeed.

    On a side note though, it is more complicated for her compared to Dutch to pull off some specific tricks, like the decisive big log trap, which he was able to do only with his physical strength.

    So I think worrying about the fact that she could defeat a predator in a believable way is not an entirely invalid point either, I'm just staying on the optimistic side of things.

    Also, at 1:53 in the trailer, it looks like there's a head or some body part attached to the spear when it hits the tree  ;D
  2. dave1978
    Trailer looks OK but are we really gonna get a six stone girl taking on a Predator?  i mean come on.  I dont care if she has every trick in the book there is just no way that is going to work. 

    And why her?  who has trained her?  where does she learn all these techniques?  self trained i suppose?  I think we are getting a bit too much MsheU in this.
  3. Highland
    I wonder if they showed us how the Predator die's.

    That bit with her screaming at the end has a really big " I just jumped into a spike" vibe. The classic how do I beat a bigger thing than me kill.

     :laugh:
  4. Doomofman
    Just a couple of things. I think the shot of all the dead animals isn't related to the predator but is something the settlers did (pretty sure this is something that actually happened with the settlers killing off the buffalo en masse).

    And the bit you called a misty/night forest, I think it's actually burnt forest and smoke. Hence why none of the trees have any foliage left (again I'm guessing this is something the settlers have done)
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