Bullet Points: Hunter Prey
After seeing Batman: Dead End back in 2003, I thought its director Sandy Collora was going to be the next big thing. He clearly had an eye for the comic book style, and the way comic movies were exploding at that time made me think it was a done-deal. It’s odd to think that his first movie out of the gates was Hunter Prey. I mean, it’s not exactly a Stallone movie and it sure as shit ain’t Warner Brothers! But….is it any good??
Synopsis: The Prometheus has dropped out of orbit. Communications and life support systems are down. Situation Critical: Status of Crew and Prisoner unknown. With orders to catch their Alien Prisoner alive the surviving crew of the spaceship Prometheus pursue a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with their escaped prisoner on a deserted and barren planet. But, who is the hunter and who is its prey?—American Film Market
- Crash Landing: As the survivors of the Sedonian ship Promethus awoke from their crash landing on the uncharted desert planet, the prisoner was already out of their sights. Only three of the soldiers had survived the crash and even their use of an AI communications intelligence thingy couldn’t help them to catch up with the escapee. By the time that they finally find the creature, it has no longer become the prey.
- On the run: The Sedonians are off to the races behind the prisoner but he isn’t some weakling that will be caught. He instantly starts fighting back and takes out a pursuer. Also, the remaining Sedonians are at odds with one another and internal fighting only helps the prisoner to evade them longer.
- Fight to Survive: A good portion of the film is spent running through the Mexican…er, alien desert while the now HUMAN prisoner flees from the pursuing aliens. It’s only when the human Orin Jericho gets an earpiece that the two remaining survivors begin speaking and the story really starts to open up.
- The last of his kind: We learn that the human prisoner is now the last living human after the Earth was destroyed by the Sedonians. Why it has happened hasn’t been explained but it is known that the prisoner is extremely valuable because he knows about a plot to destroy the planet of the Sedonians and that is the only reason the soldiers are trying to take him alive.
- Clea: The mission is a priority 1 so you know it’s super important, but why didn’t they have a better crew of guys transporting the prisoner? Hell, I don’t know and I don’t care to ask those types of questions in a movie that is under 90 minutes. This is exactly the type of film that needs to be under 90 minutes so it doesn’t drag out too long with shots of the desert rocks and guys just talking to a pre-recorded voice that is supposed to be some radio AI thing.
- It takes one to know one: The action packed parts all lead pretty much nowhere once we’re down to just two fellas and it’s just a big cat and mouse until the extraction team shows up for one last kill-fest. But wait…there’s more. The film tries to change things up a bit by having a bounty hunter show up to collect a prize on the prisoner’s head. It doesn’t go over well for the Sedonian and he’s in and out in a jiffy. What is more interesting is that Sandy Collora played the alien bounty hunter because the original actor wasn’t able to make the trip. Still, the effects and prosthetics look cool and the chase continues.
- There’s more: The two remaining survivors learn they have more in common as soldiers than anyone originally thought. They start to see eye to eye a bit and we’re left wondering just how this movie will end. I don’t want to spoil too much of it for you but the ending is “fine”. Not a great big grandiose deal but something that could have easily spawned a sequel given a better reception. I’m not sure if that was Collora’s vision but watching Hunter Prey it’s easy to see that the filmmaker had his positives and his negatives when it came to putting his vision on screen.
The Verdict: Hunter Prey is the type of movie that is fun to watch for a number of reasons. The actors do their parts to get across the motivations of the characters while keeping it interesting with their portrayals. The makeup and effects are really cool to look at and the action is just tolerable. What enhances MY experience with the film is knowing the limitations it had and how it exceeded in some of the areas that movies like this normally don’t. Small budgeted films tend to not have the effects and makeup that Hunter Prey has. If anything, the look of the aliens and the armor and costumes are all among the best things about this film. That could have been something to complain about in most low budgets but Sandy Collora is able to do more with his own two hands than a dozen shitty direct to streaming alien films. Maybe it’s my pro-Sandy bias, but I think it’s certainly one worth watching and while I wouldn’t send a massive check his way to direct the next Avengers movie, I think he could crush a mid-budgeted film for one of the big streaming services. I guess we’ll see what happens in the future.
