Dan Trachtenberg's pulse-pounding Predator prequel, Prey, received a generally positive response from critics and fans alike, but there was also a vocal minority of viewers who felt the movie was "too woke."
Woke has become a rather eye-rolling blanket term for pretty much anything that's deemed to be pushing some kind of agenda or including "forced diversity" these days (hell, it tends to be used if a movie so much as casts a woman or POC in a lead role), but in Prey's case, the main issue seems to have stemmed from the film's lone female warrior going head-to head with an alien killing machine and coming out victorious with barely a scratch.
Of course, it's not quite that simple (Naru gets plenty of help from her brother and others along the way, for one), but the facts don't always get in the way of people drawing their own conclusions.
Now, star Amber Midthunder has addressed the notion that the film was "super woke"
"I think a lot of people thought our movie would be some super-woke, F-the-patriarchy kind of a story, and that's not what it's about at all," the Legion actress said during an interview with People. "It's not a girl defying what men say she can and can't do. It's literally an individual who feels called to something and the people who know her don't think that is her calling. That is so much more personal and, I think, as the character, harder to deal with than anything."
"People don't know a lot about native history. Period. So they don't know what kind of warriors we were," Midthunder continued. "They were known for being some of the fiercest warriors of all. And they did have female-warrior society, so there were women that fought and hunted."
While this is true, it is worth noting that Naru's tribe, the Comanche, were not known to have had any prominent female warriors - although that doesn't mean they never did, and we are talking about a fictional, sci-fi action movie here!
What do you guys make of Midthunder's comments and the perception that Prey was too woke? Be sure to share your thoughts down below.
"Prey is the story of a young woman, Naru, a fierce and highly skilled warrior who has been raised in the shadow of some of the most legendary hunters who roam the Great Plains. So when danger threatens her camp, she sets out to protect her people. The prey she stalks, and ultimately confronts, turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal, resulting in a vicious and terrifying showdown between the two adversaries."
Prey stars Amber Midthunder, newcomer Dakota Beavers, Stormee Kipp, Michelle Thrush, Julian Black Antelope, and Dane DiLiegro as the Predator. The film is directed by Dan Trachtenberg, written by Patrick Aison, and produced by John Davis, Jhane Myers, and Marty Ewing, with Lawrence Gordon, Ben Rosenblatt, James E. Thomas, John C. Thomas, and Marc Toberoff serving as executive producers.
Streaming now on Hulu in the U.S., Star+ in Latin America, and Disney+ under the Star banner in all other territories.