Prey [Blu-ray]

Most of the sequel Predator movies became so formulaic and predictable, one-dimensional w/no character development - I lost interest long ago. Writers didn't seem to be able to get beyond this template. This movie is a breath of fresh air and definitely a joy to watch. You CARE about the individuals and in particular the lead character, Naru, and her struggles as an indigenous woman defining herself in a male-biased role (remember Ripley in the first Alien movie?) - this is along those lines, but within a very fascinating historical environment. While the first Predator is all about alpha male, macho brawn and technology toys (weapons) against an advanced weapons-armed alien - Naru's approach is all about SKILL and using pre-technology weaponry to outsmart a deadly enemy via good old fashion brain power. Bravo!

This prequel to the Predator movies is far better than majority of the others.

Prey 4K UHD received was a Canadian release, however this two disc set (i.e. Blu-ray HD + Blu-ray 4K UHD) had an English sound track. In addition the discs are region free. 4K UHD images were up to expectations. A must for Predator franchise fans.

I won't go into a detailed plot breakdown or try to give a balanced critique of 'Prey.' since you can find that on numerous other websites.Suffice to say that as a long-time fan of four out of the seven Films in the Predator franchise thus far, I'm a massive fan of 'Prey.'. I've watched it countless times and I think it's very nearly better than the 1987 original, so I couldn't possibly be objective.Instead I'm going to assume that you the reader have seen 'Prey.' at least once already and I'm going to do what a lot of people who collect blu rays may well take great exception to, and use the 4K HDR-enhanced blu ray of 'Prey.' to make a case for why I think HDR on 4K blu rays is over-rated.I should start by saying that I always appreciate the increased sharpness & resolution potentially afforded by 4K and whilst the Wider Colour Gamut (WCG) is often of great benefit as it appropriately and tastefully enhances the saturation of the colour palette, in my experience HDR always increases the contrast by simply darkening the Film across-the-board, rather than by darkening certain parts of each scene selectively - which I assume the technology can't do yet.Now whilst I'm certainly not suggesting that this across-the-board darkening of the image always results in an objectionably unwatchable image (and to the especially uncritical eye it may even make Films look more striking and dynamic), what I am saying is that it very often robs Films of a lot of detail - especially in their darkest scenes.What this means is that the darker the scene, the less shadow detail one can make out. In many instances not only can fine-point detail be obscured, sometimes whole objects are swallowed up in complete darkness.For a Film fan like me who's motto is: 'If the original cinematography captured it and the Cinematographer and the Director intended the audience to see it, then I absolutely want to be able to see it!', this HDR-created lack of detail in the image is extremely annoying. Especially when it's so easy for me to go into my TV's settings, switch off the HDR and discover the amount of detail that the HDR is hiding.But who wants to watch a 4K HDR blu ray with their TV's HDR setting switched off?The exception to my dislike of HDR on 4K blu rays is releases where I know that the image is endorsed by the Director, or at least by the Cinematographer and presumably by extension the Director.Anyway given that the 4K HDR-enhanced release of 'Prey.' includes the 1080p SDR disc, I've recently been able to swap the discs over and compare the same scenes on the two discs.To my dismay having waited for over a year to buy the 4K blu ray release of 'Prey.', what I've discovered is that on the 4K disc the HDR is so aggressive that during the Film's frequent forest-set torch-lit night-time scenes, the Comanche often look as if they're walking around in a completely jet black landscape in which hardly anything of the trees and the various other kinds of vegetation around them, is being illuminated by their torches.By contrast; on the 1080p SDR disc their torches illuminate noticeably more of what's around them.The best (or rather worst) example of this overly aggressive application of HDR is the shot during the scene in which Naru is trying to fend off an advancing Mountain Lion as it stalks her along the increasingly thinning tree branch high up off the ground. She hears the strange roar of the Feral Predator far off in the forest and she looks toward where the sound is coming from.What one then sees on the 1080p SDR disc is a wonderfully detailed, appropriately but not overly bright, quite beautiful shot of a large clearing with various clumps of vegetation on clearly very uneven ground. On the 4K HDR disc however, the level of detail in this same shot is severely limited by comparison.One notices very much the same thing when comparing the 1080p SDR and the 4K HDR versions of the long distance establishing shot which occurs immediately before we see 'Big Beard', the obnoxious French Fur Trapper, wake up to discover that Naru has relieved him of the lower part of his right leg. This long-distance establishing shot is far more detailed on the 1080p SDR disc.In fact not only is the overly aggressive use of HDR a noticeable drawback in nighttime scenes, it's also quite obvious during well-lit daytime scenes.Most obvious are the shots from inside Naru's family's Tipi looking out to the Comanche encampment through its open entryway. On the 1080p SDR disc there are many items clearly visible either hung up on or leant against the animal hide walls on the inside of the Tipi on both sides of the entryway.On the 4K HDR disc however, these items become barely visible the further away they are from the open entryway.Also; looking at the close-up shot of Naru framed against the open sky the first time she steps outside the Tipi, in which her overly darkened long flowing hair doesn't display a whole lot of detail in its individual strands on the 4K HDR disc, one could be fooled into thinking that the shot was filmed during a particularly overcast day - which in fact it wasn't.All of this to say that whilst even I, critical as I am, can usually overlook the unwanted added darkness that HDR casts over blu ray images, 'Prey.' is one Film where even though the 4K disc is a touch sharper (at least in freeze-frame if not necessarily in motion), I ultimately decided that I much prefer to watch the 1080p SDR disc and to be able to see everything that the filming captured.In watching the 1080p SDR disc I of course don't get the benefit of the WCG but to me it looks more vibrant, a little sharper and more colourful than the 4K HDR version that I've been watching on Disney+ over the past year.In fact the HDR on this 4K disc makes the image noticeably darker than the HDR on the Disney+ Streaming version. That really took me by unpleasant surprise.To be perfectly honest I've never watched a 1080p blu ray whilst desperately wishing that the colours were more deeply saturated anyway! Did anyone ever find themselves wishing that before the advent of 4K HDR blu rays?HDR has many fans so no doubt it's here to stay. I just hope that one day technology gets to the point where on 4K discs the WCG can be applied and the contrast can be enhanced, without unduly darkening every single shot of a Film.Until then perhaps the companies and the individuals involved in the production of 4K HDR blu rays might just decide to be a little more circumspect in their application of the technology.So right now I'm left stuck between a rock and a hard place...I have to decide whether to forego the potentially quite noticeably increased sharpness & resolution offered by 4K (sharpness & resolution always being the most important consideration for me when I'm deciding whether to buy the 1080p blu ray or the 4K bluray) and buy the SDR 1080p disc so that I can avoid the HDR and see everything that the original cinematography captured, or buy the 4K HDR disc and enjoy increased sharpness & resolution but not see all of the detail that the original cinematography captured -because so much of it is hidden by the HDR!Also; do we really need more than one version of Dynamic Meta Data HDR/WCG? How can more than one version be what the Director and/or the Cinematographer intended the audience to see?To me this is a perfect example of using technology simply because one can, rather than because one should.Finally; it's demonstrably true that HDR isn't always necessary given the existence of 4K blu ray releases like Alexandro Amenabar's 'The Others.' and Billy Wilder's 'The Apartment.'. Neither of which have HDR applied and both of which would look far too dark if it had been.So clearly the people involved in the production of 4K blu rays are capable of making considered decisions as to which Films need HDR, and which ones don't. I wish they'd decide NOT to apply HDR more often.Anyway I have no idea whether you'll find any of that useful.Perhaps I'm just spouting off about my frequent dislike of HDR in the hope that one day the people who do the Mastering of 4K blu rays will sit up and take notice!What I can say about the 4K blu ray release of 'Prey.' though, is that having watched and played close attention to both that and the included 1080p disc, the 1080p disc really looks no less impressive than the 4K disc. That is unless you freeze-frame and do a lot of direct comparisons between the two like I did. And you can take that from me because I'm REALLY picky about image quality!OK you don't get the Wider Colour Gamut on the 1080p disc but as far as I'm concerned it looks wonderfully (and realistically) saturated, whereas to me the 4K disc looks unnaturally dark and the colours look a little overcooked.In the end if you buy the 4K disc you get that and the 1080p disc anyway, so you can take your pick.I just wish I'd known in advance that I was going to end up preferring to watch the 1080p disc. I'd have just bought that and saved myself a bit of money!

This was great!!! Really fun if you like the Predator. There's another one coming.

I loved this prequel to the Predator movies. The scenery, special effects and acting were amazing and the story was captivating. I'm very impressed, especially since sequels and sequels-that-are-prequels tend to go downhill in quality of the original. The "making of" was also interesting to watch. I've watched this movie twice already within a week (I usually need a few years before I can repeat watch a movie). 5 stars, highly recommend.

I was very impressed with it it was very entertaining

I wasn't expecting much from this movie but was pleasantly surprised and have watched it many times.

La película es parte de una de las franquicias más importantes del cine.Me gustó que viene en español latino y con mucho material extra.

Not really.... Arrived punctually, in good order, well-packaged.

Buena película, muy emocionante, buena historia bien contada.

eigentlich kannte ich ihn schon. Aber deshalb wollte ich die DVD haben. Was ich cool finde den Film kann man auch in Comanche mit englischen Untertitel anschauen. Fand ich einfach mal ein muss für mich dies auch zu tun

A new entry in the 'Predator' franchise of science fiction movies. About the aliens who come to Earth to hunt.This is set in the year 1719. It's a stand alone story that doesn't tie into any of the other Predator movies. So you don't need to have seen anything else to get into this.Set in America as it was, the main character is a girl called Naru. A member of a tribe of native Americans. They live a nomadic existence off the land. She's good at tracking. Has a faithful dog. She thinks she's ready to go hunting for game with her brother.He doesn't.But there's something else out there that's hunting things.....I think this is just what the franchise needed. Not trying to set things in motion with stories to be resolved over several movies. But just a stand alone movie that utilises the concept. It does utilise it very well, it has to be said.Naru is a good lead character. The actress does make her likeable. The location filming is nicely done. It captures the feeling of what it would have been like to live this kind of existence back then.It's not a film that appears to have a required a huge budget. Even so, it doesn't look low budget. The cinematography is really good and captures the landscapes well. The cast playing the tribe are all native Americans so that does add authenticity.It does try to give you the feeling of there being an invisible and powerful predator around. One that could strike at any moment. There are times when the score does slightly get in the way of this. But there are others when it is very effective indeed.Although in it's first half this feels like a four star movie. In that it's really good but just lacking that certain something to be really memorable, I found it really clicked in the second. It does open certain things up slightly to allow for it to be more than just the Predator stalking a handful of people. There's some superb imagery in terms of how things are staged which brings some memorable shots.Also, the fight scenes are memorable. Naru is not what they call a girl boss. Someone who could do anything without breaking a sweat. You feel the fights as she goes through them, and you do wonder if she can succeed. Which is as it should be.The resolution is effective. Sometimes films like this seem to have no idea how to end. But this reaches a logical and pretty satisfying finale, without stretching itself out too much.A very memorable viewing experience. Glad I finally got to it.There's nothing extra during or after the end credits.The dvd has the following language and subtitle options:Languages: English. English audio captioned. German. Italian. Comanche.Subtitles: English. German. Italian.Although the actors playing the tribe all speak English, which of course they wouldn't have, it is done properly and thus it doesn't feel like a dub. So that works fine. Or course you could put the Comanche language track on and the English subtitles, if you want the really realistic experience.