Prey (2007)

[Ash]

Think "Cujo" in South Africa and lions instead of a rabid snarling dog and you have Prey.

This was just a mediocre film to me so I couldn't really put it in the Good Movies area.



I must admit, the premise does sound intriguing and the DVD cover looks cool...but that's about it.

Here's the gist of the film:
Peter Weller is a divorced dad who has recently re-married a younger woman played by Bridget Moynahan.
(You might remember her as the scientist chick from I Robot)
Weller's character has two kids from his previous marriage.  A snotty teenage daughter who hates her new stepmother and a younger son who likes her.
They go to South Africa on a safari vacation and Weller stays behind while the new mom & stepkids go out for a little sightseeing.
Through a series of events which I shall not reveal, their guide is killed and the keys aren't in the ignition of their vehicle.  They're out lying on the ground a good distance from the truck.
They end up stranded in the middle of the African savannah, trapped in their truck and surrounded by man-eating lions.
Weller eventually realizes something's wrong when they don't return and goes looking for them.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That sounds like it might make for a good movie right?
Wrong.
The film's execution is all wrong.
Rather than care about what happens to the characters, I actually felt indifferent towards them.
Not only do they have to worry about the lions outside their vehicle, they must contend with lack of food and dehydration from lack of water.  Even with these extra troubles, I still didn't really feel anything for them.

The director also liked to show the lions point of view.  Rather than make it creepy, these black & white POV shots come across as unintentionally funny.   
There's also a couple of times in the movie where lions get shot with rifles and the special effects are downright hilarious.
The scene near the end when the lion leaps through the air and gets blasted in the gut had me in stitches.
It wasn't meant to be funny...but it was.   

Bridget Moynahan is the only good thing this movie has going for it.  I thought she did the best she could with the role.
I would recommend waiting for it to show on cable or satellite to watch it.

I give it 1 1/2 stars out of 4.   

Here's the IMDB link
(be sure to check out some of the comments on the IMDB about this film...they're pretty good  )

[Trevor]

  Hi, Ash.

Oy yoy yoy ~ a  South African film!  If it isn't bad enough that we have a South African on these boards, now a South African film! Hello muddah, hello faddah, what is the world coming to? 

What scares the hell out of me (a film archivist and a SA film historian) is that most of the movies made here in the last three or four years have gone straight to DVD as though the filmmakers have no confidence in their product at all.

This takes me straight back to the 1980's when people like Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus came here, made low quality films, almost ruining the industry and then buggered off and made a fortune while our actors and crews made almost nothing. 

Director Darrell James Roodt made some wonderfully anti-apartheid films like Place of Weeping and especially The Stick but I think he's just making the films now for a pay cheque and not much else.

Our industry in SA is now 112 years old ~ where is it going. I dunno, I just work here. 

[akiratubo]

The director also liked to show the lions' point of view.  Rather than make it creepy, these black & white POV shots come across as unintentionally funny.

Cats see in color.  Stupid movie.

[Ash]

Cats see in color.

Hmmm...
I had always thought that cats could only see in black & white.
Or was that dogs?

Apparently, they can see in color.
http://videoforcats.com/catvision.htm

[Torgo]

There's a hilarious review of the Prey DVD on DVD Verdict.  The reviewer just trashes the movie.  Pretty funny stuff.

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/prey.php

[Trevor]

 

Hi Torgo ~ thanks for the link, that was one funny review. 

It still worries me that most of the films made here in SA go straight to DVD, they do not pass go or even collect $200, they go straight onto video. That is really bad and can't be good for the future of our film industry.

[Jim H]

Cats see in color.

Hmmm...
I had always thought that cats could only see in black & white.
Or was that dogs?

Apparently, they can see in color.
http://videoforcats.com/catvision.htm

I'm not sure if any animals actually see in black and white.  They just see fewer colors than humans.  Think of the way colors look at night under the moon.

[Foywonder]

I didn't think it was all that bad, but it wasn't all that good either.

But everyone has thus far missed the bigger picture - PREY is the new movie from the guy that made DRACULA 3000. That just goes to prove that no matter how terrible your last movie was it still doesn't mean your career is over.

[Trevor]

Hi Foywonder 

That's Darrell Roodt who started off so well making movies that really gave the viewer a kick in the gut but as I said before, he's only making movies now for the money and not to say anything about any situation, political or otherwise.

Incidentally, his 2004 film Yesterday was the first South African film to be nominated as Best Foreign Language Feature ~ I believe that it lost to The Sea Inside.

[DistantJ]

You're right, the DVD cover makes it look pretty scary.

[Pilgermann]

Cats see blues and greens, no reds.

[Weltall]

When I first saw the title, I thought 'Oh god, they've turned another Crichton schlockfest into a movie'. Now I find it's a movie about one of my favorite types of animals made by the guy who managed to make a movie worse than Van Helsing. Ok, I've got to check this out.