Why So Blu?

Prey (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

When Prey unleashed last year, many were bummed it wasn’t given a theatrical shake. And many were crossing their fingers it would see a disc release sometime in the near future. Well, the latter has happened. As the 20th Century Studios side of the Disney tree is putting the latest Predator movie out on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on October 3rd. Coming with a nice little platter of bonus features, including a commentary, and a Dolby Atmos track, its not just a quick skimp to the format. You can order yourself a copy to own by using the paid Amazon Associates link following the review.

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Film

The epic Predator legacy continues with this action-thriller set in 1719 on the Great Plains with a band of Comanches. When Naru, a fierce and highly skilled young warrior, sets out to protect her people, the prey she stalks turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator — leading to a vicious and terrifying showdown.

Prey takes the Predator series back to its roots. But in doing so, it gets to an even finer core. The primal action experience. The alien monster with technology from out of this world vs the indigenous hero with nothing but nature and primal instincts as a resource. What is crafted is an unique and incredible tale of both survival, hunting and protecting your tribe. A sort of coming of age tale to top it off as well. And all of this within the confines of the Predator franchise. Don’t just make another one to make another one, have something to say. And Prey, speaks volumes in that.

Dan Trachtenberg and Amber Midthunder form an impeccable actor/director team that sell this fantastic Predator story. Its a breakout performance for her, but she comes off as seasoned a vet as Arnold was when he fought the glowing green bleeding demon from another world. Trachtenberg also takes in his land and creates such an wonderful landscape and understandable geographical arena to place this bout it. He’s both clever and artistic with this meld, to make the film not just a fight, but one that looks important and feels like it has purpose and heart.

I know many on the socials have decried this for not being in a theater, but the reason it wasn’t was very simple. Just look to the previous returns of the last couple Predator films. Even with good reviews, I guarantee half the people crying about Prey not in theaters wouldn’t have put up the coin and travel to see. They all got it as part of their cheap Hulu subscription, so it was easy for them to “take a chance” on a well reviewed film. Personally, yeah it bums me out, but I understand why they chose their delivery method. I had been going to these movies to varying degrees of mildly filled theaters. I’m just happy another one got made.

Prey does what many franchise should have thought of long ago when trying to reinvent, refresh or re-establish their brand via a prequel. Don’t just go back a few steps. Go WAY back. So far back that you don’t have to follow rules or mythology and you can basically make your own. Going back in the way that Prey does, creates new challenges, new stakes and a whole different kind of arena, characters and mentality for our movie beast to feast on. And its a might success in doing so. Someone needs to take a slasher back to the old west now, please? Heck, Predator, you can go there if you want!

Video

Disclaimer: Screen captures used in the review are from the standard Blu-ray disc, not the 4K UHD Blu-ray disc.

Encoding: HEVC / H.265

Resolution: 4K (2160p)

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Layers: BD-66

Clarity/Detail: Prey is an absolutely beautiful looking 4K presentation. Its quite crystal clear, sharp and full of strong details. The colors are nice and flush and the depth in the image is super spacious and showcasing a glorious scale. I’m not sure there will be much complaining on this one aside from nit picks.

Depth:  Depth of field, as mention is quite spacey and shows off a good scale and a big feeling nature. Movement is smooth, natural and has no issues with distortions during the rapid action moments.

Black Levels: Black levels are natural and deep. This is a very dark film at times, and relies heavily on nighttime and shadowy sequences. Plenty is visible with good degrees of tints and shades. Its impressive, too. Lots of good lighting contrast to pop with the HDR and make it even more dynamic. No crushing witnessed.

Color Reproduction: Colors are quite gorgeous in a natural fashion with greens really coming across the best. HDR is wonderfully put to use here to contrast many dark moments with fire and light. The green Predator blood glows as one of the greatest effects utilizing HDR has done for the format.

Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural and consistent from start to finish. Facial features and textures are clear as day, even showcasing the face paint in such wonderfully detailed fashion.

Noise/Artifacts: Clean

Audio

Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, English 2.0 Descriptive Audio, Comanche 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish

Dynamics: Prey includes a Dolby Atmos track that really fills the room with an engaging experience. I do want to note, its a hair disappointing that the highly touted Comanche language track is only presented in the lossy Dolby Digital format. However, the Atmos rocks. Its loud, its all over the room and it has plenty of fun intricacies and depth to display throughout the film.

Height: From above you get ships flying, animals flocking around, action going over the camera and more.

Low Frequency Extension: Explosions. loud clopping, laser blasts, impalements, punches, fire all get some rumble and bump from the subwoofer with good and varied degrees of power.

Surround Sound Presentation: Around the room, you get plenty of unique contributions via animal noises, off screen activity or an angle change tracking the reversal of what you were seeing. Rolling sound travels through the room with good force and power. This mix is nice, loose and feels every bit of the 36o degree experience you’d be hope for.

Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are clear and crisp.

Extras

Prey is a 2-Disc set (1 4K UHD, 1 BD). There is an insert sheet advertising a figurine inside the case. For a look at the packaging click on the video above.

Audio Commentary

• By Dan Trachtenberg, Amber Midthunder, Jeff Cutter and Angela M. Catanzaro

Making of Prey (HD, 12:17) – A swift behind the scenes that, while rather brief,  contains interviews and footage that is better than your average fluff.

Prey FYC Panel With Cast & Crew (HD, 29:01) – Full panel that offers up Dan Trachtenberg, Amber Midthunder, Alec Gillis, Angela Cantazaro, Jeff Cutter and Jhane Myers

Deleted Scenes with Commentary (HD, 4:48)

Summary

Prey is a top-flight way to reinvigorate your franchise and also craft a terrific standalone science fiction picture. With great relief, it is here on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray to own. And, it includes a top notch audio and video presentation. There are also a nice handful of quality extras to complete the package. If you own all the other Predator movies, surely you’ll want this one. And if you haven’t been too keen on the other Predator movies, definitely check out Prey.

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