When Prequels Are Done Well

Plus, we had a wide-ranging discussion on Westerns this week for the podcast

As Hollywood becomes more franchise-centered with every passing day, the prequel has become a common mode of storytelling. Just in the last 8 months we have seen major franchises release prequels, such as The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. And this weekend A Quiet Place: Day One, the third film in the series, arrives in theaters.

Prequels don’t always work; they can often feel pointless or unnecessary, and we usually know where the story is going. But the two prequels we’re recommending today find a way to be more fresh and exciting than you would expect. 

After you read our recs, check out the podcast this week and make sure you’re subscribed! 

Drew recommends…

Prey

Some prequels can simply be an enjoyable standalone experience. Prey, the 2022 prequel to the Predator franchise, is the kind of streamlined genre movie that doesn’t demand you know anything about the previous four Predator movies. And where the 1987 original Predator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is an over-the-top 80s action classic, Prey operates in a much different tone and atmosphere. It’s a quieter and more intimate sci-fi horror film that doesn’t overload with backstory and exposition, but simply focuses on delivering on the promise of exhilarating genre thrills. 

Set among the Comanche tribe of the Great Plains in the 1700s – about 300 years before the events of the original Predator – a young woman named Naru (Amber Midthunder) dreams of becoming a warrior. It’s not long before she must go toe-to-toe with a merciless alien hunter arriving on Earth for the first time. Midthunder, despite her lack of experience carrying a movie, does so with grit and grace as Naru, who she plays as a sharp and resilient young Comanche desperate to prove she can keep up with her older brother out in the plains on a hunt.

Director Dan Trachtenberg stages multiple hair-raising action sequences between the Comanches and the Predator. Both Prey and his previous film 10 Cloverfield Lane show a filmmaker confident in his skills to build tension and supply a crowd-pleasing payoff for the audience. With a fresh premise and setting, focus on a single character, and awesome action, Prey is the rare prequel that rejuvenates both viewers and a franchise. 

Streaming on Hulu

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Billy recommends…

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

This is a re-post from December 2019

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Such a simple word that I say way too much turned into the greatest “oh shit!” moment in recent memory. Rise of the Planet of the Apes should not work at all. Going back to a franchise that had lost its muster and telling the story of how this world came to be ruled by apes. That’s the boring part, right? Maybe this is why I will never make movies. My intuition is way off clearly.

In this story we follow the ape Caesar from when he was a baby grow up to be different than any other ape. While trying to find a cure for Alzheimer’s, James Franco’s character discovers that his cure became a part of Caesar’s DNA when he was born, leading to growth that is even faster than human growth. A stronger and smarter human-like creature? Not a great outlook for humanity. 

Technology is at a time where we can move our focus from human actors and create new characters to create an emotional connection too. Director Rupert Wyatt and screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver smartly use the humans as secondary characters. The focus is on Caesar and that leads to a brilliant conflict. Who do I root for, the apes or humans? This injects new life into a once-dead franchise. Now I have not seen any of the other Planet of the Apes movies besides the original, but in that one the apes were clearly the villain. Villains that we like, but are not rooting for. By the end of this one I was 100% rooting for Caesar and the apes. What should have been a huge box office bomb started a new trilogy that has turned into one of the best trilogies we have ever seen. Give this one a watch; you will be entertained the whole time.

Streaming on Hulu

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DYLA Podcast

The podcast went up late this week, but it’s here now for your listening pleasure. First, we reviewed The Bikeriders, one of our favorites of the year so far. Then, inspired by Kevin Costner’s Horizon (in theaters now), we had a wide-ranging discussion on the Western genre. We chatted about our favorites, both classics and underseen gems, and talked about the state of the Western today. Thanks for listening!

Apple Podcasts:

Spotify: