By this point, Dan Trachtenberg is an expert at revitalising a franchise. Prey, his most recent film, which debuted as a Hulu original film last Friday, is unequivocal evidence of it. Even Rotten Tomatoes, which has already ranked Prey, the fifth and most recent movie in the Predator series, as the best Predator picture ever made, supports the director.
Prey acts as a prelude to all of the earlier movies for those of you who have not seen the new one yet. We are looking at a rural timeline that takes place in the year 1719 in the Northern Great Plains wilderness.
In Trachtenberg’s Prey, the Predator makes his first appearance on Earth. It goes without saying that the apex predator is seen in action using a variety of old, new, and improved weapons to bring in his prey. This highly developed extraterrestrial predator, who is thought to have come to Earth from another region of Yautja Prime, is also the oldest Predator to have ever been on show in the franchise.
Now that we have reached the main point of the video, let us have a look at the brutal high-tech arsenal of the Feral Predator. However, his preferred weapons have left every viewer shaken and us supporters extremely ecstatic. Make sure to finish watching this video!
Wrist Blades
Let’s get one thing straight right away; a Predator cannot be defined or imagined even in the slightest manner possible without his wrist blades. They are iconic and it is only fair that we address the wrist blades as his signature armament. What we are looking at is a pair of razor-sharp, jagged retractable blades which are seen coming out of his wrist gauntlet. Now, while it is not exactly known what these blades are made of, there is no denying that they are comprised of a metal that is simply unbreakable.
The edge of the blade is jagged for causing maximum mutilation and the Feral Predator mainly uses the weapon as his primary form of defence. In fact, the blades are so sharp that they can literally slice through anything. In Prey, we get a proper look at the weapon when the Predator gets intrigued by a wolf and uses his signature double wrist blades to attack it and ultimately rip out the spine along with the head. Mind you, this is not his first kill; he started with a rattlesnake who met the same fate.
Our lead protagonist, Naru did find the snake skinned and gutted. Anyway, with the Predator seen making use of his wrist blades all throughout the movie, another memorable scene happens to be the part where he sneaks up on Taabe from behind and attacks him using the blades before finally impaling him with his spear.
Having said that, let’s not forget that these wrist blades were first introduced in the original Predator movie, directed by John McTiernan. It is hard to disregard even after 35 years that most of Dutch’s squad mates met their fated demise because of this very weapon.
Disintegrator Gas
While this is not really used as a weapon and one often wonders why the Predator is seen making use of a disintegrator gas to serve other significant purposes. This is introduced in Prey primarily as some kind of a tool that is used chiefly for preserving his trophies. So after the Predator kills his prey, he is always seen pulling out the spine and the head. What happens next is him going back to his den with his trophy and spraying a disintegrator gas on the whole thing with the sole purpose of dissolving the flesh.
The gas, which in all probability can also be liquid nitrogen or something similar to it, decays every bit of the remaining fur and flesh on the bone. Now, speaking of the very scene in the movie, it is already a hit if you ask us. We see the Predator spraying the gas on the fluffy, furry and bloodied wolf head back in his den to have it reduced to a dry skull. Post his ritualistic cleaning, he is seen attaching the shrunken skull to his belt and looking for his next target.
While the gas has not really been used as a weapon in the movie, if you ask us, it should have been! When you have something that has a boiling temperature of minus 196 degree celsius and at atmospheric pressure, you are meant to use it. But then again, there is also a high possibility that the gas is also capable of causing harm to the Predator and therefore has not been used as a weapon in the movie.
This brings us to a comparable ritualistic cleaning scene carried out by the City Hunter Predator in the second movie. After the Predator engaged himself in a combat with the Jamaican drug lord and voodoo practitioner King Willie, and tore apart the latter’s spinal column along with the head, he is seen spraying a similar gas, one that sucks every bit of flesh and blood from the severed head. The Predator is also seen placing the clean skull on a spike thereby adding it to his trophy collection.
Laser-Guided Arrows
Well, of course, this looks familiar to the franchise but there is no denying that the laser-guided arrows which are demonstrated in Prey have certainly got an upgrade, and a powerful one may we add. By now everyone who has seen the latest addition to the franchise is aware of the signature shoulder cannon, also known as the plasma caster, missing from the high-tech arsenal of the Feral Predator in Prey.
While it is true that the hunter’s determined laser targets in the 2022 movie are not victims of the powerful blue plasma blasts, believe us when we tell you that they have to go through worse! What we have here is a projectile weapon firing arrows at a very high speed; mind you, these arrows are guided by a laser targeting system that is there in the new bio-helmet.
Mark our words – once a prey is set as a target, he has to accept his fate because there is no escaping from that. The razor-sharp metallic arrows are known for not missing their targets come what may; they will circle around if it’s needed and won’t rest till they have placed themselves on the chosen ones. The new movie has two of Taabe’s hunter friends Wasape and Itsee becoming victims to this new weapon here.
While many believe this high-tech weapon to be an earlier version of the plasma caster given the timeline of Prey, fans of the first Predator movie are bound to remember Sergeant Mac Eliot dying in a similar fashion. Mac, while hunting the Predator has a similar three-pointed laser pattern aimed at his arm first. However, with him exposing his very head to the Predator, no points for guessing what gets blown away.
Combistick
This retractable spear here can be used both as a hand-to-hand fighting weapon as well as a weapon that can be thrown at a specified target. Also addressed as a Telescoping Spear, the Combistick was first introduced in Stephen Hopkins’ Predator 2 and since then has undergone through quite a bit of changes.
In the 1990 movie, the City Hunter Predator is seen resorting to the weapon to viciously slaughter all of the Jamaican gangsters inside the luxurious penthouse of the Columbian drug lord. He is also seen using the Combistick to butcher most of Special Agent Peter Keys’ men at the slaughterhouse. Speaking of the weapon, it can be split into two parts; mind you both the ends are exceptionally sharp and the weapon is apparently made out of a metal that does not even fall under the Periodic Table.
This brings us to the Combistick on display in Prey. The Feral Predator is seen separating the weapon into a mace as well as a machete depending upon his choice of course and using it. Not sure if it’s called a Combistick here because it does look and act more like a Spear gun and he is seen using the very weapon during his fight against the French Fur Trappers.
Wire Net
The wire net is first demonstrated as a netgun in Predator 2 when the City Hunter Predator throws a net almost the size of a man at his target. We are talking about the ambush inside the luxe apartment of the Columbian drug lord, Ramon Vega. With the Predator throwing a razor-sharp net at one of the Jamaican gangsters, the net not only pins him to the wall but also cuts through his very flesh. Speaking of the outer edge of the net, it has a horde of spikes which not only holds the net but also the very target in his place.
Speaking of the wire net, which happens to be on display in Prey, it is seen being thrown at one of the French Fur Trappers by the apex hunter during the latter’s fight against them. It is a bit ironical if you ask us because the sole purpose of the French Trappers was to trap the Predator and not get trapped by him instead. Anyway, after he throws the wire net on the trapper, the automatic tightening mechanism gets activated and the wire mesh starts growing tighter eventually cutting through the target’s body. Oh, it is a bloody sight and the screams can be deafening; categorically not for the squeamish.
Laser Discs
Also known as smart discs, this weapon is capable of cutting through flesh, bone and literally anything for that matter. The disc is usually seen coming back to its owner, and in this case, the Predator, after the job is done. First introduced in the second installment of the Predator franchise, the City Hunter Predator is seen tossing the disc at Peter Keyes inside the slaughterhouse.
For those of you who don’t remember the scene, here is a bit of the context. With the Predator cornering Lieutenant Mike Harrigan inside the slaughterhouse and just about to kill him, Keyes intervenes and blasts the creature with frozen nitrogen.
But this only angers the Predator and he is seen throwing a sharp circular weapon towards Keyes, which not only cuts through all the suspended slaughtered animals but also bisects Keyes into two halves. Remember when we mentioned before how the disc is capable of cutting through anything, well Harrigan is actually seen cutting the netgun that the Predator had thrown at him using the very laser disc.
Now, the reason it is called a laser disc is because of the tracking technology that is built inside the weapon. Once it is done with what it is assigned for, it will come back to the Predator. Speaking of Prey, the weapons definitely got an upgrade falling under the very category of the Feral Predator’s advanced arsenal. Here, the laser discs are seen to emerge from the wrist gauntlet of the Predator as three small discs.
During the Predator’s fight with the French Fur Trappers, the Predator is seen activating his wrist gauntlet, setting some kind of a timer and leaving it on the ground for the trappers. While he is seen leaping from one tree to the other and going as far away as possible from his gauntlet, the trappers fall victim to his weapon which has three mini spinning and hovering discs self-destructing and causing nothing short of a blood bath.
Cut Clamp
What we have here is without a doubt, a new variant of the dagger. The Predator is seen resorting to a Cut Clamp a number of times towards the latter part of Prey. The fact that this weapon here is capable of changing its shape lets it easily wrap itself around objects and even hurled as a dagger.
In the scene where one of his legs get trapped inside the metal foot trap purposely left behind by the French Fur Trappers, the Feral Predator is seen using a Cut Clamp to free himself from the foot trap. He is also seen using the same weapon as a weapon of his very choice striking one of the trappers with that. But if you ask us, we fancy the Predator more with his staple-bladed weapons because they usually give him more edge when it comes to his adversaries.
Shield
Be it the teaser or the very trailer of Prey, this retractable shield had us completely glued to the weapon right from the very beginning. Mind you, the shield on display isn’t just a regular circular-looking thing; it is a weapon that the Feral Predator is shown to utilize as a defensive ploy much to the very surprise of the French Fur Trappers. The best part of the shield is the sole fact that it is bulletproof.
Oh, in case we missed out on this, it is also pretty sharp; for instance, the shield is not only sharp enough to sever the head of a trapper but also make its way by cutting through the trunk of the tree that the trapper was previously standing against. Like it or not, the shield did remind us of the smart disc that was on display in Predator 2 and it is possible that the inspiration for the shield came from the smart disc that was demonstrated there. After all, it did cut a human into two parts and you can’t disregard that particular scene!
With this, we have come to the end of our video here. Do hit us with your thoughts in the comments section and let us know which one is your favourite weapon. Also, stay tuned with us for more interesting content on Predator!