User reviews

Oh, no, not ANOTHER lion movie called 'Prey'! We had 'Prey' in 2007, 'Prooi' in 2016 (Prooi being dutch for Prey), and now again! Then there was the 2022 'Predator' prequel also called 'Prey'. All too confusing...

The film's alternate title is 'Kalahari', and now it sounds all too much like 1965's 'Sands of the Kalahari', which is about a small plane flying to Johannesburg crashing in the Kalahari. Only, in that movie there are baboons and no lions. 'Prey' sees a private plane (flying to Johannesburg) carrying a handful of passengers crash landing in the Kalahari, and the survivors are being hunted by lions - blah-blah-blah.

'Prey' (aka Kalahari) is as B as a B-movie gets. Very little was explained about why the handful of passengers had to make use of the private plane and the characters were bland and one-dimensional. As a result I didn't root for any of them. In short, I simply didn't care about any of the characters. What the hell is Ryan Phillippe doing in a film like this?? Someone get the man a new agent!!

If you were hoping to see lion attacks here, forget it; there are none. There are lions, yes, and there are attacks, yes, but nothing is shown on screen!! The attacks are pretty much left to the viewer's imagination. Now, this is as cheap as it gets. I mean, honestly, this film is from the bottom of the cheap barrel!! The plain wreck looked like a cardboard cut-out!!!! I'm not joking, it literally looked like a thing that was made out of cardboard with windows being painted on it!! Give me a moment while I compose myself and try to stop laughing...!!!!

Why on earth did Green Light Pictures greenlit this?? It's a horrible script, and even worse in its execution. Every attempt at adding emotional depth - or horror for that matter - failed miserably. This is as forgettable as they come. If you're into lion movies, 'The Ghost and the Darkness' is still the king of them all! 2022's 'Beast' starring Idris Elba was by no means a good lion movie, but it was far superior to 'Prey'. In fact, compared to 'Prey', 'Beast' is a masterpiece in film making!!! The best thing about 'Prey' is its poster!! Pffff!!!!

Believe the 1* reviews, the 9*s and 10*s are plants, this film has terrible acting, awful editing, atrocious continuity, watch the teroorists gun when hes asleep for one instance, leant against the plane then in his lap, ridiculous storyline, they do thing even in their state of panic you couldn't imagine doing, in fact there's not one redeeming quality I can think of, the actors in it have created something that they'd prob do at the end of their career when they revieved a massive tax bill and knew they were about to be evicted, even then an actor with any conscience would turn it down due to embarrassment, I will return to this review to see if its true score gets to around 2 or 3.

This movie is not a 10, more like a 7, but I'm trying to counter the unjustly bad ratings.

It's a good movie with a great cast, cinematography and atmosphere. It's suspenseful and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

I'm beyond sick and tired of IMDB's crap ratings for films. I've almost passed by so many good movies due to horrible IMDB ratings. It's getting tiring. All these pathetic wannabe critics who have no clue what they are talking about and want to appear relevant somehow. Enough is enough. Get a life or a hobby, and just stop.

A good movie and definitely worth a watch. Give it a chance.

A missionary couple in Africa (Ryan Phillippe and Mena Suvari) are forced to take a flight with a questionable bush pilot (Emile Hirsch). Unfortunately, they & several others end up stuck in the barren areas of Southwest Africa with plenty of lions and hyenas roaming about.

"Prey" (2024) was originally called "Kalahari," but changed to the hackneyed "Prey." The movie poster isn't that far removed from the 2007 movie "Prey." At heart, this is a modern take on "Sands of the Kalahari" and "Flight of the Pheonix" with a key element of "Conan the Barbarian" (1982) thrown in. While this is the least of 'em due to its low-budget, it works well enough for a slow-burn survival adventure wherein the gore is more implied than shoved in your face. I prefer it to the 2007 version of "Prey."

There's a factual error (the medical treatment of a particular wound), as well as a couple of seeming plot holes, but one of them can be easily explained on the grounds that a stray bullet struck the radiator of the jeep. A better explanation is that the jeep wasn't even there since one of the Namibians said something about waiting for the jeep to come back, possibly with another vehicle to transport the prisoners. The other potential plot hole can also be explained with a little imagination. The writer/director isn't obligated to spell everything out and respects the intelligence of viewers to put the pieces together.

This was the first time I've seen Hirsch play a bad boy and he's convincing. I also liked the lowkey ideological struggle between good and evil, morality vs immorality, faith and atheism (or, at least, agnosticism), Christianity vs secular humanism. Speaking of which, it's laughable that some people criticize the flick on the grounds of it being "Christian propaganda." Two of the main characters are occupational missionaries, so it's understood that God and faith will come up in a few of the dialogues. But, again, this is so light it's hard to believe anyone would complain. The same came up in "The Grey," but no one complained there.

As for a weather-related incident that occurs at the end, it doesn't have to be attributed to a metaphysical source since freak things happen in the weather all the time. The film leaves you thinking about life's heavy issues, like what's your purpose? Is there a Creator? Is life a meaningless accident? Is there good and evil -- ethical and unethical -- or is everything relative? Is redemption possible for the morally compromised? Is there such a thing as self-sacrificial love (aka, agape)?

The movie runs 1 hour, 26 minutes, and was shot in the arid areas of the high country north of Los Angeles, such as SilverStrand Ranch, Castaic; Agua Dulce Movie Ranch; The Quarry in Semi Valley (for the sand sequence); MH Aviation in Lancaster; and Vasquez Rocks; as well as studio stuff done at Blackstone Entertainment, Azusa. A second unit filmed additional scenery and animals in South Africa, along with the use of stock footage.

GRADE: B-

Hm. It's a tricky one, is this. How do I be polite yet be honest about this film. Firstly, what ever happened to the jeep? Secondly, I've seen turds dry up quicker under a solar lamp. Thirdly, how did they get the make up on the lion? Then between scenes it must have had a wash, for now it's 'sans' blood, so there must be water nearby to quench their thirst? I mean what the hell is going on? It's like The Grey made into a PG version, made suitable for children who don't have a clue what the hell is going on, but are happy to be entertained by the charming clown you're mother's petrified of. It's not a beast of a film, it's watchable just to see how bad it can get. And why the buggery didn't they use the jeep?

I have a relatively low threshold to meet for a movie to be passable. I dont mind some bad acting, bad special effects, loose plot holes, etc as long as the movie has some sort of storyline and a bit of a twist. This movie had nothing. No plot, no hero, no villain, nothing. Barely any animals are even shown and there's no big showdown between "man and beast". The acting was horrendous from all points which is shocking because some of them are decent actors in other films. The ending was the best part because it meant I could turn it off. There is absolutely no redeeming qualities in this entire film. Please do yourself a favour and find ANYTHING else to watch.

Not a good movie. Im glad it was only an hour and a half and not longer... but it could have been better if it was shorter. Felt extremely low budget. The characters had no depth and there was absolutely no character development. Honestly it had the deel of a fan fiction film. Evert time the suspense started to build it fizzled out. Ryan Phillipe acted like he didn't want to be there and Emile Hirsch tried but with a paper thin plot had no opportunity to develop. The survival aspect was non existent, the poachers never played out and the revels were embarrassing. Overall poorly done. I would only recommend this to my ex-mother-in-law and the politician I want out of office.

I accidentally clicked on this looking for the predator sequel and I can't complain. It really was a movie about survival in the plains of Africa and greed. Take it for what you want. I enjoyed the film And glad i finished the film. And no I'm in no ways part of the crew. Like I said. I accidentally clicked on the wrong movie and well it had my attention for the time it ran. It's not a blockbuster but not a dud either. It's good and it's basically what I said. Survival. And no I'm not spoiling it by any means. There's a redeeming quality just keep watching til the end. If you're not expecting the blockbuster and just want something to kill time watch this. It may be considered straight to cable but it was much better than any of the cgi drivel coming out of China. Even if this is it still was better.

I'm wondering why this movie got worst comments whereas it showed us reality of humans of this point of view, When they are threatened situations, what decisions make or what reactions they have forward to death. In point of religious view, I'm not sure because I have grown in Iran with Islamic beliefs about God. I faced with a question why they showed us God saved a person who was really religious oppositely, his wife was religious too and they indicated us her faith, but she couldn't surviving? Another people were good person but God couldn't help them? Thus, I am confused.

Let's not skip the right, the story and scenery was good. It wasn't awful. In general, I like it and I recommend you to watch this movie 🎬

The story is the worse collection of cliches about Africa and "the natives" (that's what the script calls the local people) made after1950. The story follows a spoiled rich kid and his friend with their guide and a missionary doctor and his wife who crash in a light aircraft in an unspecified African country. Apparently there are lions so the rich kids and pilot go off to a nearby village, but the pilot who apparently can't read a map "makes a wrong turn." That's word for word. They return to the crash site and get jumped by a couple of "natives" with AK47 wearing Day of the Dead make-up. There's lots of shouting, unseen lions leaving blood trails from missing passengers and a happy ending for at least one. The dialogue is moronic, the acting even from the two names stars is so wooden, they could have built a glider to escape the lions, who we see very little of. Overall the film is very weak, not scary at all, dull and stupid. There's nothing positive to say about it, except when the plane crashes, it looks like it was shot down in the Battle of Britain.

I wanted to love this movie. It has a fantastic cast and going into it I had really high hopes. What you get is a movie that could have been really great, but in the end was poorly executed. What will likely be the draw for most is the animal attack aspect. Survival horror... man vs nature. It's present, but they decided to take the Jaws approach here. A few people fall prey to the wildlife but the events are completely left to your imagination. I felt like they fell flat in that department in a big way. I wasn't looking for a gore fest, but you have almost ZERO animal human interaction here. The initial attack was a shock to me, but not in a good way... the way it was done. Very ambiguous. You see the characters and they are fine. When we're brought back to the scene after a cut to other characters, the attack has already taken place seemingly some time ago. I just wasn't a fan of how it all went down. Some characters do absolutely ridiculous things that make no sense. There's at least one huge continuity issue. Then there's an almost ridiculous spiritual undertone to this that I also felt was poorly executed. One of the main characters is dealing with a crisis of faith and he makes what I feel are some ridiculous choices that are supposed to be faith based. I feel like the writer or director has the notion that having faith negates the ability to reason. Indeed I've known some people like this, but it's not the rule. The kind of people who don't lock their door because God's looking out for them. Inevitably they're burglarized or worse. God gave you the ability to reason and a lock to keep people out 🤷‍♂️ I digress... This could have been a good film especially with the main cast. Unfortunately it wasn't, and for numerous reasons.

A briefly captivating and partially thrilling story about a motley crew stalked and threatened by giant killer lions. A young couple (Ryan Philippe, Mena Suvari) have to flee from a paramilitary group in an African nation after traveling there to introduce the Christian religion. But the plane driven by Grun (Emile Hirsch) crashes and the group of travelers (Ryan Philippe, Mena Suvari, Jeremy Tardy, Dylan Flashner, Tristan Thompson) find themselves besieged by huge lions and confined almost entirely to the dangerous savannah, resulting in fateful consequences. And to make matters worse, the killer beasts continue to kill and they are attacked by soldiers while are in the wrecked plane where they have taken refuge. Fight for life!. Not an ordinary animal!. Prey to survive!. !. Sometimes the rustling in the bushes is actually a monster!. Human emotion laid bare!

This is a tragedy-adventure-drama film that took a few weeks to shoot in California, although I think it's more of a horror drama than an adventure film, as it deals with huge, hungry lions that have seemingly mythical and vengeful qualities, in order to relentlessly kill people. After their plane crashes, they must fight for their lives against beasts and bloodthirsty soldiers; the pilot is played in a mediocre way by Emile Hirsch and the young couple forced to abandon their Christian missionary station in the Kalahari Desert after being threatened with death by an extremist militant gang is played by Ryan Phillippe and Mena Suvari, although the latter has a secondary appearance.

This is an uneven survival drama with not too much appeal and minimal quality in which the actors give all the value to a heart-stopping script, concerning a group of fearful people who find themselves pursued by huge lions who try to prove that the savannah has only one apex predator, themselves. The film is average and nothing special, it overuses computerized images of lions; in fact, the animals that appear in the film are generated in 3D; finally, the director to give more authenticity to the images, decided to bring a real one to the set one day. It contains some passable scenes, brilliant cinematography by cameraman Farhad Ahmed Dehlvi, an undistinguishing soundtrack, complemented by spectacular highlights when the ferocious lions attack here and there and adding other additional attractions. The cast is acceptable but not remarkable, such as: Ryan Phillippe as the stubborn husband who will stop at nothing to protect his wife Suvari, a role that sits easily on his shoulders and Emilie Hirsch as the tough pilot. There is also a brief description of the terrorist organization Boko Haram that mercilessly hunts and kills Christians, it is an Islamist jihadist terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria, which is also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon and Mali. In 2016, the group split, leading to the emergence of a hostile faction known as the West African Province of the Islamic State.

The film turns out to be very average, tending towards the low, there are other much better films about people besieged by the African dangers and the wildlife of the savannah, such as: ¨Sands of the Kalahari¨ (1965) by Cy Endfield with Stanley Baker, Stuart Whitman, Susannah York; ¨A Far Off Place¨ (1993) by Mikael Salomon with Reese Witherspoon, Ethan Embry, Jack Thompson; ¨Prey¨ (2007) by Darrell Root with Bridget Moynahan, Peter Weller and ¨Beast¨ (2022) by Baltasar Kormákur with Idris Elba.

The feature film was directed in an irregular manner by Mukunda Michael Dewil, being supposedly based on real events. But it was not filmed in Africa but at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park, Escondido Canyon Rd., Agua Dulce, California. Mukunda is a craftsman who has made a few films without much success and usually on a low budget, although on occasions he has managed to gather well-known actors: Emile Hirsch, Paul Walker, Kate Bosworth, Ashley Greene, Ryan Philippe, Mena Suvari for his cheap productions, which include the following films: Vehicle 19 (2013), Retribution (2011), Collide (2022), The Immaculate Room (2022) and Kalahari (2024). Score: 4/10. A short-budget and below-average ordinary film dealing with African survival.