THE PREY / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: JIMMY HENDERSON / SCREENPLAY: JIMMY HENDERSON, MICHAEL HODGSON, KAI MILLER / STARRING: GU SHANGWEI, BYRON BISHOP, SAHAJAK BOONTHANAKIT / RELEASE DATE: 7TH OCTOBER
Prisoners run and fight for their life in The Prey, marketed as Cambodia’s first $1 million budget action movie.
After getting caught in an armed police drug bust, Xin (Gu Shangwei) is taken to prison. But the warden (Vithaya Pansringarm) of this establishment is running an illegal money-making scheme, inviting select rich friends to hunt the deadliest game of all – man. Xin isn’t just a regular drug runner though – he’s an undercover cop, and soon his handlers are looking for him. Xin has to do everything he can to survive in the forest while being chased by friend and foe.
The Prey is a little bit Battle Royale, a bit Hostel, and a smattering of many other crime movies where a cop winds up in jail. It’s not the most original setup, but that doesn’t mean The Prey isn’t a largely enjoyable and tight 90 minutes of entertainment. The film has a strong, functional style that actually lets you see what’s happening during the fight scenes without resorting to the usual trick of hyperactive editing. Though not The Raid levels of originality, the action itself is entertaining and some of the fight scenes are tense enough. It also tries to do a little more than just show you violent action, the film makes a couple of attempts at showing the bloody truth. The sight of a man screaming in agony as he drags his body across the floor after his legs have been blown off sticks with you and undercuts the usual action genre glorification of violence. It’s not a grand anti-violence message, but at least it’s reaching for something more than revelling in blood and pain.
The assembled cast is also enjoyable. Vithaya Pansringarm, probably most well-known here for being the policeman from Only God Forgives, is an entertaining screen presence and brings a dominant performance to his villain. The other bad guys, the rich hunters, are also able to make an impact, with one’s tormented past coming back in full flow during the last act. The weakest link is unfortunately the lead, Gu Shangwei, who makes much less of an impact on screen than his fists do against the bodies of his attackers.
The Prey probably isn’t going to stick in your memory and it doesn’t win points for originality, but it’s entertaining and well put together. Based on this evidence, Cambodia’s action genre is something to look forward to.
