I was expecting to like Prey given the buzz I had heard about it. I had heard nothing about Beast, but when I saw (during the opening credits) that it was directed by Baltasar Kormakur, whose Everest I really liked, I developed expectations for that too.
Simply put, both are terrific. And they have a surprising amount in common. I'll try to talk about the similarities without slipping into spoilers, so feel free to venture onward if you haven't seen one or both films. If it sounds like a spoiler, don't worry -- I've determined it's something you learn very early on, or can even intuit from the advertising.
Both films come down to a showdown between a single man -- if we are using "man" in the same way as we say "mankind" -- and a formidable opponent who is rightly considered a beast, whether that's an alien predator or a psychotic lion out for vengeance. In Prey it's a young woman, the Comanche Naru (Amber Midthunder), who is trying to prevent the predator from overrunning her tribe in the Great Plains of 1719. In Beast, it's Dr. Nate Samuels (Idris Elba), who has brought his teenage daughters to see their deceased mother's South Africa homeland, and who must fend off a rogue lion trying to avenge the death of its pride at the hands of poachers.
That makes a good transition to the fact that both movies have a bunch of bad apples hanging around to make trouble for our protagonist and to ratchet up the body count. In Prey, it's the trappers who also roam the Great Plains, who seem to want to make menace wherever possible in addition to collecting animal furs. In Beast, it's the aforementioned poachers, who set their own trap for a pride at the film's opening, shooting down all but one of them.
Then we have to consider the natural setting of both films, even if they differ from one another. Both films take place in rugged, undeveloped terrain, where the characters are cut off from assistance from others -- either because you can't radio for assistance in 1719, or because the remoteness and other geographical features kill the mobile service and leave walkie talkies as a poor replacement.
It would be tempting to draw a comparison between the people themselves, but only in Prey are they natives. There are African natives in Beast, but the action falls to Elba and his daughters, plus their white South African friend played by -- you guessed it -- Sharlto Copley.
There may be some additional points of comparison but I can't get into them without getting into spoilers.
Both films are fun, exciting and bloody. Because of its native cast, Prey put me in mind of another excellent action movie involving native inhabitants of the Americas, that being Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. Beast doesn't have that direct source of comparison for me, but you can think of it in the same vein as something like Jaws -- and also just a superior example of one of my favorite genres, which is "normal people stranded in the wilderness, up against frightening odds."
Anyway, for now, they are both positioned in my top ten of the year -- in rather elevated spots, actually. They may not stay there -- I still have four solid months of movie watching in 2022 before I settle on my final rankings -- but if they do, I'd be proud to have them.
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