Raebeart Edward Donnallach Heider

Four stars as ENTERTAINMENT. And…complex reactions as a post-modern narrative of the role of the US. I wonder if-and hope that - this is an observant swansong for the slow death collapse of the white/straight/able-bodied Euromerican dream. My reactions are mixed because in Phoenix and other selected pilots, the genuine new diversity is clearly birthed. The team is still run by older, white, straight-passing males, yet Cruise’s tastefully nipped/tucked botoxed ‘Boomer/Gen X’ guy whose ego pushes too far but can cry a little, shows some emotions and confesses to his chosen woman that (shock horror), ‘He doesn’t…know the answers’. I was glad that the “rogue state“ was never named or parodied. I watched the film with my teen son, who seems to be obsessed with the Armed Forces at the moment and so enjoyed it through his eyes too. I guess that my final comments are, is this life, imitating, art, tracking, mirroring, and showing how America has been forced by agents of radical change over decades to acknowledge that it’s real strength is through diversity?

Watched with teen son who loved it. The initial premise is very satisfying, a hi-tech alien juxtaposed with early eighteenth century Comanche culture. The notion of ‘prey’ and ‘predator’ is clearly set out from the outset, and the film (rightly in my view) faces head on the early incursions by another predator, European ‘traders’ who view the First Nation people as ‘sauvage’ (even non-French speakers will understand that). Our main character sits on the shoulders of a growing trope of feisty femayls who refuse to be defined by the limits their cultural traditions set for them. My son and I pondered how much that is a northern, egoic view of the individual in a ‘tribal’ setting as it’s hard to really know how different the mindset of pre-Columbian people really was. Add epic scenery, a loyal dog, oh, and yeah, a predator who ‘lives to hunt’ as opposed to the Comanche who ‘hunt to live’ . A beautiful film even despite the gore and viscera so loved by today’s horror fantasy genre