"Prey"

I watched the movie, "Prey," this morning on HBO and can't contain this rant. I didn't know it was supposed to be a horror flick which is okay because it isn't. It is, however, the type of movie that has great scenery, excellent animal action, and an encounter with natives that had me tense up.

It's also the kind of flick that's great to hoot and holler at and for throwing popcorn at the screen.

For those who have yet to see it, "Prey" is a survival story about a woman and her two step-children, all seemingly fairly typical American tourists, who go off on a game safari in Africa for a day.

Got that? I don't want to spoil the story for you so it's important for you to get those parts. Game safari, in Africa, for a day.

Oh, heck.

***** SPOILER ALERT *****

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Is that enough space?
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Who in their right mind goes off into the WILDERNESS in AFRICA without WATER? Sure, they hired a guide and he should have had a large container of extra water, but he didn't and they didn't think to check. I didn't see a can for extra gas, either, and he certainly didn't have a radio or a satellite phone, nor a first aid kit not that the latter would have helped considering the way the lions were killing off the people.

The guide dropped his keys in the grass and the step-daughter used her camera's zoom to verify that the bright shiny thing is one of the keys so they know it's worth leaving the vehicle which may put them at risk of being attacked by the lions that kept them in the vehicle on the afternoon of the first day and all night.

Why didn't they use the camera to check for lions before leaving the vehicle to get the keys?

Why didn't they have binoculars with them in the first place? It wasn't a visit to a zoo where the animals are sure to be closer than they are in the great outdoors of Africa. The guide didn't have any, either.

Unbelievable. No water and no binoculars.

Yes, they had a little water with them that quickly ran out, but when the girl went to get water, she didn't take any containers with her. Surely, she wasn't planning to carry water back in her palms, was she?

I don't mind when what goes on is plausible such as when the woman panicked driving away from the attacking lion, got them lost, and damaged the vehicle by driving too fast off-road.

I didn't mind so much that they didn't have whistles or red bandannas to signal for help or didn't think to gather enough grass from around the vehicle to make a fire on the roof of the vehicle to signal the helicopter or use a mirror from the vehicle or a compact, if either the woman or teen step-daughter had one.

I didn't mind that no one thought to take inventory of what was available to them until the third day...except they waited until the THIRD day.

However, I did mind that they didn't think to even try to collect rain water during the first night so they'd have something to quench their thirst.

Come on movie people, especially the writer(s). In the WILDERNESS, in AFRICA, without enough WATER to last them through the first afternoon.

Puh-leeze, gimme a break.