Just about the only story beat I would change with Prey, is that I would have two characters each survive for one more scene before their deaths.
First is Itsee, one of the Comanche hunters. I didn’t catch this until my second viewing, but there are hints that he is actually the closest of them all to matching Naru in his observation skills. Many small moments where he notices something before the others, or recognizes the significance of something new that he is adapting to on the fly.
For example, when they are tracking the lion he is the one who first notices that they are being tracked in turn, and he manages to peg Naru’s location. When the predator attacked the other three while he was away he recognized that something was going on and managed to deduce that the light of the predator’s targeting laser gave away the predator’s position (Even if he didn’t realize that it meant the predator was targeting him at that moment).
These aren’t BIG moments, but they show that he’s closer to Naru than the others in being able to figure out what’s going on.
So, what I would do after Naru pushes him out of the way of the predator’s arrow attack and they flee across the field is have him make it across to the trees with Naru. Still show the overhead shot of the predator running through the grass (Great shot), but just make them reach the trees before it catches them. Have Naru get caught in the trap just like in the film, and after realizing that they can’t free her before the predator gets there have him decide to try to ambush the predator with Naru as bait.
Unfortunately, since they still don’t know all of the predator’s tricks or its hunting style, they are unprepared when it isn’t distracted by Naru and he is killed when he tries to launch his sneak attack.
It only extends Itsee’s screentime by a few minutes, but it pays off his prior skills by showing him trying to set up his own traps. It also puts a few more steps on-screen for Naru to figure out the thought process and and capabilities of the predator. By showing the predator actively choose to target somebody else instead of somebody held captive it’s a link in the chain that helps her figure out its MO of targeting those that can fight back. And that helps her figure out that she needs to bait her trap with something that looks like a threat (Big Beard) instead of just helpless prey.
The other person I would have survive for one more scene is Raphael Adolini after Naru finishes treating his leg. I don’t have a specific buildup for him like I do with Itsee, it just feels like the storybeat for him could have stretched a little longer. Have the predator not step on him when it walks by, so he escapes while it is busy fighting Taabe and Naru.
If we want to give him a ‘redemption’ we can show him try to strike at the predator while it is fighting Taabe and Naru, only to be killed quickly. But we don’t even need to do that, we can show him just crawl away while everybody else is preoccupied and have the predator track him down later. Maybe as he attempts to hunt an animal for food and then we just get the looming shape behind him as he realizes he is about to become the hunted. A good reversal of his status as a trapper who hunted for profit. It could also be the bridge to the final fight, after the predator kills him it can notice the fire that Naru has lit and then we transfer to her and Big Beard.