Naru and the Grizzly
- Why did Naru attack the Grizzly Bear without any kind of plan beyond shooting it with a single arrow? Even for an inexperienced hunter wanting to prove herself, that seems insanely overconfident, particularly the part where she exposes herself in the open with no route of escape except for the beaver dam.
- It had picked up her scent, so it was probably a matter of time until it figured out where she was. Overconfident as it is, Naru probably figured she could get a hit on it while it was still sniffing around trying to find her (because at the current moment, it didn't actually see her), and then haul ass away from it whether or not it caught sight of her.
- She also didn't plan on her bow string snapping while setting up her first shot. While that itself is another indication of her inexperience (And her brother was specifically telling her a story about a wet bowstring earlier that she pointedly did not listen to), if it hadn't snapped her first shot would have been at a stationary target with a very lengthy time to aim. That is almost a textbook perfect situation to hunt, and she may very well have been able to properly strike at a sensitive position instead of needing to rush her shot when it was charging at her directly later. It indicates somebody who is knowledgeable of the theoretical aspects of hunting but is lacking in the practical experience, which is her entire characterization for much of the movie.
Homing darts - how do they work?
- Is there any reason how and why the Predator doesn't seem to grasp how its laser-guided homing darts work at times (such as when it tries to shoot Sarii and misses due to Taabe knocking its mask off of its face, at which point it still fires the darts, which get embedded in a tree since the lasers coming from its mask are aimed at the tree), when in other situations (like the scene where it kills those three guys who were taking Naru back to camp) it's shown that the Predator knows how they work? Not only that, but one would assume that prior to going on a Hunt all the way to a faraway planet, a Predator would actually know how its equipment works, because hunting with gear you don't know how to use is probably the fastest way to get yourself killed.
- I was under the impression the Predator knew but counted on hitting targets anyway due to being in close proximity. It just turned out to be a terrible shot without its targeting equipment.
It can't see him?
- When Naru sees the Predator ignore Raphael, why does she conclude that it's because it can't see him, and that the flower he ate has something to do with it? Given that infrared radiation wouldn't be discovered until 1800 and thermal imaging wouldn't be invented until 1929, wouldn't she be more likely to conclude that it ignored him because it thought he was dead, because he wasn't moving and wasn't breathing?
- It makes about as much sense as Dutch coming to the same conclusion while covered in mud. Because both scenes are shot with the intent of increasing tension for the audience, rather than accurately relating what the main character is seeing, Naru might have come to the conclusion that the Predator couldn't see Raphael because it didn't pause to examine the "corpse" and make sure he wasn't moving or breathing, but just looked past him as though he wasn't there.
- Dutch has much more reason to suspect that the mud made him invisible. The predator climbs directly over him even though he knows that it's hunting for him, so there's no possibility that it's ignoring or disregarding him. Plus, it's much smaller leap for a 1980s soldier aware of infrared imaging to connect a coat of mud to camoflauge than a 1719 person to connect body-temperature herbs to camouflage.
- She doesn't need to know anything about body temperature or thermal vision to make the connection. She gave Raphael the orange flower. The Predator arrived. The Predator ignored him. Ergo, somehow, the orange flower rendered Raphael invisible to the Predator. She could easily be chalking it up to essentially "magic," since the only thing she can describe the Predator as resembling is a sort of Comanche boogeyman, she might reason that herb has some sort of protective quality against this supernatural monster.
- It makes about as much sense as Dutch coming to the same conclusion while covered in mud. Because both scenes are shot with the intent of increasing tension for the audience, rather than accurately relating what the main character is seeing, Naru might have come to the conclusion that the Predator couldn't see Raphael because it didn't pause to examine the "corpse" and make sure he wasn't moving or breathing, but just looked past him as though he wasn't there.
