Review by
Ren Zelen
Directed by: Christopher Caldwell, Zeek Earl
Starring: Sophie Thatcher, Pedro Pascal, Jay Duplass, Luke
Pitzrick, Andre Royo, Sheila Vand
Prospect is the debut feature from writer-directors
Christopher Caldwell and Zeek Earl, and and though ostensibly
a sci-fi film, it is more a variation on the tales told about prospectors
way out West, in the lawless era of the 19th century Gold Rush. Just like
those old-time treasure-hunters, the characters in
Prospect have all journeyed a long way from home in the hope
of striking it rich.
The film introduces us to teenager Cee (Sophie Thatcher) and her
father Damon (Jay Duplass), an interplanetary prospector. They are
aboard a grubby space pod orbiting an unknown planet, where they are looking
to mine a valuable alien resource in search of profit.
So far, the pickings have been meagre, and the duo are living hand to
mouth. Dad Damon especially seems to be struggling with the emotional and
physical toll of their insecure life. However, he thinks their luck is about
to change because he has entered into a deal with a group of mercenaries who
want to excavate a massive deposit of precious alien material at a location
on the planet called "The Queen's Lair." Damon's cut of the profits should
allow the pair to leave the grim prospecting life behind.
Having landed on the muddy alien planet, where the atmosphere is unsuitable
for humans, father and daughter make their way to the location in helmeted
suits fitted with air filters. On the way, they come across some deposits of
the alien gems. They go through the process of cutting into a bulge in the
ground and pulling out a fungi-like white creature. They then have to
skilfully and precisely cut it open before it liquifies itself. It's a
delicate procedure.
Things do not go exactly to plan. As they are trekking through alien
woodland, they come across a pair of shady chancers - Ezra (Pedro Pascal) and his partner (Luke Pitzrick). Matters take a turn for the worse
and there is a confrontation which leaves Cee and the unscrupulous Ezra
alone, having to navigate the planet and deal with the violent
prospector/mercenaries.
The story then outlines the negotiations, compromises, shifting
allegiances, power-plays and life and death deals between Ezra, Cee and
their rivals or antagonists. The film is also about a young girl forced to
grow up and confront violence in the name of survival and practicality,
while having little time to deal with her own tragedies.
At the beginning of the film, Cee is just another young teen, anxious to
get home. By the end she is a young woman who has managed to maintain her
moral compass amid the lawlessness and greed exhibited by the unscrupulous
con-men and vengeful resource-bandits she has to deal with.
Thatcher's performance as Cee is central to the movie. In her feature-film
debut, she brings a youthful naïveté to a role which requires her to
emotionally mature into an independent young woman who must display
shrewdness, grit and sang-froid in the face of adversity.
Pascal, as Ezra, starts out as a deeply untrustworthy character with only
his own self-interest at heart, but one who then puts his dubious
negotiating skills and cunning to the service of keeping himself and his
reluctant young partner alive, and in finding an escape route, preferably
with the spoils.
As we get to know him better, a certain amount of sympathy for this rogue
grudgingly emerges (not least during a gruelling amputation sequence which
cements the precarious relationship between Ezra and Cee). However,
Prospect does disappoint by a lack of depth to its characters,
which tends to make the movie rely on the spirited performances of its two
leads.
Prospect's visuals are influenced by the grittier, industrial space stories that
came with the appearance of films such as
Alien. All the equipment in Prospect looks as if it's been
frequently repaired and re-used. The spacesuits are grubby and liable to
malfunction, the space pod they travel in has a tendency to blow fuses, the
weapons they carry are shaky guns or unwieldy, rifle-like contraptions and
the shoot-outs resemble those one might see in an old Western movie.
The film is well-acted but has a rather lacklustre story to tell. It
doesn't offer much by way of an examination of the human condition or the
consequences of making difficult decisions. It would enhance Caldwell and
Earl's storytelling if they had more complex characters within a stronger
narrative.
Nevertheless, Prospect is an intriguing movie with a
sophisticated sense of design and aesthetics. It's a good example of
practical filmmaking, demonstrating how one can achieve a convincing "world"
using workaday costumes and tools accompanied by well thought out production
design, all helping to create the "feel" of a film without resorting to
CGI.
Prospect is on Prime Video UK
now.