Prospect (2018) ****

 

You ever notice how, in the “Star Wars” films, every planet is somehow safe for humans to breath the air and drink the water? Well, I got sour news for ya, Jack! We evolved to deal with Earth's atmosphere, toxins, and microbes, and it's highly likely that those of other planets, no matter how inviting, will be deadly to us. “Prospect” is a sci-fi western that acknowledges that reality. The film combines gritty realism with a great cast, including newcomer Sophie Thatcher, Jay Duplass, and Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martel from “Game of Thrones”). With writer/directors Christopher Caldwell and Zeek Earl, they have created a smart, tense, realistic sci-fi on par with “The Martian” or “Europa Report.”

Damon (Duplass) and his daughter Cee (Thatcher) are prospectors, searching for amber-like gems distilled from the embryos of some kind of creature, on a lush, alien moon where the jungle air is full of deadly spores. They have found a “hive queen nest,” the gems from which should set them up for life. They are working against the clock and have ship problems, and then they meet Ezra (Pascal) and his partner, a couple of outlaws who want to horn in on their action.

It is rare to see a film that has so much respect for the intelligence of its audience. I have seen some reviewers complain that the film is short on character development, but I think they are just used to movies where everything, including the actors' faces, is laid out for you. In “Prospect,” we see the actors' faces through plexiglass, and hear their voices through a helmet mic. (Here's an interview with the directors, who discuss how most sci-fi directors look for any excuse to get their actors out of their helmets, and how they chose the harder route. https://www.slashfilm.com/prospect-interview/) This is also a story of the frontier, where life is precarious, and people aren't likely to wear their emotions on their sleeves. If you pay attention and imagine yourself in these situations, there is plenty of character development.

It isn't just the characters who require some effort to understand. Caldwell and Earl don't spend much time on explication. Everything about this world, including the weapons, the alien gems, and the spores in the air, is presented as-is, and you have to really pay attention to understand what is happening. Even then, plenty of questions go unanswered, and I found myself yearning to know more about this world. “Prospect” is the experience of opening a window on another time and place and being permitted to view a story there, but without a guide. It's disorienting at times, but the reward is a world and a story that feels much more palpable than something from, say, “Star Wars.”

4 stars out of 5

Netflix