Prospect – Toronto After Dark 2018

A young woman and a scoundrel reluctantly team up to find riches on an alien planet in Prospect. Cee (Sophie Thatcher) and her father Damon (Jay Duplass) fly to the forested Green Moon to help a group of mercenaries dig up rare alien gems at a deposit known as The Queen’s Lair. The two cross paths with a scoundrel named Ezra (Pedro Pascal) and Damon ends up killed in the subsequent standoff. Alone with no way to get home, Cee reluctantly teams up with Ezra to find The Queen’s Lair and secure a way off of the Green Moon.

Prospect is a film that can be described as a sci-fi western, directed by first time filmmakers Christopher Caldwell and Zeek Earl, expanded from their 2014 short film of the same name. The plot of the film primarily centres around the digging of precious gems, which are unearthed from toxic organisms under the surface of the Green Moon. Cee and Ezra are two enemies, who have to team together to get off the Green Moon, before they are left stranded.

If there is an appropriate description of Prospect, it’s that this is a unique film. Shot on an obviously small budget, often the only real sign this is a science fiction story are the spacesuits the characters are wearing. The plot definitely leans more towards the western side of “sci-fi western,” with Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones) playing a gruff antihero in Ezra. However, the true star of the film is Sophie Thatcher as Cee, who has to do everything she can to survive on this strange and dangerous planet. Prospect is a fine enough film I guess, though it’s not something I would recommend rushing to go see.