Julien Neaves, Editor
Everybody and their Aunty have been talking about Wonder Woman 1984 as the movie has proven to be extremely divisive. But one aspect several people has praised is the performance of Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones, Narcos) as the villain Maxwell Lord, with some even advocating for an award nomination. But two years before he was granting wishes in the DCEU Pascal was a shady prospector on an alien planet in the Sci Fi thriller Prospect.
I had heard nothing about this film when it originally came out and actually thought it was a new movie when I saw it pop up on Netflix. And it looked interesting so I decided to check it out.
Pascal has proven himself a versatile actor over his career and his ability is best demonstrated as the titular Mandalorian in the hit Disney+ Star Wars series. Playing a character who wears a helmet 99 per cent of the time, Pascal uses his voice and body movements to convey the entire spectrum of emotions, and it is downright amazing. His work in Prospect as morally gray prospector Ezra may not be up to that level (admittedly few things are) but he does give some life and depth to what could have been a very basic, forgettable character.
But even greater praise must go to star Sophie Thatcher as the young Cee. If you told me this was her debut role I would have told you to shut the front, back and side doors. She is terrific! She plays a character with little dialogue but her high level of emoting is usually seen on more seasoned actors. I found it easy to root for her smart, capable and optimistic character. And she had some very good chemistry with Pascal’s Ezra, with whom she has a very strained relationship.
The alien planet is decent enough and features its fair share of odd and moderately interesting characters. The film also keeps a pretty brisk pace and has just enough thrills, tension and action set pieces. So while Prospect does not exactly redefine the genre it does enough to set itself apart, and is worth watching just for the stellar lead performances.
Julien’s Score: 7 out of 10
For Senior Writer Sommer’s review of Bruce Willis action Sci Fi flick Breach you can click here. And for almost 150 Sci Fi reviews and lists you can click here.
Julien “Jules” Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an aspiring author. I say things like “12 flavours of awesome sauce”.
I can also be found posting on Instagram as redmanwriter and talking about TV and movie stuff on Facebook at Movieville.