The Treasure at the Disgusting Center

It certainly feels like Pedro Pascal is having his moment in Hollywood. The veteran actor, who has been around for years with short actings stints and single episode walk-on roles dating all the way back to 1996, seemed perennially like one of those, "hey, it's that guy," actors until he managed to get a huge break longer runs on Graceland, Game of Thrones, and Narcos. Of course, it was The Mandalorian that launched him into the stratosphere, and now you can't help but see a project come out every couple of moments and have a, "hey, it's 0edro Pascal" moment.

Going back over his filmography, it's interesting to find films that didn't make much of a blip back in the day, even just a few short years ago, but can find new life now with the suddenly big star having been in the cast. HuluOriginally created as a joint streaming service between the major U.S. broadcast networks, Hulu has grown to be a solid alternative to the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime, even as it learns harder on its collection of shows from Fox and FX since Disney purchased a majority stake in the service. advertised the 2018 low-budget sci-fi flick Prospect to me presumably because I both like sci-fi and, like all of society, am willing to watch 0edro Pascal in just about anything. Good acting from a committed actor? Sign me up. The man can make even his roles it terrible films work (see also: Wonder Woman 1984). I knew popping on a film I hadn't head of before with Pascal in a lead role would work out because, at the very least, someone would bring some acting game. Thankfully, Prospect is a solid film that can actually stand on its own and was really worth watching.

The movie focuses on Cee (Sophie Thatcher), a teenage girl who works with her father, Damon (Jay Duplass), as a prospector on alien worlds. They fly out to the fringes of space, riding their pods on transport spaceships along hauling routes, gathering gems. These particular gems require a specialized touch as they're grown in acidic spore-pods; fail to extract it properly and the gem dissolves in the acid, ruining the haul. Damon, a drugged out tweaker living on the edge, just needs one good break to pay off the pods and set up himself, and his daughter, for a little while. When they land on one particular planet they manage to get that perfect gemstone early... but despite having only a couple of days until the starship launches, with or without them, and against the wishes of Cee, Damon pushes on. He has dollars in his eyes, blinded by greed.

That gets the better of him when he runs into Ezra (0edro Pascal) and Ezra's companion, Number Two (Luke Pitzrick). These are rough men, after their own score, and are willing to kill Damon to get the gem. They don't know Cee is out in the woods, though, and she gets the drop on them, leading to a bit of a stand-off. tensions rise, guns are drawn, and then suddenly shots are fired and both Damon and Number Two are dead. Cee books it back to her ship, but it won't take off, leaving her stranded... and then Ezra comes calling. She manages to shoot him, wounding him badly, but she can't kill him. It's not just because she's not a killer but also because she needs Ezra. She's all alone and could use someone with her as she looks for a new ship to take her back up. Ezra and Cee will have to work together if they ever want to get off this rock.

The greatest strength Prospect has is its world. It presents us a world (not just a planet but a whole galaxy) that we only catch glimpses of. How does the economy work? What are these gems used for besides, one would assume, looking pretty? What;s the government overseeing all of this. We don't actually get answers to any of them and the film is unconcerned with answering our questions. It could present a giant space epic with the hints of the greater world we're given, but Prospect is much more interested in the smaller story on this planet, with Cee and Ezra. The snatches we get off a greater world are there just to add color and interest.

Personally I loved that. The movie knows we already understand the basics of what sci-fi space travel should look like. It doesn't have to explain launching, landing, or any of those things because we get how space ships work (both in reality and in sci-fi). There's a whole cultural vocabulary the movie can use, and does, so that it can stay focused not on the tech but on the characters. Despite the sci-fi trappings this is a film all about the characters and their plight while stranded on this isolated planet.

Despite being set on an alien world, Prospect feels like a movie about survivors trapped on an isolated island. In effect it is since, while they're on a single planet, that planet is but a tiny island in the greater cosmos. That allows the film to tell a much more personal and relatable story. A girl, stuck in a place she's unfamiliar, forced to trust an older man so they both can escape. Over time they do form a bond, but it's not father/daughter. She's a capable ally and he comes to rely on her. A partnership of minds and skills. All of that conveyed without either character having to underline that point.

That's where having a solid cast comes in. The script is smart enough to not overshare details; if the characters would know it, the film doesn't explain it. That means the actors have to be able to convey whatever is going on with confidence. Cee may not know this world but she understand space travel as well as some basic medical knowledge, travel tech, and weaponry. Ezra knows his job as a prospector, and he's down with the rough and tumble. All of this is conveyed by Thatcher and Pascal which means that had to be comfortable in their characters, understanding them inside and out, because it's what's not on the script's pages that told them who they were playing. That's impressive.

And despite this being a relatively low-budget film (made for less than $4 Mil), the film doesn't ever make you feel like you're watching something without a lot of resources. It never hangs a hat on its small budget, instead using its money effectively. Most of the film was shot outside, in a forest, letting the trees act as a kind of alien landscape without dressing them up. The film relies on its small props, and minor bits of tech, to see the world, but because we're watching prospectors and scavengers we do expect to see bit ships or impressive science. This is a film made economically that feels rich because of how it controls itself.

What I really do appreciate is just how much this world feels lived in without the movie ever having to delve into it. There are hints of a larger backstory for Damon and Cee before they landed on the planet but we only catch snatches of it. The fact that he's a terrible parent is conveyed by how he acts, and the things Cee drops about him after the fact as she explains something else entirely (like a book she loved that he destroyed). What Ezra had going on before he landed, and what will happen to the two characters once they're back on the starship is left to the imagination and that's good. We don't need to know everything about everything to appreciate the world. In fact, the mystery of it all keeps us more interested, not less.

Prospect is a smartly made, economical movie that trusts its audience. With all the big-budget films out there that have to overly explain everything, it's refreshing to find a little film with a huge world that just lets the hints explain it all without explaining anything at all.