Prospect (2018) on blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Winston T. Boogie]

So, I have not actually watched the disc yet, I will be back with more on that when I do, this is just a note on the disc itself and the packaging. I had read about this film and it sounded interesting. I pre-ordered it when it was on sale a long time back it seems and the film did not arrive on it's release date but arrived today.

It looks as if the disc is possibly a burn on demand deal, not a regular Blu-ray. It also appears that the art work on the disc was made by someone with a printer in their basement that was not quite certain how to get everything properly lined up. The barcode on the back of the label is dropped down out of place so it covers part of the text that describes the film on the back of the box. Also the credits on the bottom of the rear label are printed in a dark gold color on a black background making them unreadable. I mean it almost looks like this is a bootleg disc, except it is not. I do believe it may be released by a very small label that is doing so in as low cost a way as possible.

The artwork on the disc itself also looks like it was made by an amateur that did not quite know what they were doing. There is a barcode on the disc as well and it falls right over the only print that is on the disc...which I think just said BLU-RAY but we'll never know because the barcode covers the print.

All of this will be completely ignored if the film is actually good and the disc plays without issue. I will try it out this evening and let you know.

For what it is worth the film did seem to get quite a few good reviews so I am looking forward to seeing it.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

So, this is a made on demand disc...

Important Product Information - This product is manufactured on demand in the BD-R format. It will play in nearly all leading Blu-ray players that have the latest firmware updates.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

So, despite the odd packaging this was well worth picking up. This is an outstanding science fiction adventure film. A father and daughter travel to a hostile planet, one that is completely incompatible with human life, to harvest valuable crystals but not only is the environment deadly so are the other human beings that are there looking to strike it rich or make a fast buck.

Beautifully conceived in both the visual aspects and story as well as having a very nice score I am sort of surprised how under the radar this film flew. It is in some ways the old cross between science fiction and western but really well thought out and the actors are all outstanding.

Sort of sad that a science fiction film as interesting and well made as this was not a hit in theaters. Like the gems the characters are hunting for in the film the people that discover this one will feel like they found a little treasure.

Highly recommend checking this one out if you like science fiction.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

So, after watching the special feature on this disc about the making of the film, I think I have fallen even more in love with this picture. This seems to get a lot of comparisons to Ridley Scott's Alien when I read about it but this is not because it is a creature feature with a horrible monster lurking in the shadows...no, it is because this film was made with practical effects that they actually designed and built. So, it "feels like" Alien or as if it was made back in 1979 because you are not looking at all sorts of modern CGI. When you see a spaceship sitting in the forest, well, it's really there. That's not a computer graphic. When you see the actors inside a spaceship...they are in it...and when the craft is rattling all about as they descend to the planet below, this Is because there are a whole bunch of people hanging off the outside of the spaceship shaking the hell out of it.

I do think all of this adds greatly to how awesome this film is. If you often feel like you want to travel back in time to when Ridley Scott made Alien, well this is the film for you...because as Scott and his team were quite creative coming up with the look of Alien, so were Chris Caldwell and Zeek Earl when they made Prospect. It is made like Alien was made back in 1979 but this sort of happened because these guys and their friends were first time filmmakers and so did not know what else to do to create their film outside of just building everything themselves. This brings that sort of authenticity and intensity to the film you would get with something like Alien and like Alien it looks beautiful.

So, when they say "They don't make 'em like that anymore!" the truth is these guys actually did make this like they used to make them. It will be a lot of fun seeing what Mr. Caldwell and Mr. Earl get up to next.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Has anybody else seen this or plan on doing so?

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

I recently saw the trailer and immediately put this on my “pick it up soon” list.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I think you will enjoy it as it is really a well made and well thought out picture made by a bunch of people doing it for the love of creating this sci-fi adventure. Well acted, beautifully shot, and great homemade production design.

 

[RussWH]

Has anybody else seen this or plan on doing so?

Reggie W seems to be having difficulty whipping up any enthusiasm for this film. That's a shame. It really is quite a good effort. Pedro Pascal (a brief, but very memorable role in Game of Thrones), Jay Duplass (who, with brother Mark, enjoys a multi-faceted career), Sophie Thatcher (recognized by my wife as an actress on the Chicago Med tv show), and even Andre Royo (Bubbles,that survivor par excellence from The Wire fame) come together in a retro sci-fi film that is as much character-driven drama as action/thriller. Like Reggie W, I'm surprised that this first-time film-making effort has not drawn more popular and critical attention. I'm sure that a great many experienced directors would be proud to own this result. These guys obviously didn't have a whole lot of financial backing; there's nothing that's eye-popping or spectacular looking. But that lack of money has produced a film that looks very 'real' and believable.

From the standpoint of script, I felt that a couple of scenes were underdeveloped and a few character reactions were not true to nature (but at the same time, how do you know what your response would be to some of these situations).

Also like Reggie W, I was rather alarmed by the looks of the product when I received it. I knew that it was going to be a BD-R, but the artwork and disc does look like a first-rate amateur job. I'm hoping that the distributor, Gunpowder & Sky, didn't pay too much for that result.

Despite having lurked on this site for many years and having been a member for a couple, I believe this may be my first post here. Don't let my lack of site-cred here deter you. Give this film a chance.

Russ

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Reggie W seems to be having difficulty whipping up any enthusiasm for this film. That's a shame. It really is quite a good effort.

Well, I think maybe a lot of folks here probably never heard of it. It did not have a giant expensive advertising campaign shouting from the rooftops how great it was and that you had to see it. So, my guess is that some folks may be a bit suspicious how good this may actually be.

To me these smaller less expensive sci-fi efforts are the ones that tend to be great, while the big budget efforts tend to be fairly lousy. This is specifically because they focus on ideas and characters in these smaller films because they do not have giant wads of cash to blow on special effects/action sequences.

When you look at older science fiction the thing that really grabbed people was they did place a premium on characters and ideas being a big part of the picture. The ideas in the story were important and you had to build your story around them. So, the ideas were supported. In today's big budget films they instead just focus on the effects and action sequences.

So, what Prospect gets right, to me, is it does give us interesting characters and a really good story...and this draws you into the film. And they support the ideas that are presented. It's not just about moving us from one big effects action sequence to the next. That's where the budgetary restrictions end up creating a better film.

One review I read after watching the film trumpeted "What all the new Star Wars films should have been!" and my issue with that is that the people making the Star Wars films were tasked with spending a boatload of money specifically to try to make a boatload of money. So, they were not creating those films with the idea that they wanted to create great films...it was to create a cash cow. So, the Star Wars filmmakers have no chance to make a film as good as Prospect because the people making Prospect only had one goal...make a great film.