Metroid Origins

Now is a sad time to be a fan of the Metroid series.  Hopefully, the scraped development of what was to be the newest entry on the Nintendo Switch will ultimately lead to something good, but the wait is going to be long.  Let me pose a question though in the interim...what was Samus' life like before she entered her prime?  Yes, that question was a rather roundabout attempt at a pun...but in all seriousness there is actually a pretty good answer to it in the form of a 2018 indie sci-fi film entitled "Prospect."

It's not official, of course, nor is there any actual connection to the Metroid IP.  The main character is a teenage girl named "Cee" rather than "Samus," plus none of the other characters or locations have any affiliation with the lore of Metroid.  That said, the setting is an alien world, there are space bounty hunters, and Cee is a blond caucasian female.

Normally, when I here the words "low budget" and "science fiction" in connection with a movie, I tend to assume it's going to have bad acting and even worse sets.  "Prospect" subverted my expectations though with excellent performances and cool-looking slightly retro-futuristic production design.  I say "slightly" because the retro-futurism on display here is more like what people in the 1980s though the future would look like rather than folks in the 50s.  It's a good match for Metroid considering that the first game in the franchise came out in 1986 on the NES (only a few weeks before James Cameron's "Aliens" hit theaters).  "Aliens" is also relevant in that it and its precursor ("Alien") have been huge influence on the Metroid series.  I won't bother to point out all the similarities mostly because there are far too many to list here.  For those who are curious though I will provide a link here that goes into great detail.  Now, back on topic...

The cinematography in "Prospect" is excellent which manages to be an impressive feat considering that almost all the outdoor shooting was done using natural light.  Special effects shots are understandably few given the tiny budget, but what is shown on-screen looks pretty good.  I really don't want to oversell this film...the story is a fairly simple one when you get down to it.  Even so, I was pleasantly surprised overall.  I think the quality can be chalked up to a talented team of film-makers and a fairly lengthy pre-production.  I believe the two co-directors said that they had been working on the film for something like four years!  Although a decent chunk of that time might have been spent on an indie short of the same name that they made as a proof of concept.  It is available for free on Youtube.  As for the actual film, it can be seen via a wide number of video-on-demand service providers.

I highly recommend checking out either or both version for fans of sci-fi films like "Moon" (2009), "Enemy Mine" (1985) and for individuals like me who would love to see an origin story (unofficial as it is) for Samus Aran that's better than anything Nintendo has made up about her.