Project Hail Mary

Author Andy Weir’s 2021 novel Project Hail Mary has become one of the most popular best-selling books of this decade. The author’s previous novel The Martian was adapted by director Ridley Scott in 2015 to great acclaim, earning over $600 million at the box office and nabbing seven total Oscar nominations. Weir has a knack for writing science-based stories about skilled scientists trapped in space, which makes his latest novel such an enticing project for any filmmaker. Helming the latest adaptation of Weir’s work is Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, the filmmaking duo behind The Lego Movie, 21 & 22 Jump Street and the creative force behind the Spider-Verse films. Implementing The Martian scribe Drew Goddard to return to adapt Weir’s work, this big-budget adaptation is different from what most might expect from a sci-fi epic starring Ryan Gosling. The film, which is more focused on hope and optimism, is a warm, funny and uplifting sci-fi spectacle.

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Rhyland Grace (Ryan Gosling) is a middle school science teacher with a degree in astrophysics. As the world is struck in fear after the sun is slowly being eaten by a beam of what is called “astrophage”, which will slowly starve Earth of its resources, Grace receives a visit from Eva (Sandra Huller). Eva persuades Grace to join an international coalition of scientists and astronauts to travel out to a star light years away from Earth for research and to hopefully find a solution to save humanity. However, Grace awakens from his slumber on the ship Hail Mary with very little memory and finds his two crew members Yao (Ken Leung) and Olesya (Milana Vayntrub) are both dead. With no direct contact with Earth, Grace must finish the mission by himself, despite his inexperience. On his voyage, Grace is approached by an alien ship where he meets a rock-like creature he names “Rocky”. After learning to communicate with Rocky, installing his own makeshift communication device, the two life forms bond over the task of decoding the astrophage, quickly becoming friends while trying to save their respective home planets.

Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Project Hail Mary is a deeply cinematic and rousing crowd-pleaser that hits just the right emotional beats without feeling saccharine or schmaltzy. Taking the established visual iconography of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris, and assembling it together with the framework of Interstellar and the comedic, science-heavy focus of The Martian, Lord & Miller’s film adaptation is its own singular brand of sci-fi epic. The filmmaking duo have crafted a film that manages to feel vibrant and hopeful, while simultaneously grandiose and emotionally precise. Perhaps the biggest success of Lord & Miller’s film is how it doesn’t feel like a grab bag of elements from other films. The relationship between Grace and Rocky makes the film stand apart from many of the films it will inevitably be compared to. Gosling is the kind of actor who can shoulder an entire film on his own, but having an adorable, but not too cutesy alien creature to interact with gives the film a real sense of spirit. Rocky is a wonderful creation brought to life with skilled puppeteering and nearly invisible visual effects. James Ortiz is quite endearing as Rocky’s “voice”, the voice that comes from Grace’s device. The heart at the center of the film is about a man who feels lonely on Earth, but comes to find a companion out in space. This emotional pull tugs at the heartstrings, but never feels forced or manipulative.

Project Hail Mary is often quite funny with bursts of wit. Other times, it has real emotional weight. Lord & Miller truly have a knack for balancing tones as the first half hour of the film finds our hero waking to find his two other crew members are dead, give them a proper funeral and realize he must complete the mission on his own before he even meets Rocky. Yet the tonal shifts always feel gradual. Helping things from feeling bogged down in melodrama or sentimentality is Gosling’s winning performance. Gosling, acting opposite either no one or a puppet for much of the screen-time, always keeps the audience engaged with the material. It’s a performance that confronts every emotion on the spectrum, but still feels human on every level.

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Shot by the great cinematographer Greig Fraser, Project Hail Mary both looks and feels warm, compared to the usually icy and sterile look of space from something like Ridley Scott’s Alien. Lord & Miller’s innovative camera work helps pull the audience into its emotions and, from the very opening scene, cives the film a sense of immersion. For filmmakers that have primarily worked in animation for a majority of their career, it is refreshing to see how visually capable Lord & Miller are when working in live-action. From Grace’s first spacewalk, to his first timing encountering Rocky’s spaceship, the filmmakers stage these sequences beautifully and utilize the frame in a unique fashion. Daniel Pemberton’s score is downright euphoric in places, further aiding in the film’s grandiosity. The third act’s most effective emotional crescendo is cemented by Pemberton’s rousing work.

Running at 156 minutes, the final act is stretched beyond necessity as the film continues through at least three different false endings. Some of the humor, primarily in the opening hour, can be on the cutesy side. Gosling’s Grace is said to use humor to mask his insecurity, but the character approaches becoming too jokey initially. Supporting characters don’t get much to do as the focus relies primarily on Grace’s journey. Even so, having actors like Milana Vayntrub and Ken Leung and only giving them a handful of lines does feel like a waste. Sandra Huller is mainly here to be the no-nonsense counterpart to Gosling’s sardonic Grace. Yet, the Oscar-nominee does get the film’s most moving and likely best scene, performing Harry Styles’ Sign of the Times at Karaoke before the crew’s launch.

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Project Hail Mary has about three endings too many and never truly achieves spectacular levels of storytelling, but the latest film from directors Phil Lord & Christopher Miller is still a deeply entertaining crowd-pleaser. Ryan Gosling and his alien comprade are genuinely a duo worth seeing on the biggest screen imaginable. It may not be as sweeping and profound as many of the films it will be compared to, but it is still a hopeful and grandiose cinematic experience.

Project Hail Mary is now playing in theaters.