The following review contains minor spoilers for “Project Hail Mary.”
If you want to go in completely blind, then I’ll simply assure you that “Project Hail Mary” is a great film and worth your time. Otherwise, read on.
Space is having a moment. Over the past few days, the Artemis II crew has broken many space-flight records, and broadcast their journey around the moon to the entire world. At the same time, “Project Hail Mary” is dominating the box office. Adapted from Andy Weir’s 2021 novel of the same name, this science-fiction blockbuster is no shallow cashgrab. Rather, it’s one of the most entertaining and exciting movies I’ve seen in some time.
The film follows Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), a scientist who wakes up alone on a spaceship beginning of an unlikely friendship that is the film’s beating heart.
As Grace, Gosling delivers an with no recollection of who he is or what has happened to him. As his memories slowly come back, he recalls that he’s part of “Project Hail Mary,” a top-secret mission to save the Sun, which is dimming rapidly as its energy is being absorbed by a mysterious alien lifeform called “astrophage.” In a last-ditch effort to save humanity, Grace has been sent to Tau Ceti, the only star not affected by astrophage, in the hope that he will figure out a way to prevent the Sun’s death. It’s a suicide mission, since Grace’s ship only has enough fuel for a one-way trip.
Everything changes when, one day, Grace awakens to find his ship surrounded by a strange vessel attempting to contact him. The vessel is piloted by a friendly alien that Grace names “Rocky” (voiced by James Oritz). Like Grace, Rocky is a scientist trying to save his dying sun. Though Grace and Rocky are completely different, the two realize they’re more likely to succeed if they work together. This marks the electric performance. He does a great job balancing humor and emotion, though I think he could have toned down the crying. Still, he’s immediately endearing and easy to root for, and his frequent monologuing is fun to watch.
Grace’s journey through space is occasionally interrupted by flashbacks that chronicle his recruitment to Project Hail Mary by the project’s leader, Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller). While Hüller doesn’t have a lot of screen time in the movie, the “Anatomy of a Fall” star steals every scene she’s in. These segments offer great insight into Grace’s character without dragging down the story’s pacing. They also add weight to Grace’s mission by showing us how truly desperate humanity is.
It helps that “Project Hail Mary” is backed by an amazing script. Nearly every joke landed for me, as did most emotional beats. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, since writer Drew Goddard has a great track record, having written scripts for 2015’s “The Martian” (also based on an Andy Weir novel) and 2008’s “Cloverfield.” That I never once felt bored during the entire 155-minute runtime is a testament to this script’s quality.
The cinematography of “Project Hail Mary” is nothing groundbreaking. The movie is, for the most part, shot very conventionally. Still, it’s refreshing to see a bigbudget Hollywood film that isn’t dark, grey and filled with CGI. It’s also packed with spectacles — a couple of which were, for me, literally jawdropping. “Project Hail Mary” is directed by powerhouse duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, whose previous work includes “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” “The Lego Movie” and the “Spider-Verse” series. These guys know how to make a visually compelling movie, and it shows.
In an age dominated by cynicism and isolation, “Project Hail Mary” stands out as unabashedly optimistic. It’s not an especially deep or challenging movie, but it doesn’t need to be. Over the past decade, science f iction as a genre has been overrun by dystopia and cautionary tales about the existential threats facing humanity, of which there are many. These kinds of stories are important, but I fear we’ve forgotten that science f iction can be fun and exciting as well.
At its core, science fiction is, and always has been, a tool we use to imagine new futures. If we don’t allow ourselves to imagine a better future, then we’ll never see it come to fruition. Believing in ourselves, and in the possibility of courage and friendship to overcome any obstacle, isn’t naive or irresponsible — it’s courageous. “Project Hail Mary” is not pure escapism. It’s a reminder that confronting the dangers of climate change and artificial intelligence will require us to dream big and dream bravely.
