Directors: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Writers: Drew Goddard, Andy Weir
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Milana Vayntrub, Sandra Hüller
Synopsis: Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up alone on a spaceship light-years from Earth. As his memory returns, he uncovers a mission to stop a mysterious substance killing the sun, and save Earth. An unexpected friendship may be the key.
Very rarely can you point to a film about redemption that also serves as a redemption story for its filmmakers. Project Hail Mary fits that description. I won’t go so far as to proclaim it a masterpiece, as some critics seem eager to do in their quote-pull fishing expeditions. Please, leave the narcissism at the door. If Ryan Gosling mugging for the camera in charming, hot-nerd fashion is enough to qualify as greatness, then this film certainly has that in abundance.
With Project Hail Mary, the writing and directing team of Phil Lord and Chris Miller will finally get the respect their names lost after being unceremoniously kicked off Solo: A Star Wars Story. After finding success with films likeCloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and The Lego Movie, they have finally made their space epic, one with plenty of heart and a comic touch that makes it a pure popcorn crowd-pleaser.
Not to mention, the script, along with the source material, keeps pivoting, making choices that are risky and brave in the world of cinema. While this critic kept waiting for the film to deliver a climactic, cathartic, showstopping third act, Lord and Miller respect the source material’s ending enough to craft a near-perfect marriage of art and commerce that will leave you giddy about what Hollywood studios can still achieve.
The story of Project Hail Mary follows Dr. Ryland Grace (Academy Award nominee Ryan Gosling), a former scientist who was blackballed from the academic community for his original, outside-the-box thinking in molecular biology. Now working as an eighth-grade science teacher, Grace spends most of his days calming his students’ fears about the apocalyptic end of the world. The cause is something called “Astrophage,” aka the “Star-Eater.”
The parasitic alien organism is known for consuming the sun’s energy and, for lack of a better term, dimming it. You are probably thinking, what’s the big deal? Less money on sunscreen. Not so fast. That means Earth would enter a rapidly accelerating Ice Age. The result would be mass crop failures, ecosystem collapse, and eventual human extinction, with every country treating resources as a free-for-all.
That’s when Eva Stratt (Anatomy of a Fall’s Sandra Hüller), head of the Hail Mary Project, steps in. The program is tasked with finding a way to save the sun and, by extension, the world. Right now, the sun will die in thirty years. Somehow, she comes across a paper Ryland wrote that hypothesizes life does not necessarily require water to evolve or exist. It was an original thought that led to Grace being banished to teach sniveling adolescents biology lessons.
Gosling is wonderful in the role, portraying the good doctor as endearingly awkward and almost diffident. Some of the best scenes come with The Bear’s Lionel Boyce, who plays officer/enforcer Steve Hatch assigned to Grace during the project. Ryland solves the most puzzling part of why the alien parasite is dimming the big, bad Helious with simple school project techniques, creating a hypothesis with cardboard, duct tape, and some Skittles.
Yes, it has that obvious product placement, though it is not nearly as objectionable as the McCafé scene in The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Surprisingly, Project Hail Mary draws the viewer into an immersive, cinematic world that is funny, heartfelt, and visually awe-inspiring. Adapted from the novel by Andy Weir (The Martian), the film is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, working from an exceptional screenplay by Drew Goddard (World War Z), that is pure popcorn entertainment. And that may be underselling the experience.
Yes, we should have high standards, but in the age of the streaming wars, it is rare to get a movie that sparks the imagination, fills the soul, and reminds you of the simple joy of watching a big, ambitious story unfold on the largest screen possible. This also doubles as a family movie, with teachable moments you can discuss with your kids about what truly matters in life. It is just as much about exploration as it is a stealthy, beautiful, evocative meditation on family, friendship, and sacrifice.
Yes, there are some plot holes that come with a film like this, with Ryland achieving MacGyver-like levels of miraculous engineering and compressed scientific discoveries. Of course, unlike The Martian, those gaps are largely smoothed over by the introduction of Rocky (voiced by puppeteer James Ortiz). I have left the character mostly out of this review, even though the trailer gives it away, because much of the film’s joy comes from going in with as little knowledge as possible.
Frankly, whatever you think of the picture’s destination, one that lands on a moment of pure, joyous, cerebral optimism, it is the journey that sets Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s adaptation of Andy Weir’s creation apart. As a whole, the film is a suspenseful, emotional, and ultimately rewarding ride, the kind of experience that feels almost like cinematic therapy.
There is an emotional spectacle just as much a journey as the space travel, that goes well beyond the film’s gorgeous, breathtaking visuals. See Project Hail Mary on any screen you want, preferably in a theater, because this is a rare film worth the price of admission, and take the ride of a lifetime.
You can watch Project Hail Mary exclusively in theaters starting March 20th!
