Not going to lie, this movie lost some points for not having the 2Pac song “Hail Mary.” I’m only kidding, sort of.
“Project Hail Mary” is a film based on the novel of the same name by Andy Weir. Fans of both film and books likely remember Weir’s other novel “The Martian,” which was adapted into a film, garnering award recognition. The latest Weir book-to-movie production stars Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace, a molecular biologist aboard an interstellar spacecraft.
Grace wakes up with his ship nearing its destination in a far off system. There, he’s tasked with investigating a microorganism that eats energy from stars, including the sun, which will drastically cool the Earth. Tragically, he wakes up to find his two crew mates passed away. However, he encounters an alien also studying the star eater, and the two decide to partner on a solution.
This is the first full directing credit for the team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller since 2014’s “22 Jump Street.” One has to ask, what took so long? They were attached to direct the Han Solo “Star Wars” movie before getting the boot. Hindsight 20/20, they probably should have kept the job, especially considering “Project Hail Mary.”
The film is a largely enjoyable and clever deep-space adventure with a good deal of thrills, entertainment and heart. It delivers all of this thanks to the direction by Lord and Miller, as well as a large amount of the writing by Goddard, who not only penned “The Martian,” but 2012’s great satirical horror “Cabin in the Woods” and the underrated “World War Z” from 2013.
One of the best elements of the film is how it’s able to plot things out, splicing sequences in the present with moments of Grace’s past, notably his work in the government to develop a fix to the star-eater problem before being assigned on the actual space mission.
It’s a good build-up that allows for some mystery in his personal and professional life to unfold alongside the present-set science work he’s doing in the spacecraft. Where the film really excels the most, like “The Martian” did, is in its presentation of scientific research.
The stakes are high with the future of the sun on the line, and watching Grace work with the alien he discovered, affectionately named Rocky, is compelling. However, there’s a problem with the direction the film during sizable portions of the film. There are several moments in the movie, quite a few in the second act to be precise, where the tone shifts hard into humor and/or sentimentality.
Neither element is inherently bad, but the film slides too far into either area at times, taking away from the heavy galactic threat, the race against the clock to solve the issue and the greater questions about life in the universe. It’s still present in the movie, but at times feels piled on top of by attempts at comedy or romanticism.
It ultimately holds the film back from being on par with the likes of “2001” or even 2019’s “Ad Astra.” However, there’s still a good, meaningful look at humanity and the wonder of the universe thanks to Gosling’s performance. He is superb on screen, and it’s particularly impressive since he is the only human on with the audience at times.
Gosling has a great track record, being a strong performer in films for nearly 20 years now going back to his legal thriller “Fracture” in 2007. Over the years he’s impressed in the likes of “Drive,” “La La Land” and does so again here. He has an impressive mix of range and screen presence.
That’s effective in a movie like this where, by himself, he has to provide a plethora of emotions and perspectives. It should be noted, though, that the creative team did good work in presenting the alien Rocky. He is one of the more memorable non-human characters in sci-fi, up there with Chris Johnson in “District 9.” The idea of the scientific method being a universal language was also appreciated.
“Project Hail Mary” is a pleasant and interesting science fiction movie, though not entirely arresting. Yet the flick is still largely enhanced by a great lead performance, an emotional core in the main friendship and good plotting. Plus, it looks wonderful visually across the board, from stunning sequences in space with other worlds to the set of the ship’s interior. 3.75 out of 5.
Matthew Liedke on Film 