REVIEW: 'Project Hail Mary' is a spectacular, cerebral sci-fi adventure
Project Hail Mary is the sort of film we don’t see much of anymore, a high-concept space adventure with an A-list star and a big studio budget that isn’t reliant on nostalgia (or comic books) to justify its existence.
Based on the novel of the same name from author Andy Weir (The Martian, Artemis), it’s also—hands-down—one of the most intelligent science fiction films in years, featuring more in common with the likes of Arrival (2016), Ad Astra (2019) and, well, The Martian (2015), than brain-dead efforts like The Tomorrow War (2021) or Geostorm (2017). Of course, it’s entirely arguable that the only reason the film got made at all is The Martian’s 7 Academy Award nominations, but in an age of blockbuster oversaturation, we’ll take what we can get.
As the film begins, a lone, amnesiac astronaut, played by Ryan Gosling, is being revived on an automated starship. Piecing together his fragmented memories, the astronaut learns that he is Dr. Ryland Grace, the lone survivor of a crew on a desperate mission to save Earth. Faced with certain extinction due to a microscopic organism consuming our sun, humanity’s only hope lies in Grace recovering his memories and solving the crisis before time runs out.
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (the duo behind The Lego Movie), Project Hail Mary is an extraordinary cinematic experience, gripping the viewer from the onset and refusing to let go until the credits roll. As the story progresses, we see flashbacks filling in the gaps of Grace’s memories, underscoring the mission’s urgency while giving us glimpses into his life on Earth. As Grace gradually adjusts to life aboard the appropriately named “Hail Mary” spacecraft, we’re treated to some of the best depictions of the scientific method to appear on the big screen—those hoping for space battles and technobabble need not apply.
The screenplay (by Drew Goddard, who also scripted The Martian) makes the most of Gosling’s inherent “aw, shucks” charm, presenting Grace as self-deprecating and relatable, perfectly suited to Weir’s penchant for writing characters more likely to drop a pop culture reference than a scientific theorem (though Grace is certainly capable of both). This goes a long way in carrying the parts of the film where Gosling is the only one onscreen, and enhances the proceedings for the scenes where he’s not. This is especially apparent whenever the Earth-set expository scenes feature Grace interacting with the ever-professional Eva Strat (Sandra Hüller), who is in charge of the Hail Mary project.
In the flashbacks, we learn that Grace was the sort of standard-issue movie scientist whose theories nobody believes until the world’s about to end. Eking out a living as an elementary school teacher, Grace is pressed into service by the world’s governments when his “crazy” ideas about alien life are found to be not-so-crazy after all. It’s a good thing, too, because Grace soon finds that he isn’t the only being trying to save their world from the sun eaters.
The film takes an altogether different tone when Grace encounters the alien he dubs “Rocky” (for obvious reasons). While the odd-couple dynamics of an amnesiac astronaut and an alien stone creature don’t make for the most obvious pairing, Grace and Rocky develop a rapport through rounds of trial and error, a bond reinforced by their shared mission. When the duo discovers the secret of the sun eaters, what follows is a race against time that will test their newfound friendship to its limits.
While some of the “man versus space” survival elements are reminiscent of Gravity (2013) and Interstellar (2014), the film differentiates itself from its sci-fi brethren with the interplay between Grace and Rocky. Even if one half of the duo is basically a sentient stone, their friendship gives the story an emotional core and its ultimate expression of humanity. Realized through a combination of brilliant puppetry and minimal CGI, Rocky’s weighty, stony presence provides Gosling something to play off of, and the filmmakers a tangible personality to film.
For a film that starts by asking its audience whether humanity has a future, Project Hail Mary does an inspired job of showing that the answer lies somewhere between curiosity, empathy, and the overall resilience to never give up. It’s a beautiful message that inspires as much as it enthralls, and one rendered very much relevant by current events.
It’s been a while since an ending has been so well-earned, so one may be forgiven for cheering by the time the final sequence lands; Project Hail Mary stands proudly alongside some of the best in the genre to deliver an original, thought-provoking adventure that ultimately proves, sometimes, it really is the friends we meet along the way that make a journey worth taking.