Introduction
When you combine the filmmaking talents of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the near-unlimited budget of a massive studio, a well-received novel, and the unending charisma of Ryan Gosling, you get Project Hail Mary. A film where everything comes together to create the ideal Hollywood blockbuster.
It’s easy to talk out of both sides of your mouth when it comes to the current state of Hollywood productions. Yes, there are bloated budgets with pre-existing IP that feel creatively empty, but you also have this film. A big-name star, with the deep pockets of a conglomerate studio behind it, based on well-established fiction. Could you have made a dozen independent films with the budget of this one? Absolutely. But, at no point does that budget look wasted or manufactured. Every penny is up on the screen, and every second is utilized for entertainment. It’s all you could ask for these days.
Plot Summary
Gosling stars as Dr. Ryland Grace, a biologist who awakens on a spacecraft with no memory of himself or his mission. Finding his fellow crew members dead, Grace deduces he is on a mission to investigate a faraway solar system to save Earth’s son from dying. As he heads towards his destination, his memories slowly begin to reemerge, including the purpose of his mission and his interaction with Eva Stratt (Sandra Huller), the head of the project to save the sun.
As Grace arrives at the system, he encounters a massive alien spaceship that directly communicates with him. The rock-like creature is dubbed Rocky and is some kind of mechanic on his planet. As the lone survivors of each mission, Grace and Rocky must learn to communicate, cohabitate, and figure out what is causing the suns to dim. All the while, the circumstances that led Grace aboard the ship begin to come to light through gradual memories.
Grace’s encounter with Rocky isn’t much of a spoiler. The marketing well establishes that the film is some combination of Interstellar (2014) and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982). That’s not an unearned comparison, but tonally, the film sits precisely with The Martian (2015) and is based on the book by the same author and written by the same screenwriter. It’s not a direct correlation, but if you liked The Martian, it stands to reason you will like Project Hail Mary.
Time and Effort
Even diving into the minutia of thematic and filmmaking, I have very little to complain about. The themes aren’t too obvious, and they mostly take a backseat to the adventure story. The visual effects and cinematography are all top of the line. The art direction of the spaceship is some of the best you could imagine. Rocky, as a character, is obviously a highlight. Brought to life by the puppetry of John Ortiz, Rocky is a fully-formed life you are actively rooting for right alongside Grace.
You can tell the time and effort it took to bring everything together. There’s an old adage about films: between cheap, fast, and good, you can pick two. If you choose cheap and fast, it won’t be good. Choose fast and good, it won’t be cheap. If you choose cheap and good, it won’t be fast. What if not cheap, not fast, and good all came together? That’s the crux of what this film delivers. The time to get everything right, the budget to make it happen, and the effort to bring it into coherence.
The action is stellar and believable, the scientific explanations are complex but dumbed down enough to understand, and the mission is clear. This is a film made by adults, for adults, with a clear purpose: to entertain the hell out of you. At nearly three hours, the length is a bit of an ask, but the film never drags and uses every moment to propel the story forward. The length is never felt in the theater. I could have watched for another hour.
Gosling and the Cast
Gosling delivers in a way few other actors can. A combination of star-power, self-awareness, humor, and heart. Grace is on-screen for around 90% of the film, so this performance is not one you can phone in. Gosling pulls every trick he knows to make Grace watchable without making him repetitive. Whether it’s madcap humor, immense competence, or earnest sincerity, Gosling delivers a performance which only he can. Without him, I don’t know if this film gets anywhere close to what it achieves.
Huller is smartly cast as a woman with zero humor, but still able to deliver a laugh line without breaking character. She also has a standout scene where she performs karaoke and lets the mask slightly slip, only to jump back to the safety of stoicism. Lionel Boyce also shows up as a mysterious but friendly government agent who helps Grace in the early stages. A few other familiar faces join the fray, but Rocky and Gosling are the main focus.
Conclusion
Project Hail Mary is the perfect combo of high-brow sci-fi, crowd-pleasing entertainment, big-budget filmmaking, and movie star charisma. I wish all films with this kind of budget would keep getting made.
