If I had a dollar for every excellent space movie based on an Andy Weir book about a lone astronaut doing cool science to survive, I’d have two dollars, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.
Based on the novel of the same name, “Project Hail Mary” sees Ryan Gosling in the hot seat this time, starring as Ryland Grace — a man on a mission to save the stars themselves from a mysterious infection known as the astrophage. Considering what an absolute banger “The Martian” was, I had extremely high hopes going in, and “Project Hail Mary” still somehow exceeded expectations.
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Even “The Martian”, for all its levity, is ultimately a movie about surviving on a planet that wants to kill you. Mark Watney’s story is one of resilience against overwhelming odds. Sure, he says, “I love what I do, and I’m really good at it. And that I’m dying for something big and beautiful and greater than me,” but he also quite emphatically says, “F*** you, Mars”.
“Project Hail Mary” does not hate space. It adores it, and the whole picture is built around a sense of wonder and scientific curiosity that feels so refreshing. Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) faces his fair share of challenges, to be sure, but his adventure feels more like a buddy detective movie than anything else. It’s not quite “Rush Hour” in space, but it’s not a million miles away either.
The movie starts <em>in medias res, with Grace waking up aboard the Hail Mary with no memory of who he is, or why he’s aboard a spaceship. This temporary amnesia serves as a useful, if somewhat cliché contrivance that helps the audience learn things alongside our protagonist, as we’re treated to periodic flashbacks to his time on Earth, learning the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the Hail Mary mission.
As we and Grace learn, the sun is dying, as is every other star around it … except for one: Tau Ceti. Earth’s brightest minds come together to build a ship capable of reaching the distant star system (12 light-years), hoping to find why this star alone is unaffected. Grace is initially recruited to the team because of his theories on alien life not needing water to evolve (something real scientists have postulated, too), but through happenstance and pure bad luck, he ends up going on the mission itself.
Grace is certainly cut from the same cloth as Watney, and that blend of comedian and scientific genius makes it easy to root for him. Gosling plays the part to perfection, taking things in a more cartoonish, boobish direction than Damon, but it works. “Barbie” showed us that Gosling can be funny, and “Blade Runner 2049” showed us that he can be emotional and serious, but here he sticks that landing and delivers both when needed.
The buddy half of that buddy-cop movie feeling comes from his extra-terrestrial partner in crime, Rocky (and an adorable bromance with security guard Carl in the flashbacks).
Named for the Stallone movie and because he’s effectively a sentient pile of boulders, Rocky is simultaneously incredibly alien and deeply human, providing the perfect straightman to Grace’s jokester. He’s introduced early in the picture, with the first act focusing on the duo’s attempts to communicate. Through some dancing, model-making, and good old-fashioned trial and error, Grace eventually creates a translation program, giving Rocky his text-to-speech voice — a stroke of genius that facilitates both the humour and heart that carry the picture.
Voice actor and puppeteer James Ortiz puts in a stellar performance, as does the tight script, and the rest of the supporting cast shown during the flashbacks. Sandra Hüller is wonderful as the straight-faced head of the Hail Mary project, squeezing emotion and humor out of an almost cartoonishly stoic performance, and Lionel Boyce’s Carl is just the best friend all of us dream of.
There’s never a wasted moment on screen, with every interaction pushing the plot forward, deepening the relationship between Grace and Rocky, or usually both. The duo realises they’re out there for the same reason — to save their worlds — and set to work “sciencing the sh*t” out of the problem, as Weir’s other hero would say.
I won’t spoil any of the details from there, but the crescendo hits some emotional high points, with each character making sacrifices to save the other. Grace, especially, completes a character arc that, due to the non-linear narrative, we didn’t even know he was on until the final act, but that makes perfect sense once it hits.
This beautiful character work is supported by suitably stunning visuals. There’s a wonderful juxtaposition between the NASApunk aesthetic of Grace’s ship — the Hail Mary — and the alien geometry of Rocky’s vessel — something that’s mirrored in the planets themselves. The visuals on Earth are muted and somber — sterile science labs, militaristic naval vessels and barren rocket launch sites, but this is counterbalanced by stunningly vibrant and colorful shots of the Tau Ceti system, its planets, and the astrophage itself.
Space travel isn’t as cool as it once was, and I can understand why. In the last decade, we’ve gone from “we came in peace for all mankind” to billionaires launching private armadas of satellites (and the occasional celebrity) into orbit. In an increasingly corporate era of space travel, “Project Hail Mary” proudly carries the spirit of NASA, exploring the cosmos, and reaching for the stars aloft.
Seeing another bloody Starlink satellite reach orbit won’t inspire the next generation of astronauts, but Ryan Gosling and his nice boulder friend just might.
“Project Hail Mary” is showing in theaters worldwide now.