Remember hope? Joy? Crowd-pleasing escapism? Remember going to the movies and in true Nicole Kidman fashion, “we go somewhere we’ve never been before. Dazzling images on a huge silver screen….heartbreak feels good in a place like this?”
I remember, and even for all the movies I watch, I can say that I miss that feeling sometimes. Project Hail Mary restores that faith in cinema, transporting us to the far reaches of the universe with a familiar yet triumphant sci-fi adventure filled to the brim with heart and humor. Even with its flaws – and it certainly has them – THIS is why we go to the movies. This is how films should leave us, should make us feel something – anything – that isn’t the banging drum of impending doom that surrounds us every day.
A soaring space odyssey among the stars, Project Hail Mary is another winning adapted work from author Andy Weir. Something about his works screams cinematic adaptation material. Even when they sort of blur together on the screen, they still prove quite effective. You can see all the tinges of The Martian, Weir using very similar bones of “super charming guy problem solves being lost in space,” the crux of both films. Project Hail Mary is very much a hybrid celebration of sci-fi greats, channeling not just The Martian, but also Interstellar, Gravity, and Arrival, to name a few. It’s a bit too overstuffed with derivative ideas, each beat and plot point easily telegraphed. Often coming off as sappy and even emotionally manipulative.
Project Hail Mary
The film follows Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), a middle school science teacher and disgraced scientist who is tapped by the government to help identify a strange phenomenon that is feeding on the stars – our sun included – threatening Earth’s very existence. Grace wakes up on the spaceship known as Hail Mary with no recollection of how he got there.
Through flashbacks, we learn that he has been tasked with traveling to the far reaches of the universe to find a star that is not being destroyed so they can learn how to save their planet. On his journey, he meets an alien whom he names Rocky, whose planet is also being threatened. Together, they must not only survive but also work together to save everything and everyone they love. By going on a long-shot mission with very little chance to succeed. Project Hail Mary also stars Sandra Hüller, Lionel Boyce, and Ken Leung.
Review
The film struggles in its pacing as well, the non-linear storytelling often undercutting some of its more familiar narrative beats. It really rushes its third act with a series of Return of the King endings. Truthfully, being derivative with some pacing issues and stretching its runtime to feel overlong should be a rating killer. However, Project Hail Mary manages to overcome all of these pitfalls thanks to the solid, passionate direction from Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Their adaptive and directorial instincts push through film faux pas and elevate this to stunning heights that, in the end, lift the story off the page. Lord and Miller have so much love for filmmaking and telling these kinds of big, fantastical stories. You see it in all of their work, and Project Hail Mary works largely because of the story being in capable hands.
The film’s onscreen secret weapon is Gosling and his little alien companion Rocky (voiced and puppeted by James Ortiz). They inject an overload of charm into Project Hail Mary and keep things at their height as often as they can. Gosling is a terrific leading man, perfectly capable of being instantly likable and delivering both emotion and excellent comedic timing. It’s hard to hate a film with a cute alien rock creature, and Rocky steals the show quite often when the pair are together.
Project Hail Mary is at its best when it’s just a buddy space romp. Two unlikely friends learning about each other, forming a bond, and working together to find a way home. Even when Daniel Pemberton’s booming score all but announces to the audience how and when you’re supposed to feel something, the Gosling/Rocky pairing makes it impossible not to give yourself over to the manipulative cues.
Final Thoughts
It helps too that Project Hail Mary looks gorgeous in 70mm IMAX. It is visually stunning in every way, a true spectacle whose 6-story screen immerses you into the journey and keeps you floating in zero gravity. Greg Fraser‘s cinematography remains unmatched. Every frame brings the world to life with such veracity that you just have to sit back and let it all dazzle you. It’s all of these strengths, executed with such precision, that help overcome its recycled – well, everything.
Project Hail Mary wants to seem groundbreaking and original, but really, it’s just a very well-crafted mixtape. And you know what? Fine by me. I think we could all use some comfort cinema, and while Project Hail Mary feels manufactured to make you feel, at all costs. Isn’t that what films should be doing? Shouldn’t we embrace something that is so easily digestible? Like a warm bowl of soup on a cold winter day? Or an old blanket that wraps around you like no other?
Project Hail Mary is an ice-cold beer on a hot sunny day. It can be eye-roll-inducing in its predictability yet epically transcendent and transportive. A manipulative but still effective remix done with such reverence to its source, it’s still a cinematic knockout. It’s a rousing crowd-pleaser, an epic blockbuster that will leave you soaring and fill your heart with love and hope.
We DO come to this place for magic, and even with some missteps along the way, Project Hail Mary successfully launches audiences into space. Taking us all on a magical journey worth seeing on the big screen.
(Project) Hail Mary, full of Grace, indeed.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Project Hail Mary is in theaters on March 20th. You can watch the trailer below.
