I have to say that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s return to feature filmmaking after being unceremoniously fired from Solo: A Star Wars Story is a gift to the film-going audience.
Their first feature film directorial adventure since 2014’s 22 Jump Street, Project Hail Mary is adapted from Andy Weir’s best-selling novel by Drew Goddard. Goddard also penned the adaptation of Weir’s The Martian for Ridley Scott and has all the hallmarks of a great film.
Filled with action, suspense, drama, and brilliantly timed comedy, Project Hail Mary is a heartwarming film that captured my attention from the outset and never let it go for the entire 156-minute run time.
Ryan Gosling is at his most charmingly best as Dr. Ryland Grace. An above-average middle school science teacher, whose once unorthodox and controversial ideas had him run out of the scientific world at the height of his career. His published paper at the center of his ousting is now crucial to saving the planet, if not the entire universe, from extinction.
The Sun is dimming. In fact, ALL suns are dimming.
The Earth is cooling at an alarming rate.
If a solution can’t be found to stop and reverse this catastrophic event, all life as we know it will cease to exist
What begins as a The Martian-style sci-fi story of one man alone in space having to, in this case, “Math the shit out of this” in order to save the planet and himself, abruptly turns into something unexpected.
What Project Hail Mary becomes is an extraordinarily heartfelt buddy picture. Instead of just one alone, the film is about two. The relationship of the two main characters, one human and one not, is as important as the survival of all life in the universe.
What impressed me most about Project Hail Mary is how intimate the film is, given the epic scale of the picture as a whole. Directors Lord and Miller have presented us with one of the most captivating and profoundly human stories using the “cataclysmic end of the world” trope. Think “if HAL-9000 and David Bowman were buddies on the Discovery instead of adversaries in 2001: A Space Odyssey”. This time, the role of HAL in this two-person “play” will be played by a lovable crab-like rock creature with no face or understandable language.
I not only fell in love with Rocky, as he will come to be known, but I was also wholly invested in Rocky’s story and survival as much as I was in Gosling’s Dr. Grace. Maybe even more so.
Screenwriter, Goddard, and directors Lord and Miller outdid themselves in bringing the enormous concepts and ideas of Weir’s novel to brilliant life. Dr. Grace and Rocky enraptured me with their journey of discovery. The two scientists are understandably cautious at the outset. Through logic and maths, they use their knowledge alongside their empathy and emotion to learn to communicate. They can then tackle the seemingly insurmountable task of solving the looming universe-ending problem that both species face.
Told in the classic dual-timeline/flashback style, we first meet Dr. Grace on board the spacecraft, Hail Mary. He is en route to the one sun unaffected by the “dimming” that all suns in the universe are experiencing. He is amnesic and confused. We learn things as he does.
As the film progresses, it is revealed what brought him to this point and what his mission is. We are also introduced to a whole slew of wonderful characters other than Rocky. These scientists, military personnel, and intelligence officers have come together to put Dr. Grace where he is, seemingly stranded in space with no hope of returning to Earth.
The mysterious, clearly government agent, Eva Stratt, played by Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall, Zone of Interest), is outstanding. She first approaches Dr. Grace about his controversial paper and quickly becomes an ally, albeit a cautious one. She believes in Dr. Grace so much that she recruits him on the spot. She knows his methods and personality will not immediately mesh with the rest of the global team being assembled to solve this crisis. However, she believes in him so much because she knows he is the only hope mankind has to survive.
Puppeteer James Ortiz, along with his team, brings the alien character of Rocky to life via incredible practical puppeteering effects. Minimal digital effects were used in the on set performance, much like Grogu in The Mandalorian TV show. Ortiz also provides Rocky his English voice once the language barrier between the two scientists has been breached. Ortiz’s skill and soul are quintessential to the character of Rocky. If we don’t believe that Rocky is alive, then we don’t sympathize with him. If we don’t sympathize with Rocky, then the entire film collapses underneath its own weight.
I want to mention the stellar cinematography by Greig Fraser (Dune: Part One & Two, The Creator, The Batman, Rogue One) and editing by Joel Negron (Cocaine Bear, Thor: Ragnarok, The Nice Guys). This movie would not have worked as well as it does if it weren’t for their expert photography and cutting skills.
The two artists set up gorgeous imagery. They kept the story coherent and followable. In a film of this style, with objects floating around and the frame constantly moving, not to mention the jumping back and forth from the present time on the spaceship to the past back on earth as they prepare for the launch of the Hail Mary, it is crucial to make the action and the subsequent story followable and engaging. It is no easy task. The clever editing and elegant cinematography allow the viewer to understand what is happening and why at all times.
Finally, if you haven’t already gathered, I adore this film. It is literally everything I want in a movie of this kind. It is an emotional roller coaster that didn’t just bring me to the edge of tears; it thrust me over the edge to ugly sobbing one second, then had me cheering in my seat the next. The gripping screenplay and the wonderful acting by the entire cast kept me locked in and wanting to know what was going to happen next. The feeling of deep connection with all the characters, especially Dr. Grace and Rocky, had me hooked till the final frame.
This film is exactly what I needed, and I feel like it is exactly what today’s filmgoing audiences yearn for. In this time of constant horrors in the news, a world in turmoil, and the uncertainty and loss of hope, this film will be a welcome breath of fresh air.
Lord and Miller have returned and returned in peak form, presenting us with a bright, uplifting cinematic presentation. Providing us with the one thing we all are famished for.
Hope.
* * * * *
Produced by Amy Pascal, Ryan Gosling,
Phil Lord, Christopher Miller,
Aditya Sood, Rachel O’Connor, Andy Weir
Screenplay by Drew Goddard
Based on Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Starring Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller,
James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce
