Title: Project Hail Mary
Describe This Movie In One Simpsons Quote:
BUZZ ALDRIN: Careful! They’re ruffled!
Brief Plot Synopsis: Black hole sun, won’t you come.
Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: 3.5 Ivan Dragos out of 5.
Tagline: “Believe in the Hail Mary.”
Better Tagline: “The (baby) goose is loose.”
Not So Brief Plot Synopsis: The sun is dying. Which is to say strange space organisms are absorbing its energy. Nevertheless, in 30 years or so, Earth’s climate will have cooled enough to cause widespread crop failures and starvation. Enter middle school teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), who also happens to be a molecular biologist blackballed for his theories. He piques the interest of Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller), leader of an international effort to avert impending doom. Fast forward to years later, as an amnesiac Grace awakens from an induced coma on the Hail Mary, alone. Or is he?
“Critical” Analysis: Honestly, the title Project Hail Mary is a little on the nose. It’s also a reminder that we used to have cool names for things*. Case in point: “Operation Epic Fury” is some 12-year old naming his D&D character shit. On an unrelated note, I was in France a couple weeks ago and the movie’s name over there is Projet Dernière Chance. Much like using the metric system and not understanding Quarter Pounders, the French also don’t really grok American football.
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie, three-quarters of Solo: A Star Wars Story) and scripted by Drew Goddard (from Andy Weir’s novel), Project Hail Mary is as ambitious as it is heartwarming. And if anything, it’s the latter part that drags things down somewhat. The movie recalls 2010: The Year We Make Contact, E.T., and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, with all that entails.
Because it is a feast of visuals. The production design of the Hail Mary, to say nothing of the cosmic environments Grace finds himself in, is stellar (oh shut up). Lord and Miller are no strangers to this, having helped bring the Spider-Verse movies to life. At the same time, they mostly avoid wallowing in F/X and let the action take over.
The movie, like Weir’s novel, tells much of its story in flashbacks to Grace’s recruitment and eventual involvement in the mission itself. This helps keep the action to centered on the ship. It also helps flesh out his missing memories, and provides some of the film’s most compelling scenes.
Of course, Grace isn’t alone on his mission. After discovering the “Astrophages” are breeding on Venus because of it’s CO2-rich atmosphere, the Hail Mary is sent to Tau Ceti — the only nearby star unaffected — to determine why. Upon arrival, he encounters a spacecraft crewed by a single alien. Grace christens the alien “Rocky,” for what are pretty obvious reasons. The two then set out to solve their respective civilizations’ problem. Namely, a way to stop the Astrophages.
It’s not easy to generate a believable bond between man and rock puppet, but Gosling gives his all. Project Hail Mary hangs almost entirely on his shoulders (with a capable assist from Oscar nominee Hüller). Do Lord and Miller have a tendency to yank a little excessively on the heartstrings? Well, I did say E.T. was a big influence.
They (and Weir) are also a bit guilty of sacrificing feasibility for dramatic momentum (Arrival this ain’t). But as long as you’re not bothered by little things like “is near-lightspeed travel possible?” or “would aliens recognize Arabic numerals?”, you’ll have a good time.
And it is a good time. My own family accused me of being a killjoy for not effusively praising Project Hail Mary, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. Gosling is as good as he’s ever been (and listen for a few Nice Guys-esque screams), Hüller is compelling (and ultimately heartbreaking), and Grace’s relationship with Rocky feels truly organic (pun intended). Far be it from me to slam a feel-good movie, especially now.
*I’m partial to WWII Operations “Manna” and “Chowhound,” which air-dropped food to alleviate famine in Nazi-occupied Norway.