‘Project Hail Mary’ is an outer space adventure that rocks
Ryan Gosling stars in a magnificent cosmic buddy movie
“You just begin.” I remember that line at the end of 2015’s “The Martian” really hitting me, part of a speech astronaut Matt Damon gives about facing seemingly unsolvable challenges in life. It seemed like a dark time, and the movie’s optimistic message – that you just get to work, solving one problem after another, until you’ve finally changed things for the better – resonated.
Now it’s 2026, and 2015 seems blindingly bright by comparison. And now we have “Project Hail Mary,” based on another book by Andy Weir, also adapted by screenwriter Drew Goddard, about an astronaut facing seemingly unsolvable challenges.
Only this time, he’s not alone. What’s so enormously entertaining about “Project Hail Mary” is that in addition to being a sci-fi epic adventure, it’s also a hilarious buddy comedy. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (“Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse”) ramp up the laughs several notches above what Ridley Scott did in “The Martian” (which was already pretty funny). The jokes end up complementing both the eye-popping wonder of the visuals and the emotional heartbeat of the story. I haven’t felt this good walking out of a movie theater in a while.
Ryan Gosling plays Ryland Grace, a middle school teacher who wakes up alone, on a spaceship, somewhere in deep space. Understandably, he’s confused. How did he get there, and what is he supposed to do?
Goddard’s deft screenplay works backwards and forwards to show how Grace became the unlikely last hope of a mission to save the planet from a star-eating microorganism that is slowly sucking the life out of the sun. Like a virus, the astrophage (“star-eater”) has spread across the galaxy, threatening every star. Except one, Tau Ceti. Grace is sent by his commander (a wonderfully no-nonsense Sandra Huller) to find out why.
While Grace may be at home in a lab examining the organism, he is way out of his depth in a spaceship, and Gosling effectively plays Grace’s panic and confusion for both laughs and pathos. But he has help. When he gets to Tau Ceti, he finds that an alien species from another threatened star system has sent their own astronaut to try to fix the problem.
You really buy that these two creatures become friends – there’s a scene where one goes back to save the other that reminded me so much not of a sci-fi movie, but of Steve Martin and John Candy at the end of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”
That’s Rocky, the best alien creature to appear onscreen since those elephantine things in “Arrival.” The size of a Saint Bernard, looking like a spider made of rocks, Rocky is a wonderful character, deadpan and earnest. I was stunned to learn that he’s not CGI, but a sophisticated puppet who was on set interacting with Gosling, voiced and manipulated by master puppeteer James Ortiz. That gives Rocky a tactile physical presence, and a palpable chemistry with Gosling, that I don’t think you would get with even the most sophisticated visual effects.
Watching them learn to communicate with each other, and then work together to save the galaxy, is so delightful. You really buy that these two creatures become friends – there’s a scene where one goes back to save the other that reminded me so much not of a sci-fi movie, but of Steve Martin and John Candy at the end of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”
While Grace’s ship has a gritty, utilitarian feel that reminds me of ‘70s sci-fi movies like “Dark Star” or “Alien,” Lord and Miller make outer space look stunningly beautiful and colorful on the big screen, from the pink river of astrophages to the swirling orange-green of the planet that might hold the key for Rocky and Grace. I need to go back and see “Project Hail Mary” again in IMAX.
But this is such a magnificent and hopeful film because all the sci-fi grandeur is in service of a rather simple, affecting story of two buddies figuring out how to help each other. How do we get out of this mess? “Project Hail Mary” suggests that we find somebody, and just begin.
“Project Hail Mary” opens Thursday in theaters. In Madison, it will play at Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, AMC Fitchburg 18 and Flix Brewhouse Madison.
Great review, I really agree about the importance of the puppet to their chemistry. It reminds me of that video of Ian McKellan breaking down in front of a green screen, actors always seem to find it so much easier when they have something physical and tangible to interact with. It adds to the chemistry and probably also just the overall enjoyment in set, which I think shines through in Gosling's performance
I saw PHM with a buddy last night, and you know what? I was underwhelmed. The film is beautiful, and Gosling is excellent. But something about this one didn't work for me. Maybe it was too cute? Or too slow? I loved the aesthetic—it's a beautiful movie. I haven't read the book and had very few expectations going in (the best way to see a film, in my opinion). Maybe this one will sink in over time, or after I've read more reviews. Still, I'm happy that people are excited about this one and that it's getting people into theaters. Thanks for the review, Rob!