[10]
I strongly suspect directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) may have a few more Oscars headed their way after seeing their adaptation of Andy Weir’s best-selling novel Project Hail Mary. Lord and Miller cast the immensely likable Ryan Gosling (The Fall Guy, Drive) as Ryland Grace, a highly-credentialed science teacher recruited by a consortium of the world’s governments to help find a solution to a dire but somewhat secret existential threat: the death of Earth’s sun and the collapse of humanity’s food chain within 30 years. The solution requires Grace to take a one-way trip to the other side of the universe to investigate the only viable solution and send his findings back via satellite. But when Grace wakes from an induced coma after his 11-year journey, he learns the rest of the crew didn’t survive the journey — and he has no memory of where he is, or even who he is.
As his memory slowly comes back to him, Grace makes contact with an intelligent alien he nicknames ‘Rocky’ (puppeteered and voiced by James Ortiz). Rocky is a faceless pile of rocks, but he’s full of personality. Like Grace, he was sent by his people to investigate the only star in the universe seemingly unaffected by the star-killing phenomenon threatening Earth’s sun. And he’s also the only member of his crew to survive the trip. Grace and Rocky learn to communicate with each other and begin working together to save both their species. Their burgeoning friendship is what the whole movie is really about. Like E.T. before it, Project Hail Mary centers around a deep connection between a human and an alien — the kind that involves trust, compassion, and sacrifice. And like E.T., Project Hail Mary is bound to reduce many in the audience to tears on more than one occasion — tears of both sadness and joy.
Project Hail Mary goes back and forth in time, giving us Grace’s backstory in flashbacks as he begins to recall bits and pieces of his memory. These flashbacks color and deepen the meaning of the main, present-day storyline with Rocky immensely. Lord and Miller sprinkle the film with a number of visually stunning moments, but they wisely keep Grace and Rocky at center-focus the whole time. Perhaps their greatest contribution to the film is their sense of humor. As heavy as this story might sound, Lord and Miller find an always-tasteful way to cut the seriousness with much needed levity. The funniest portion of the movie is when Rocky becomes comfortable enough with Grace to ‘move in’ with him, offering the film shades of The Odd Couple.
Ryan Gosling is a major awards contender for this performance. For so many decades, the movies gave us lopsided portraits of masculinity in the form of muscly, intimidating Stallone or Schwarzennegger. But Gosling is the complete package, a much more accurate portrait of contemporary masculinity — he’s fallible and heroic, charming and neurotic. If humanity were to send a human to make first contact with an alien species, let it be him. I think he represents us better than anyone else I can think of.
Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest) gives a strong, stoic performance as the leader of the world governments charged with assembling the team that goes into space. She breaks character just one, remarkable time, when she sings Harry Styles’ ‘Sign of the Times’ during the a farewell party for the crew. For the rest of the film, she carries the weight of the plot’s high, dramatic stakes on her shoulders.
Project Hail Mary is a near-perfect masterpiece. My only very minor criticism is that a few of the flashback scenes felt a bit long and unnecessary, especially considering the film’s two-and-a-half hour run time. But it didn’t stop this film from hitting me like a ton of bricks. I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much at a movie, and if you know me well, you know I love those rare films that examine human (or even alien) connection. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that Grace and Rocky are all alone in the darkness of space. Their situations are dire. All they have is each other. It’s about two characters desperate to make that connection with another living being. It’s not a casual relationship. It’s not a ‘cute’ relationship. It’s a life-saving relationship. Watching their friendship grow is absolutely delightful. Seeing it threatened is devastating. The plot’s stakes may be as high as ever, with the sun dying and humanity’s extinction in its wake, but dear God, don’t let Grace lose Rocky, and don’t let Rocky lose Grace. In the bond between such friends, worlds and universes can be saved.
With Lionel Boyce, adapted screenplay by Drew Goddard (The Martian, Bad Times at the El Royale), and a scintillating score by Daniel Pemberton.