‘Project Hail Mary’ Review: A Faithful Friend Loves To The End

With Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s fifth film, an adaptation of Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary, hitting theaters, there’s been a buzz in town regarding the new Gosling-led project, and dare I say that the actor has finally returned to starring in great films?

Project Hail Mary follows Ryland Grace (Gosling), a science teacher who suddenly wakes up one day only to find himself stranded in a spaceship with two other astronauts, both dead. As he begins to learn what had happened for him to end up on that spaceship, he goes through a space voyage trying to return to his homeland, Earth. Sandra Hüller stars as Eva Stratt, a former Space Agency administrator and a ruthless leader, who sends Grace towards this space voyage to help save humanity from an inevitable crippling ice age that Earth is set to face in thirty years.

While the film is definitely humorous, comedy can be considered a major element of the motion picture, it still maintains that specific dread of being lost in space. I found that the first thirty to fifty minutes were quite bland in a textbook definition of the term, not really unique as I hoped it would be considering the fact that it just follows the generic “man who is lost in space trying to get back home” type of scenario every sci-fi popcorn flick follows, but whilst my expectations dampened, Project Hail Mary proved me wrong, because after the first act it begins to kick ass in a “We come to this place for magic” kind of way.

Enter Rocky: This is where I think the film really peaks and starts showing its true colors, said space voyage I had been mentioning reaches an all-time high, which carries from here till the end. With the introduction of the boulder-looking alien, Rocky (James Ortiz), who befriends Grace and with both of them having to sacrifice for each other and having to look out for one another in this one long journey, this is genuinely the pinnacle of the “power of friendship” kind of dynamic but at the same time does not feel like its forced nor is it compromising. I mean, nothing fits their dynamic more than a specific The Beatles needledrop in the film that had me grinning from cheek to cheek.

As for Project Hail Mary on a technical level though? Then you are seated for an absolute delight. Lord and Miller bring out their all in this one, yes, the same two dudes who directed 21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street and The Lego Movie. As well as Greig Fraser, who did an insane job here. Fraser’s cinematography is not only unique, but he will ensure that the audience will have to feel like they’re delving into space with Grace and Rocky, all whilst maintaining a very specific, colorful aesthetic in the film without resorting to grey-looking desolate palettes like some other sci-fi films do. Personally, I really adored his use of the revolving cameras a lot to make you feel as if you were stranded in a spaceship with the main characters. Daniel Pemberton is also bringing back his A-Game here; even if his score here in Project Hail Mary is far from his Spider-Verse scores, it adds to the vibe and the tone of this sci-fi film very well. 

I did feel like that there were issues with the pacing and the total length of the film in general though. Even as an enjoyer of very long films myself, I don’t think it’s really necessary to have a first act as dull as the one in this film, and there’s also an ongoing issue towards the end, with the film giving you the feeling that it’s about to end around four to five times, all whilst still going and going. I haven’t read the book that the film is based on, by The Martian author Andy Weir, so I’m not sure if this is an issue with the source material itself, or the screenplay, or even Pemberton’s score, just giving you the feeling that the film is about to end, around five times, in the last thirty minutes or so.

Regardless though, Project Hail Mary was amazing and is definitely a new page in the “American Loser” protagonist saga, and even though this may be unrelated, Gosling’s more sincere roles may not be as great as his older roles, per him saying he’s straight away from darker roles, it’s still great seeing him in something that fully utilizes him here, did remind me of his role as Holland March in The Nice Guys sometimes and of course there’s the inevitable comparison to him also previously starring in First Man, which happens to also follow a lone astronaut.

It’s pretty early to predict if this will make it into next year’s awards race or not, especially Best Picture and Best Actor, but I do see it, at the very least, landing technical noms, it would be absurd if this didn’t land a Best Visual Effects nomination. Nonetheless, Project Hail Mary is playing in theaters worldwide, so if you’ve got the chance to watch it, then do so!

Project Hail Mary was directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and it stars Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller and James Ortiz. 

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