Warning: Small Spoilers Ahead

By Tee Haskell

Project Hail Mary, the new film based on the book by Andy Weir, follows the story of a middle school science teacher named Ryland Grace, played by Ryan Gosling, as he embarks on a space odyssey to find a way to stop the sun from dying.

The movie starts with Grace waking up on a ship in the middle of space, with no idea who he is or how he got there. As he starts to become more lucid, he finds the bodies of two other crewmates. After coping with the fact that he is alone, with the help of three bags of vodka that one late crewmate brought, Grace starts to try to figure out who he is and why he was sent to save the world. As Grace starts to remember why he was sent, the audience is sent into flashbacks, where we see what is causing the death of the sun and why a middle school science teacher is being called upon to save the world.

Grace studying astrophage with Rocky.

As it turns out, a bacterium called astrophage is dimming the sun itself and is beginning to plunge the world into another ice age. The reason he was sent to deep space is that a group of scientists, led by a woman named Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller) has found a solar system with astrophage, yet their sun isn’t dimming.

During his journey, Grace meets a large rock-spider-looking alien, played by James Ortiz, whom he affectionately names Rocky. Rocky was sent by his own planet to figure out the same solution to the astrophage problem, because his sun is dying as well.

When I got the opportunity to watch this movie, I was extremely excited. Not only had I thoroughly enjoyed both the book and the film adaptation of Weir’s The Martian, but the fact that Christopher Miller and Phil Lord were directing the movie led me to believe that the movie would be a hit before I even stepped into the theater. Lord and Miller are best known for their comedy filmography, which includes the 21 Jump Street movies, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, The LEGO Movie, and the production of both Spider-Verse movies. Even though Project Hail Mary is far from the type of movie that Lord and Miller normally produce, their style of comedy is very clearly felt throughout the film. Many scenes could be taken from Project Hail Mary and put into The LEGO Movie or the Spider-Verse movies, and I don’t think the audience would bat an eye.

Grace on a spacewalk, looking at a alien planet.

One of the things that the movie excelled at was the cinematography, led by Greig Fraser. Every scene looked incredible and yet entirely realistic, partly because many of the shots were done practically, without using CGI. They also didn’t use any green screens. Instead, they built multiple large sets, which included the ability to rotate to simulate a change in gravity.

The movie is well-paced, given its 156-minute run-time, and I only felt the movie drag in parts where the book dragged as well. The movie remains extremely faithful to the book, and the parts of the book that Lord and Miller chose to take out felt like necessary omissions to help the movie run more smoothly. There was originally a three-hour and 45-minute cut of the movie, which included complex science explanations that appear in the book.

Gosling is at the top of his game throughout. His quick wit and charm feel extra impressive, because for a majority of the movie, he is not acting with another person. Every bit of his performance convinces me that he is a middle school teacher, right down to the shirts with science jokes that he wears.

Ortiz’s performance as Rocky provides the most lovable alien in a movie since E.T. His physical comedy while puppeteering Rocky allows for some quick laughs for the audience, along with the simple language that he figures out with Grace. You would think that a character ending a sentence with either the word “statement” or “question” would get old quickly, but it continues its charm all the way until the end. His one-liners of “amaze, amaze, amaze” and “fist my bump” while talking with Grace allow the movie to feel lighthearted, even during the most serious of scenes.

Reviews of the movie have been overwhelmingly positive, receiving a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 96% audience score as well. Johnny Oleksinski from The New York Post gave Project Hail Mary a 4/4 grade and said, “I didn’t really mind the ridiculousness, though. The film is so much fun. It tugs at the heartstrings often, and Rocky is so brilliantly animated to the point of complete believability. Gosling is great.”

Grace looks out a window on his ship.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and I think it accomplished everything that it set out to do. It feels like a return to a popcorn movie, whereas many movies now seem to be designed to receive awards. Project Hail Mary provides an optimistic message that allows even the most cynical of people to feel a restored hope in human compassion. I emphatically recommend everyone see this movie in theaters, because part of the experience may be lost on a smaller screen. I give this movie 9.5/10 stars, and I am excited to see what Lord and Miller cook up next.

All photos courtesy of Amazon MGM via IMDB.