MOVIE REVIEW: Project Hail Mary
Photos by Jonathan Olley for Amazon/MGM Studios.
PROJECT HAIL MARY— 5 STARS
LESSON #1: EVERYONE LOVES A LONGSHOT— You don’t have to be a sports fan to love longshot wins, but it helps. Good golly, do my fellow football fans in Chicago know this firsthand, and in both miraculous directions of victory and heartbreak. As demonstrated by his smash-hit 2011 novel The Martian, award-winning science fiction author Andy Weir loves them too, and the matching 2015 film adaptation successfully helped inspire us to root for longshots. Taking that adoration further, Weir could not have outdone himself more than with his 2021 novel Project Hail Mary, and, sure enough, its movie version follows suit to energize and enliven our escapism-loving hearts.
In the not-too-distant future, NASA and other international scientists have noticed a reduction of brightness of our solar system’s sun. The culprit appears to be unknown alien microbes that have emerged and multiplied across an infrared line between the sun and Venus. If left unchecked at its current pace, the dimming will lead to a ruinous shift to an icier climate, collapsing civilization into a confrontation for resources that will undoubtedly claim massive casualties. Deep space scans show a host of nearby stars are suffering the same cosmic malady, except for one: Tau Ceti, a star similar to our own under 12 light-years away.
That intriguing observation in Project Hail Mary is enough for NASA to plan a manned one-way spacecraft mission to investigate Tau Ceti in hopes of finding answers or countermeasures that can help Earth’s cause. It is on that very mission that we meet Ryan Gosling’s Rylan Grace. The film opens with him waking from long-term hibernation, disoriented with a case of amnesia, and discovering his other two crewmates deceased in their statis pods. When Rylan gets his bearings to discover the date and how far away he is from home, panic sets in as he slowly recalls the objectives of the Hail Mary mission.
Like Weir’s novel, Project Hail Mary proceeds with patience to take turns with its running time to go from Rylan’s present solo situation back to his earthbound past as a middle school science teacher and former molecular biologist recruited by NASA admin Eva Stratt (Anatomy of a Fall Oscar nominee Sandra Hüller) to make sense of what is happening with the single-celled organisms that have been dubbed “astrophage.” Geeking out in all the best ways, both narrative paths bring forth heaps of the duly researched scientific theories and hands-on lab work scenes that Weir takes pride in within his writing. While the terminology and hypotheses are laid on nice and thick to ooze intelligence for audiences to glean, Project Hail Mary never talks down to its audience. The simplifying translators for it all become Drew Goddard’s slick script and Gosling’s goofy MacGyver-meets-Bill Nye-meets-Chuck Noland flying man in the can. Like his gobsmacked students, we’re doe-eyed in the matinee idol’s presence and utterly impressed with his total command of this daring film.
LESSON #2: THE INHERENT SUSPENSE OF A “HAIL MARY”— Project Hail Mary is aptly titled, as the fate of the human race rests on a gridiron-eque wing and a prayer. Even with the engrossing character development flashbacks cutting into the stoic present conundrums, the feeling of a ticking clock deadline pulses through the film’s rising action. The edge-of-your-seat draw for those feelings is unshakeable, much like the in-the-moment, last-possible-second drama of the “Hail Mary” football play itself. Look at the participants to examine that suspense further. What kind of person takes those dreaded odds? Who believes enough to try in the face of likely defeat? Weighing such outcomes creates the ultimate “what would you do” measure-of-a-man hook for viewers that co-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller lasso better than George Bailey promising his future wife, Mary, the Moon in It’s a Wonderful Life.
Speaking of that filmmaking duo, Project Hail Mary is Lord and Miller’s first foray into live-action directing in 12 years (since 22 Jump Street), and a welcome return at that. Thanks to their popular success in the animated landscape through The Lego Movie and Spider-Verse franchises, the two bring a razzle-dazzle of IMAX-sized production values that bathe viewers in sensory delights grander than many of their peers. Four-time Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Paul Lambert (Blade Runner: 2049, First Man) and Mags Sarnowska dextrously merged practical and digital effects for otherworldly elements occupying the same spaces as tactile set and props. Fellow Dune series Oscar winner, cinematographer Grieg Fraser, curves our necks to points of focus that constantly widen our eyes. Tying it all together is a rousing electronic-infused score from Daniel Pemberton (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) that will dilate the blood vessels.
LESSON #3: THE CHARACTER TRAIT OF BRAVERY— Against those aforementioned risks, the manifestation of bravery becomes vital and celebrated in Project Hail Mary. Not unlike the traits of Bilbo Baggins in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Rylan Grace claims he doesn’t have the “bravery gene” of the other heroic astronauts and scientists. He would rather go or stay home and doesn’t think he can pull this off, until the film presents reinforcements, so to speak, in the form of another spacecraft from a nearby planet visiting Tau Ceti for the same scientific answers. This twist, unfortunately telegraphed by the trailers, introduces a dynamic new character (created by the famed creature and puppetry shop of Star Wars sequel vet Neal Scanlan) who breaks the solitude and shares the survivalist's plight. This unlikely union multiples the necessary valor and powerful core of resilience.
LESSON #4: FALL IN LOVE WITH SCIENCE FICTION—Since the critical adventure of Project Hail Mary is urgently focused on answering lofty and meaningful questions, let’s ask one of our own. What does it take to fall in love with a genre of movies? Every burgeoning cinephile, past or present, encountered a lightning rod catalyst of a film that electrified them in a way to establish a beloved favorite. Glowing with a galaxy-sized heart and the highest praise possible, Project Hail Mary is the kind of instant classic offering an undeniable sense of spirit and satisfying entertainment that will make someone fall in love with science fiction. If they already championed the pleasures of sci-fi, Lord and Miller’s film will add more confirmation to that well-placed fondness. Welcome to what might very well be someone’s new favorite movie that starts them on a path to discover and devour more in that category.
LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#1378)
