Three-time Academy Award nominee collaborates with directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller on “Project Hail Mary” from Amazon MGM Studios. Drew Goddard writes the film’s screenplay, which is an adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel of the same name.
Science teacher Ryland Grace (played by Ryan Gosling) wakes up aboard a spacecraft light-years from Earth with no memory of who he is or how he got there. As fragments of his memory slowly return, Grace begins to piece together the truth behind his mission. Humanity is facing extinction as a mysterious substance starts draining the sun’s energy, threatening all life on Earth.
What begins as a puzzle of identity quickly turns into a race against time. Armed with little more than his scientific training and a willingness to explore unconventional ideas, Grace must solve the cosmic mystery before it’s too late.Along the way, he forms an unexpected bond with an alien lifeform he names Rocky (voiced by James Oritz), suggesting he may not be as alone in the universe as he initially believed.
The film opens near the end of Grace’s journey to a distant star system, thought to hold answers to the solar crisis. Of the crew sent on this desperate mission, Grace is the only one to survive the years-long induced coma required for interstellar travel. Awakened aboard the ship surrounded by the bodies of his crewmates, he is forced to confront a terrifying reality: he is alone, unprepared, and responsible for the fate of an entire planet.
Directors Lord and Miller, along with Drew Goddard, embrace the uneasy blend of dread and humor that defines the film’s early sequences. In another wonderful performance, Gosling captivates the audience with his “fish out of water” motif as a teacher with little experience operating a spacecraft.
Ryland spends his first moments clumsily navigating the ship, his muscles weakened and atrophied. Gosling plays this sequence with a touch of physical comedy that offsets the film’s otherwise bleak premise, providing the audience with a moment of levity before the larger stakes come into play.
I don’t want to delve too deeply into the details of “Project Hail Mary” as I want viewers to approach it as fresh as possible. While there are flashbacks to Ryland’s life before the mission, where he interacts with other humans, the film primarily focuses on Gosling, who occupies the screen alone for most of its duration.
What makes the film work is Gosling’s everyman persona; we are genuinely rooting for the character. The script includes enough jokes that feel natural, and while the film is a bit long, I was never bored. I didn’t read the book, but my son, who attended the screening with me, did and said that it’s a near-perfect adaptation.
See this one on the biggest screen possible, as it reminds us why we go to the movies.
Final Grade: A
“Project Hail Mary” has sneak previews at select theaters starting today through Monday, March 16, before opening wide on Thursday, March 19.
