Project Hail Mary - Movie Review

The Movie: Project Hail Mary

The Director: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

The Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub, Priya Kansara

The Story: Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up alone on a spaceship, light-years from Earth. As his memory returns, he uncovers a mission to stop a mysterious substance killing the sun, and save Earth. An unexpected friendship may be the key.

The Rating: 9 / 10

The Review:

Thank you for taking the time to read this review, I hope you enjoy it and I hope my thoughts help you decide whether or not or when to see the movie and on/in what format.

I'll just say right off the bat that I really enjoyed this movie. Like, a lot. If you didn't know, it's based off of a book written by Andy Weir who also wrote The Martian, another fantastic science fiction based book and movie. Drew Goddard, whose resume includes writing and/or directing credits on The Cabin the Woods, Cloverfield, Lost, and Daredevil, also adapted the screenplay for both movies so this project was definitely in good hands.

If you're also a fan of The Martian, the tone and style of the movie will feel very familiar and the setup has some similarities with a single person out in space having to survive impossible odds to get back home. That being said, Project Hail Mary absolutely stands on its own and is very interesting and unique in its own ways, of course a lot of which I can't talk about here because of spoilers and all that. It's funny, as the story progressed, I was waiting for Ryan Gosling's character to say he was going to "science the shit out of this" which is an iconic line from Matt Damon in the Martian but, as cool as it might have been, they never went down that route which I was totally okay with.

Speaking of Gosling, who just happens to be one of my favorite actors, he puts on an amazing performance from beginning to end and he just does a really great job with the character. The story bounces back and forth between two points in time, which normally I'm not a fan of as a storytelling technique, although it works really well here so it didn't bother me at all. It's actually quite necessary to how a lot of plot points are revealed so shout out to both Weir and Goddard for taking something I don't normally like and turning it into a positive aspect of the movie's experience.

I think it's also pretty safe to say that this movie will be up for whatever special effects awards are available at the end of the year, even with other movies like Dune, Avengers, Star Wars, and Godzilla all hitting theaters as well. This isn't spectacle just for the sake of spectacle, every moment and every pixel in the movie means something as it's all rendered into some truly stunning imagery. From eye popping showcases of space and stuff in space to the intricate details of both the inner workings of a spacechip and bringing to life an alien co-star for Gosling to interact with. I really can't say enough about how beautiful this movie is and how it absolutely needs to be seen in a movie theater in whatever deluxe format you have available to you.

One of the things I learned while reading about the movie is how much of the effects were created practicaly rather than digitally, with most of that being interior shots of the spaceships where we see Gosling interacting with all kinds of cool stuff. This gives the movie a much more grounded and tactile feel to it which I didn't even realize I was experiencing while watching but it does make sense. We live in a world that is becoming more and more artificial so any time we can experience something real, especially within our forms of entertainment, I'm definitely down with all of it.

Of course, this isn't just a visual spectacle, there's a really great story as well. One of the things I was a little worried about going in is the run time that stretches a little over two and a half hours but the filmmakers did a great job of making every moment count. I always love when there's a very human element to a science fiction story, if you've ever seen Contact then you get the idea, and this story hits you from multiple angles and multiple characters. Even in a movie that mainly focuses on the primary character, supporting cast members like Sandra Hüller, Lionel Boyce, and others still get their chance to shine.

It's probably safe to say that this will end up on my year end favorites list and many other people's as well. I just hope it doesn't get lost in the shuffle of all the big, blockbuster franchise films coming out this year. Please go see this movie in a theater to support cinemas and also to support original story telling. The press screening I went to wasn't in any premium format but I can tell you that it would absolutely be worth whatever upgrade you want to take advantage of. Either way, just go see it.