‘Project Hail Mary’ is a science fiction film because that’s the only branding that fits its synopsis. But there’s little doubt after immersing yourself in all the feels that this beauty delivers, ‘Project Hail Mary’ is as genuine as a real, honest-to-goodness human tale you’re going to get this year. It has pure heart – and there’s generated about that.
What begins as a survival story, shades of ‘The Martian’ (not surprising, as the 2021 novel on which it’s based comes from the same author, Andy Weir, who receives a co-credit on the script), transitions into a space adventure in which a middle school science teacher is begrudgingly enlisted to try and help save our dying sun. When we first meet Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), he’s waking up from a deep coma aboard a spacecraft, with fuzzy recollection of how he got there. He’s light years from home, he’s alone, and he has no way to contact the planet that has pinned its only hope of survival on his timid, confused shoulders.
Yeesh. No pressure.
Through flashbacks, it’s revealed, piece by piece, how Grace ended up on the mission; a decorated scientist, it was his penchant for unconventional theories that landed him in front of a classroom, essentially dismissed by his trade. When it’s discovered by the government that a mysterious stream of infrared radiation is dimming the sun, with an eventual goal to extinguish the big ball of hot, they band together the world’s top scientists and devise Project Hail Mary, named after the ‘Hail Mary’ pass in football, the sheer definition of athletic desperation. Grace is included in the mix due to what originally got him kicked out of the cool kids club – his unorthodox scientific postulations. The plan is to send three scientists to a distant star named Tau Ceti that, for some strange reason, is resisting the radiation’s particles, then send that information back to Earth via a probe, as the astronauts are not expected to return. Now, how Grace ends up the lone occupant of his vessel is a long story, especially since the film takes yet another turn when, upon arriving at his destination, he encounters another visitor to Tau Ceti.
Named Rocky due to his boulder-like features, the alien lifeform that Grace befriends (“He’s kinda growing on me,” admits Grace, “..at least, not growing IN me, and that was a concern for a little while.”) and almost immediately starts working with (turns out Rocky’s solar system is in danger as well, thus his visit to the region) provides the profound rub of ‘Project Hail Mary’; to pull off something heroic, especially for someone drenched in shame and self-doubt, it takes a purpose, a reason to do so. Generally, such motivation can only come from the deepest of relationships, someone you’d die for. Before, Grace didn’t have that. But after he bonds with Rocky, well……I think you can see where this is going.
‘Project Hail Mary’ looks great…it’s as big as impressive as this kind of work gets….and it feels even better. Don’t miss this one.