I meant to read Andy Weir’s novel Project Hail Mary before the release of the film adaptation, but I wrongly assumed that this summer blockbuster would be coming out in the actual summer and I ran out of time. I also forgot that in movie world, “summer” has been creeping backward to “early spring” for a few years now. Another factor delaying my consumption of the book was that the trailer itself seemed to spoil a big plot development, which put a damper on it for me. I now refuse to watch trailers. That said, it turns out that the film doesn’t withhold the information that was revealed the trailer for very long, and it proved not to be much of a spoiler as a result. Also, it’s impossible to write about this movie without discussing the spoiler-that-wasn’t, so be forewarned: this review will be spoiler-free, but will abide by the definition of spoiler as determined by the trailer. Make sense? Okay.
In hindsight, I wish I did manage to read the book, because it may have better shaped my expectations for this very good, but ultimately disappointing film. You see, based on Weir’s previous novel, and Ridley Scott’s excellent adaptation (The Martian), I went into Project Hail Mary expecting a science-forward procedural thriller with light comic elements. What I received was a buddy comedy in space, where the prevention of an apocalyptic event plays as an afterthought to “Ryan Gosling and a sentient space rock become best budz.” Don’t get me wrong “ Ryan Gosling and a sentient space rock become best budz” is undoubtedly a recipe for success, it’s just so far from what I expected, even with the reveal of Rocky the Sentient Space Rock being shown explicitly in the trailer.
The film opens in the “present” day, where astronaut Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) awakes from a long slumber aboard the Hail Mary, a ship sent into deep space to investigate a mysterious substance that appears to be slowly killing the sun.
Hail Mary, full of Grace. Get it???? Do you get it?!?!? ::boops nose::
The other astronauts aboard the ship have perished during the long journey, and now it’s up to Grace to save humanity. Lucky for him, there’s another ship from another civilization probing the same area for answers as well. Aboard this ship is another lonely traveler who, unlike Grace, is made of rocks. In a sort of super-abridged retelling of Arrival, Grace and Rocky learn how to communicate, and they soon join forces to gather the data that both their planets need to survive.
This portion of the narrative is broken up by flashbacks to the months leading up to the start of Grace’s mission, and it’s in these portions that the film would sporadically lose me. Fist and foremost, the humans on earth are criminally underwritten, and the performers who play them (the legendary Sandra Hüller in her American film debut) are thusly underused. It’s a waste of time and talent, and it calls into question the soundness of the film’s structure. I would guess that it apes the source novel and will have to conform when I eventually do read it, but even so, the general rule for flashbacks in film, especially when used as a repeated motif, is that they should connect thematically to the present day framing, which is not the case here (I was told by a friend who read the book that it plays more as Grace’s memory coming back to him in bursts — the film does not make this clear). As such, this framing device seems to exist only to preserve an act three surprise. The question then becomes whether the payoff of this surprise is worth hobbling the pacing of a nearly three hour film. I would suggest that it is not.
Even with the uneven pacing and the fact that the APOCALYPTIC EVENT feels like a non-entity (and suspenseful scenes aren’t all that suspenseful as a result), it’s hard not to get wrapped up in a film so visually arresting. Outer space adventures have simply never looked this good. Even though the film doesn’t come close to scratching the intellectual itch of The Martian, the sheer spectacle left my jaw consistently on the floor. It’s shocking to hear that directors Lord & Miller and their team created it much of it in-camera. Add to that an epic score from Daniel Pemberton an a handful of clever needle drops, and you’ve got a film that will absolutely blow the viewer away with surface-level charms.
The rapport that builds between Grace and Rocky is a strong selling point as well. The movie I wished this were would have spent more time developing their communication, but the movie this turned out to be glosses over it pretty quickly so we can get to the buddy elements, to which Gosling, as proven by The Nice Guys, is perfectly suited. He’s channeling Harrison Ford a bit here, mixing ingenuity, smarts, and clumsiness in equally charming measure. He even gets to do a fair amount of slapstick. I don’t think any other actor on the planet (or off) could have pulled this off quite as successfully.
On round two, which I guarantee will happen, I hope to meet this technically marvelous film on its own terms to see if the issues I had with its structure, pacing, and story fade a bit. I suspect that they will to some degree, but I stand by my assessment for the most part. I hate to judge a movie for not being a totally different movie, but it’s my job as a critic to relate my experience to you as it occurred. I will end my review by saying that Project Hail Mary is a good movie that disappointed me.
You should see it on the biggest screen you can manage.
Directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Written by Drew Goddard, based on the novel by Andy Weir
Starring Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, Milana Vayntrub, Ken Leung
Rated PG-13, 156 minutes
