Project Hail Mary, the latest film adaptation of celebrated science fiction author Andy Weir, uses the dire backdrop of looming cosmic doom to create the most hopeful pieces of artful filmmaking I’m likely to see all year (or decade).
I was super late to the party of the widely celebrated success that was 2015’s The Martian – Weir’s first film adaptation starring Matt Damon. The film successfully approached nitty-gritty science in an accessible manner to tell the story of a stranded astronaut’s ingenious escape from Mars. I loved the detailed exploration of scientific problem-solving interjected with brilliant humour and tense stakes. After reading Project Hail Mary, I came to see this was a feature of Weir’s great storytelling. As a story, Project Hail Mary is similar but much larger in scope in its setting, science and sentiment. I had a healthy amount of scepticism about whether the film could pull off the same feat as The Martian, and how it would successfully adapt some of its more cosmically fantastical and science-heavy content.
Filmmaking duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller rose to the challenge and far exceeded my expectations. It’s their most ambitious project from a directing, producing and writing standpoint so far. The same could be said for the film’s lead actor, Ryan Gosling, who is also attached as a producer, as the plot demands that he be in 99% of the scenes. It’s a success on all fronts from my perspective – as an adaptation, and a stellar cinema experience in its own right.
The story revolves around a man who awakes completely alone in a spacecraft, hundreds of light-years away from Earth, with no recollection of who he is or what he’s doing. We follow his memories through flashbacks that help him relearn his mission, which he eventually discovers is to help save Earth’s sun from being eaten by an alien bacteria. The film, much like the book, does a great job of exploring this simple plot. It is structured as a story that the audience pieces together through flashbacks at the same time that the protagonist is gradually remembering his past.
Ryan Gosling devours this film – he flexes his leading man action antics, while also dialling in his trademark goofiness as his role of Dr Ryland Grace. It’s somewhere between his iconically absurd role as Ken from 2023’s Barbie and his stuntman role in 2024’s The Fall Guy. There’s really no other actor who could have perfectly enhanced the hopeful tone of the film as he did. His undeniable chemistry plays so well against his scene partners – notably Sandra Hüller’s role of Eva Stratt, the principal leader of the Hail Mary mission. She is stoic and utterly focused on the development and success of this planet-saving mission – the yin to Dr Grace’s puppy-come-to-life yang. Hüller’s performance is magnetic, and she does an amazing job of instilling the dread of the doomsday-level consequences. This grounds the film, which I found really saved the film’s tone – as much as I loved Gosling’s energy, a whole 2 1/2 hour joke-fest would have worn thin.
Stratt is not the film’s only rock, though, as there’s another character who well and truly steals the show. Annoyingly, this aspect is spoiled in some of the marketing; however, I’d highly recommend going into the film somewhat blind, as you’re in for an absolute treat watching this character brought to life. Just know that you’ll witness pure cinematic and technical excellence – James Ortiz provides both the voice and main physical performance of this character, and brought me to tears of joy and sadness during both of my viewings.
The editing and cinematography really propel this film from a fun space romp to sci-fi hall of fame. Lord and Miller’s previous works include the dazzlingly animated Lego Movie and the Spider-Verse films. They bring the pace and spectacle of these modern classics to Project Hail Mary – there’s detail and colour abound despite being a story about space isolation. Lord and Miller would excitedly advertise that no green screens were used in camera in this film during the marketing campaign – and it really shows. There’s none of that awkward ‘trying to act in an environment, but it’s all just green screens and golf balls’, and any CGI used is done so sparingly and with care to detail.
After rewatching this a few times now, I felt as if the first 30 minutes did require a little patience, and maybe could have kept things more tense rather than funny to be fully engaging. However, this could well be impatience due to knowing the sheer quality of the film’s latter half.
To summarise – as cheesy as it sounds, Project Hail Mary really felt like a film I, and maybe many others, really needed right now. It’s an ambitious, thought-provoking, but above all else, heartwarming film about collaboration and sacrifice. Its deceptively simple plot allowed for the acting, visuals and themes to really shine. The biggest compliment I can give this film is that after every viewing, I’ve come out of the theatre with a huge smile on my face.
Author: Elliot, Holborn Store
