Review: 'Project Hail Mary' is science-fiction done right, with tactile effects and the boundless charms of Ryan Gosling as a reluctant spaceman
For a movie set in the future and on a ship in outer space, there’s something gloriously retro in the craftsmanship of “Project Hail Mary" — from the movie-star charm of Ryan Gosling in the leading role to the tactical creation of his not-human traveling companion — that makes it sort of magical.
When we meet Gosling’s character, Ryland Grace, he’s waking up to the mental fog of cryogenic suspension. It takes him some time to remember who he is, why he’s on a spaceship, and where he’s headed to. He also figures out, quickly, that the two astronauts who were supposed to run the ship died while in deep sleep.
The script by Drew Goddard, once again adapting a novel by Andy Weir (they had the same job titles in “The Martian”), toggles from Ryland’s solitary situation to some time shortly before that, back on Earth. Ryland was a high school science teacher, but he used to be something else: A scientist whose theories of life outside of Earth got him expelled from the scientific community. Now, a stern German scientist, Eva Stratt (played by Sandra Hüller, from “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Influence”), needs his outside-the-mainstream take on things — because the sun is dying, and Earth’s best minds have about 30 years to figure out why.
Weir’s scientific explanations here, as in “The Martian,” sound super-intelligent and confidently correct, no matter how outlandish they might be. Eva tells Ryland that there’s a plan, to send Earth scientists to a distant star, which is the only one that isn’t getting consumed by whatever’s dimming the sun. Figure out why that star isn’t fading, send the information by probe back to Earth, and pray a fix can be done in time. That’s the “Hail Mary” of the title.
What Ryland, alone in space, soon discovers when he gets to the star is that he’s not alone out there. Another space traveler, a creature who looks like he was made from rocks, has come to this star for the same reason Ryland is there — to see what this star has that his home star doesn’t.
The meat of “Project Hail Mary" is the interaction between Gosling’s Ryland and this rock creature, which he names “Rocky” — and is voiced and manipulated by puppeteer James Ortiz. The two have to learn how to translate each other’s language, work together in ships of different atmospheres, and unlock the mystery of the star that represents both home worlds’ best chance to survive.
Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have a weird movie pedigree, having directed “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” “The Lego Movie” and the “21 Jump Street” action comedies — as well as producing the “Spider-Verse” movies. They masterfully dispense information, as the narrative shifts from Ryland and Rocky in space to Ryland and Eva back on Earth, so we learn what we learn at the moment we need to know it. They also create a future that feels real, in large part because it’s shown more with physical effects than computer animation.
There is one spectacular special effect deployed in “Project Hail Mary,” and that’s the charisma and easygoing humor of Ryan Gosling in the lead role. There are parts of the movie where, like Robert Redford in “All Is Lost” or Matt Damon in “The Martian,” Gosling has to carry the load by himself. The fact that he does so effortlessly is an indication of what an old-school movie star can do.
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‘Project Hail Mary'
★★★1/2
Opens Friday, March 20, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG-13 for some thematic material and suggestive references. Running time: 156 minutes.