“Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
This prayer, abbreviated as a Hail Mary, refers to desperate, last-ditch efforts that have little chance of succeeding. Project Hail Mary is aptly named this way, describing the last ditch effort made by the worlds brightest minds to save humanity, using the interstellar ship, the Hail Mary. Ironically, it’s captain is named Ryland Grace, so one could say Hail Mary really is full of grace. In that way, the film Project Hail Mary, is no different. It has an emotional core that is tackled with a delightfully unexpected grace from directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
Notable work from the pair includes: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street, so there was therefore no question of their ability to garner box office sales. As well as that, comedy is clearly their signature, they are more than capable of getting an audience to feel the joy they bring to filmmaking, but tackling a bestselling sci-fi novel, especially one as beloved and well known as Project Hail Mary, could still prove exceedingly difficult.
As an adaptation, it is incredibly faithful, and also achieves the formidable task asked of any book to film adaptation, fitting an over four-hundred page novel into a two and a half hour epic. The runtime is no doubt felt by the audience, but it’s ending moments make the wait remarkably worth it. It’s also witty and charming, no doubt a result of Ryan Gosling’s accomplished star power. It mirrors the novel, boasting a sparkling and clever exterior, that harbours deeper themes that align with the greats of 21st century science fiction. For a lot of it’s audience, both old and young, this will be enough. Much like it’s inevitably comparable predecessor Interstellar, and family-oriented films like Wall-e, Project Hail Mary’s space setting frames the problem of climate change and global unity in a way that avoids the usual preachy demeanor of many similar endeavours.
Consequently, audiences take out of it what they want to. It can equally be a leisurely yet self-aware comedy, a movie about companionship, a warning on the climate crisis and/or a sick sci-fi flick for the sake of going to the movies. Following suit of its middle-school teacher protagonist, it’s tangible and accessible to it’s audience, despite quite literally being rocket science. This alone, qualifies it as an instant classic, using an overwhelming optimism to bring people together.
There are spoilers for the film in this portion of the review.
The Hail Mary prayer asks for forgiveness, in despite of our sins, and this forgiveness is given through some otherworldly prescence or another, unto Ryland. The reveal of his reluctance to sacrifice himself for the good of humanity in the closing minutes of the film, is a moving and nuanced potrayal of the actions we find ourselves taking so often in our own lives. Monologuing to a dying Rocky, he has a oddly roundabout and beautiful way of describing his own life, feeling lost and unsure how to move forward, but left with no option but to keep trudging on.
Gosling carries a lot more emotional weight here than he is given credit for, and his character is eventually given that chance to start over again despite his past failings. That’s really all that any of us can hope for ourselves in this lifetime. It almost falls into a science-fiction staple, taking a relentlessly optimistic approach to the idea of a global union against climate crisis. At the last second, it escapes it, and delivers this deeply personal and emotional gut punch, telling you to finally wake up to your own potential. Quite literally, Ryland wears a shirt that says ‘I had potential’, and of course it gets a laugh from the room, it’s relatable (and doubly a good science dad joke).
Of course these elements specifically are owed to the great writing of Andy Weir, but nothing can beat the feeling of seeing it play out in front of you. With one of the best cinematographers in the business right now Greig Fraser (The Batman, Dune) steering the ship, Project Hail Mary is nothing if not the peak of cinemas visual capabilities. There is something so deeply moving in that first helmet shot focused on Gosling looking out to space that you don’t get in any other genre. Really it’s the same shot in every film in space since 2001, but it’s never going to be anything less than pure magic.
Project Hail Mary will probably be considered a popcorn flick in it’s ability to get people in seats with the promise of a sharp sci-fi comedy. To suggest that it can’t reach beyond that, would be a disservice to the almost supernatural power of a good time at the movies.