Project Hail Mary review: this Ryan Gosling sci-fi charmer is heavenly

Stars might not be necessary for celestial bodies to sustain life, new research suggests. In a revelation that’s far older, big-name leads aren’t essential for films to thrive, either. Still, Project Hail Mary adheres to the traditional thinking on both – and the movie and its main man each dazzle.

Adapting Andy Weir’s 2021 novel of the same name, and helmed by 22 Jump Street’s Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the film charts a Sunshine-esque quest to save Earth from a dying sun. It also enlists Ryan Gosling to follow up his charming comedic turns in Barbie and The Fall Guy, alongside his Saturday Night Live appearances, this time playing a molecular biologist-turned-primary school teacher-turned-reluctant astronaut who is sent into the heavens as humanity’s last hope.

As was also the case in 2015 when Weir’s The Martian reached picture theatres, cinema gains a stellar page-to-screen gem, another great in the lonely spaceman canon, and an ode to competence, camaraderie, intelligence and empathy that’s as warmhearted and earnest as it is thrilling and moving.

Save the blue planet

Gosling’s Ryland Grace awakens in a daze at the start of Project Hail Mary, uncertain of where he is and why. The first answer: onboard a spaceship light years from Earth, hurtling towards a different source of illumination. The second: because black dots called astrophage are eating the hot plasma that gives our planet light and life, and if they can’t be thwarted, will cause humanity’s population to decrease by a quarter at best within 30 years.

Grace’s memory loss is a side effect of being jolted back into consciousness mid-cosmic voyage, following the deep sleep that’s a cinematic necessity for venturing so far into the cosmos. That he’s alone, his two fellow travellers perishing en route, falls into the same category.

Via flashbacks to terra firma that are as engaging as the picture’s jaunt through the space, the movie traces his route to such a monumental job.

When pragmatic project lead Eva Stratt (Anatomy of a Fall Oscar-nominee Sandra Hüller) approaches Grace, he’s happy educating primary schoolers, after falling afoul of his scientific colleagues due to his theory that water isn’t necessary for existence on other planets.

As Grace is then thrust into the thick of Earth’s survival mission – asked, but with ‘no’ never an acceptable answer under the watch of both Stratt and security guard Carl (Lionel Boyce, The Bear) – he’s incredulous that they want his help.

A spectacular star vehicle

From Project Hail Mary’s opening moments, as the bearded and bewildered Grace begins to piece together his situation, this is Gosling’s film; shared initials with his character aren’t the only reason that he’s perfect for the role.

Spectacular star vehicles enhance and expand. They draw upon an actor’s established talents and send them soaring into fresh terrain, unlocking new nuances and highlights along the way. This is one of them.

Gosling has already portrayed a teacher thanks to Half Nelson, which earned him the first of his three Academy Award nominations so far. Courtesy of First Man, he’s played an astronaut before, too. In several of his SNL stints, he’s also interacted with otherworldly creatures.

Awe when facing unexpected settings was imperative in Barbie. The Nice Guys demonstrated Gosling’s comic odd-couple chops and action-comedy prowess, and The Fall Guy also did the latter. Blue Valentine and Crazy. Stupid. Love had him struggling with relationships. La La Land cast him as a saviour, albeit of jazz instead of our pale blue dot.

Take all of the above, then combine it with his knack for sincerity; for knowing exactly how seriously or not to take any given scenario, and himself in it; and for comic timing. Next, let that flair loose in a big-thinking, big-feeling story that demands his specific mix of traits to shine bright on-screen. As evident in every frame – as plain to see as fading sunlight – Gosling at his genuine and goofy best is vital to Project Hail Mary’s success.

Giving lonely spaceman sci-fi a twist

Grace’s initial confusion isn’t mirrored by viewers. Anyone who has watched George Clooney (Solaris), Sam Rockwell (Moon), Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar), Matt Damon (The Martian), Brad Pitt (Ad Astra) or Adam Sandler (Spaceman) float above and beyond the Earth, confronting their woes solo or close to it – or watched Sandra Bullock (Gravity), a rare woman in this sci-fi subgenre – will recognise where the film first finds its protagonist, and also some of the emotional journey that awaits.

The biggest twist of Weir’s tale, however, and of The Martian screenwriter Drew Goddard’s script, is not that Grace soon has company. It isn’t even that an alien – which looks like Stonehenge as a spider, and Grace fittingly dubs ‘Rocky’ – becomes his sidekick, beloved friend and trusted colleague in the mission to stop the astrophage threat.

Rather, Project Hail Mary surprises in its ability to use space blockbuster essentials – expansive IMAX cinematography by Australian Oscar-winner Greig Fraser (for Dune: Part One) among them – as the foundation for a beguiling and breezy Spielbergian delight that’s also a clever and captivating science procedural, a treasure of a buddy comedy, and a thoughtful musing on humanity’s position in the universe.

That feat shouldn’t be astonishing, after The Martian proved such a smart and heartfelt treat, and entertaining as well, sans any extraterrestrials despite its moniker.

Just as it achieves with its lead, though, Project Hail Mary builds and extends everywhere that it can.

Watch the trailer

A sign of the times

Over a decade has elapsed since Lord and Miller last directed a feature, since The Lego Movie and 22 Jump Street both released in 2014. Giving well-populated genres fresh eyes ranks among of the pair’s finest skills, including through their debut Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the Miller-created TV murder-mystery-comedy The Afterparty, and producing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequel.

Again and again, their welcome return to cinemas continues the trend. Gorgeous animated Oscar-nominee Arco isn’t the only recent movie to owe a debt to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, for instance, but Project Hail Mary swells with emotion as it makes Rocky, whose planet is also endangered by cooling, as fleshed-out a presence as Grace.

While competence porn has already twirled strong tentacles throughout space and alien films, such as 90s movies Apollo 13 and Contact, as well as 2016’s Arrival, problem-solving and collaboration is rarely as stirring and inspiring as it is here.

As much as Gosling gleams, puppeteer and voice actor James Ortiz (Saint Francis; Monks in Robes) is equally important. Aided by his efforts, which are emblematic of the movie’s rewarding focus on in-camera practical effects, the chemistry that radiates between Grace and Rocky couldn’t feel more real.

But it’s a karaoke rendition of Harry Styles’ Sign of the Times sung by Hüller that best nods to why Project Hail Mary is so resonant: beaming into a polarised world where division seems the only constant, it celebrates and cherishes connection and understanding beyond boundaries.

With Gosling, the film boasts a star that matches the story’s substance. With its wide-open heart, Project Hail Mary is as much a movie meeting the current moment.

Project Hail Mary will be released in Australian cinemas on 19 March.

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