Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s “Project Hail Mary” is thankfully not the same microwaved-over piece of space adventure we have seen before, at least not entirely. Powered by the nuclear wattage that is the charisma of Ryan Gosling, the adaptation of Andy Weir’s bestselling novel has been in development for nearly six years, when Lord and Miller were originally hired onto the project alongside “The Martian” screenwriter Drew Goddard. What the film presents is a story of human ingenuity in the face of catastrophe, how one heroic man and a coalition of the world’s top minds come together to solve an unsolvable problem, defending planet Earth from some foreign threat while showcasing the height of what people can accomplish when they come together in common cause. Andy Weir broke out as an author playing a similar tune, which was adapted for Ridley Scott’s “The Martian”, a similarly hopeful movie that spawned the phrase “competency porn” for its portrayal of a world where experts are trusted and capably overcome challenges through collaboration and know-how. Rest assured, “Project Hail Mary” presents a similar story of cooperation at its core, with the familiar beats and overall structure of a hapless savior’s journey beyond the stars to save us poor souls on Earth. Often, these films at least pretend to hold some basis in reality, played as much for the drama of it all as for the audience’s fear that this type of thing could happen to us. And yet, “Project Hail Mary” is the exception and instead soars when it abandons reality in favor of something far more personal and intimate, a charming and touching interspecies friendship between Ryan Gosling and a jangly rock spider creature whose name is Rocky.
“Project Hail Mary” begins with the looming end of the world. An interstellar substance known as “astrophage” is slowly sucking power from the sun, which, given enough years, will inevitably lead to the immolation of planet Earth. Ryan Gosling is Dr. Grace, a bumbling, jokey, and overall well-meaning middle school teacher who was once a prominent astrophysicist shunned by academia for insisting that life could exist on other planets without water. He is recruited by Eva (Sandra Hüller from “Anatomy of A Fall” and “Zone of Interest”), a representative from a shadowy world collective who hopes to harness the power of “astrophage” to save Earth. Grace initially refuses, as the would-be hero always does, but eventually dives into the research, discovering properties of the alien substance nobody else could have; i.e., it is highly combustible, meaning it can be used for fuel, but also corrosive, meaning Planet Earth is on the clock to decimation. But there is hope when a star is found well beyond the bounds of our solar system that is somehow being unaffected by the “astrophage”. Rapidly, a mission is planned to seek it out and learn what they can, a suicide shot at saving the world with no room for error. Through circumstances that I will not spoil, Grace ends up not just on the mission but the only surviving astronaut of three to wake up alive from an induced coma on the other side of the galaxy. As he gets his bearings, discombobulated and terrified of being suddenly in charge of a ship he has no concept of how to control, the ship reaches its destination. Yet before he can investigate further, his ship is joined by another pilgrimaging vessel, a titanic craft that looks to be made of massive structures of wood, an intricate creation that sidles up beside and beseeches him to come aboard. Concerned yet the ever curious scientists, Grace ventures across the no man’s land between ships and knocks on an opaque barrier between his atmosphere and the one inside. After a few moments, Grace is petrified to be face-to-face with a creature made of a rock-type substance and skittering around on five legs that seems eager to communicate. Grace soon learns that this creature, an Eridian, is also on a world-saving mission, has also lost his entire crew, and also cannot solve the mystery of “astrophage” alone. So, along with his new best friend “Rocky”, Grace takes on the task of saving not just one world, but two as the looming threat of his own inevitable death in the cold reaches of space looms.
Gosling, with his ability to somehow play an out-of-his-depth nerd while being one of the most smolderingly attractive people on the planet, is in full movie star mode throughout the film, holding the center of the first act almost entirely alone as he wakes up from his coma among dead bodies. There might not be another actor alive who is so capable of transitioning from a relatable goofy guy into something approximating an action star without losing his inherent, lovable fallibility. Something that modern male stars fail to understand is that there is a reason we love characters like John McClane or Indiana Jones, and it is not for how “cool” they are. It is for their flaws, their crusty edges, and their ability to take several hundred hits only to keep getting up more bloodied and determined than ever. Gosling, especially in the past few years, has found this to be quite a fruitful niche, essentially making fun of his own rugged persona with characters barely able to pretend they understand what is going on. You can see this in some of his best films, like “The Nice Guys” or even in “Barbie.” Color me surprised, though, that by the end of the movie, Gosling was but the second most affecting performance in the film. You see, the reason to see “Project Hail Mary” is not for Gosling but for Rocky, the little faceless rock puppet, and the adorable relationship he and Grace develop over the course of the film. Lord and Miller, in their long-awaited follow-up to their last theatrically released film, “22 Jump Street,” seem to inherently understand that even in a film with stakes that rise to the level of interstellar armageddon, the real juice of this story is the burgeoning friendship between a nice teacher in over his head and a lonely rock creature consumed with guilt from the death of his crew. Almost all global urgency is extracted through the film’s air lock once Grace and Rocky begin the tap dance of learning to communicate, first through small metal models that the talented Eridian is able to conjure, and then through a voice-to-text database constructed one word at a time. This is to the film’s benefit, giving it the feel of a movie about a pair of new friends/roommates rather than one of cosmic importance. By the time Rocky has enough words to reliably communicate with Grace, their natural charisma erupts through as the pair shares notes on how to best tackle the pickle threatening their worlds. The heart of the movie is in these sequences, as Rocky over-enthusiastically moves onto Grace’s ship, eager to learn about Earth culture and keep an eye on his new friend so that it does not befall the same fate as both their crews.
We learn that Eridians must watch each other sleep, as they cannot wake up if danger arises on their own. Rocky, wracked with guilt, will not allow Grace to sleep on his own for fear of history repeating itself. The ability of the filmmakers, Gosling, and James Ortiz, as the voice and puppeteer “Rocky,” to instantly invest so much soul-melting warmth into, I repeat, a faceless rock spider, is a magic trick of the highest cinematic order. But, really, what makes “Project Hail Mary” effective is its eagerness to submerge into the gooey earnestness of feelings, true connection, and reverence for those lost. One of the best scenes in the movie features Grace carrying the bodies of his long-dead comrades into the airlock one after another and performing a one-person funeral service. He looks at their personal items, their letters and photos, trying to give them a voice in the darkness as they are extracted into the furthest reaches of space. Gosling shines here, holding back tears of terror and grief, as he watches them float on, leaving him the sole hope for an entire planet. It is that crumbling sentimentality that raises “Project Hail Mary” to a status above common popcorn flash, an affection for life in all its forms, and an eagerness to find common love beyond the barriers of speech or even species.
An affecting and often thrilling blockbuster, if a bit toothless, “Project Hail Mary” is everything you might expect from an Andy Weir adaptation, which is certainly not a bad thing. There is no satirical agenda, no whisper of real-world prejudices or international betrayals in a Weir story; merely a prayer for understanding and cohabitation in the face of obliteration. A lovely idea, and an entertaining one for sure, yet it’s kind of depressing that even in a film where a sentient rock monster makes you cry, believing in a world where we might work together to save ourselves from ourselves is perhaps the most fantastical element of all.
“Project Hail Mary” is playing at The Broad Theater and Prytania Theatres at Canal Place.
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