Project Hail Mary
Director: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Huler, James Ortiz and Lionel Boyce
Rating: ★★★.5
I won’t lie that as soon as Project Hail Mary began, I felt a sense of dread. I was worried if it was going to happen Interstellar clone. Even if I was familiar with the source material, one has to wonder how different two movies about middle-aged white men traveling to the stars to save the world could be. In just under three hours, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller answered it beautifully. Because Project Hail Mary is not only different, it’s also surprisingly better than Nolan’s Interstellar. There are flaws, but the hero’s charm and visual magic are enough to compensate for it, making it the best big screen experience so far this year.
Base
Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up alone on a spaceship light-years away from home. He has no memory of how he got there, just knows that he is not an astronaut. They conclude that they were sent to a different star system to investigate an alien life form that is destroying Earth’s Sun. There he meets an alien from another planet who is on a similar mission. Together, Ryland and Rocky (he looks like rocks, get it?) must find a way to communicate and kill this parasitic life form and save their planets.
what works
Project Hail Mary doesn’t fit into any genre. It’s as much a space drama as it is a coming-of-age story, as much as a buddy-cop and a farcical satire. And despite all this, it has heart. This is supplied by its two protagonists. This is what keeps the film going.
It cannot be denied that the USP of Project Hail Mary is its visuals. The spacewalk and some of the scenes involving Grace trying to capture the alien entity are surprisingly well shot. The visual effects, color grading and sound all come together to make the space feel beautiful, scary and awe-inspiring all at the same time. What makes it even better is that Grace is a non-astronaut. Their sense of wonder at seeing all this mirrors ours. The unlikely heroes are our eyes and years in this new world. He carries our doubts, our distrust, but also our hopes.
Beyond the visuals, the film rests on the chemistry of its two lead characters. Ryan Gosling brings the heart here. He is a good actor who has not been tested in his roles recently. Grace also doesn’t test him too much. But it still leaves him with the responsibility of carrying a film with very little support. And just like he did in Drive, he passed with flying colors here too. Rocky is the second star of the show. Ryland, a surprisingly likable and lovable alien life form, is made even more likable by James Ortiz’s stellar voice acting. This is one of the most innovative and original alien character designs in recent times.
but there are flaws
However, Project Hail Mary is not without its flaws. At 2 hours and 40 minutes, it’s too long to hold your interest. More than the runtime, what doesn’t work for the film is the long ending. At least twice the movie feels like it could have ended before it actually ended. Still, it continues, and after a while, it feels as if Lord and Miller are at a loss as to how to end Ryland Grace’s story. After two hours of spectacular spectacle, the last 20 minutes leave a sour taste in the mouth. But just for that experience, just to see the magic that cinema can still weave, you will want to sit in on it. Oh, and preferably in front of the biggest screen you can find, if you can find one in India.