Waking up on a starship, not knowing how you got there … terrifying way to begin your day. Even more terrifying: discovering that your two crewmates are dead. Just you, on the way to the Tau Ceti system. How did this happen?
As his head begins to clear, Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) remembers one key fact: Earth’s sun is dying. Or, rather it has a sort of infection that is cooling it down and, as it cools, so too does Earth. How long till the cooling becomes catastrophic? Maybe 30 years. Worse: Every star system in the nearby universe has the same infection.
Through flashbacks we relive what landed Grace in his predicament. Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller), head of the international Petrova Taskforce, pretty much forces Grace to join her crew, forsaking his job as a middle school science teacher (the fact his students appear to actually listen to him is perhaps the most unrealistic bit in the movie). Grace pleads that he’s not qualified to help diagnose the sun’s ailment, but she’s not having it. He was a brilliant molecular biologist who wrote a paper contending life could exist without water. That earned him resounding ridicule, and led to the teaching career change. But guess what. He might have been on to something.
Like any nerd given a challenge, Grace warms enthusiastically to the task of working with the team to figure out the cause. Which they do. But not how to fix it. Then they notice something. Over yonder at Tau Ceti, the sun is doing just fine. Thus: Project Hail Mary. Let’s send a crew out to have a look, maybe find out why that sun isn’t sick, and send word back to Earth. Only downside: for the astronauts who depart, there’s no guarantee of success (thus: Hail Mary). And … there’s no way to get back home.
And that ain’t the half of what happens in this movie. Laying ahead in this enthralling tale is the reason a reluctant Ryland is shanghaied to Tau Ceti. What (rather, who) he encounters once he gets there. What he learns. What he does about it. It’s a wide-ranging adventure story, equally full of drama, comedy, thrills, and pathos.
See It
Based on the novel of the same name by famed science fiction writer Andy Weir (previous movie hit: The Martian), Project Hail Mary has something for the nerds and something for the thrill-seekers. It has enough hard science for Nerds First Class to argue over endlessly, and for Nerds Second Class to simply enjoy. At every turn there are unexpected challenges for Grace to overcome, and moments of mirth.
Ryan Gosling: so perfect. Had the role gone to a self-important Hollywood star, it would have been all about him. But Gosling plays Grace as a self-effacing, reluctant hero who is genuinely conflicted: admittedly afraid of the dangers but, much more important, paralyzed by self-doubt (lingering damage from his professional humiliation). Before the mission, he genuinely believes he simply isn’t the right person for the job; he’ll struggle with the same self-doubt once he wakes to find the decision has been taken out of his hands.
German actress Sandra Hüller is also a fitting choice for Eva Stratt, who is metaphorically carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, working to save as much of the human race as possible. She plays the part with restraint, willing to placate Grace as much as necessary to gain his contributions to the project, but also unwilling to empathize with him when he falters.
Project Hail Mary is filled with comedic moments. Thanks to Gosling – and especially his athleticism – many episodes that dance on the edge of slapstick never collapse into the ridiculous. Best example: the moment when Grace first encounters Rocky (voiced by James Ortiz), a character I’ve tried not to spoil, even though he’s in the trailer. You’ll be reminded of that moment when Gertie comes face to face with E.T.
But the mastery here is the way the humor and drama and scientific invention blend. There’s an extended sequence in which Grace and his new friend work out a way to communicate. Sometimes frustrating, sometime chuckle-inducing, very engaging the way the progress between them unfolds. There are plenty of these moments. A few too many, in fact, to justify giving Project Hail Mary a perfect grade. As interesting as the layers of detail can be, they slow us down. For example, having Stratt belt out some surprisingly good karaoke is a nice detail, but this humanizing interlude comes when we’d rather be getting on with saving humanity.
Project Hail Mary is great fun. Don’t miss it. And by the way, it’s refreshing to find a summer movie that you could take your 8-year-old nephew or 80-year-old grandma to.