Project Hail Mary
Directors: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, and Lionel Boyce
Rating: ★★★.5
I won’t lie that as Project Hail Mary began, I felt a sense of dread. I was worried if this was going to be an Interstellar clone. Even though I was familiar with the source material, one wonders just how different two films about middle-aged white men traversing the stars to save the world can be. In just under three hours, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller answer that beautifully. Because not only is Project Hail Mary different, but it is also surprisingly better looking than Nolan’s Interstellar. There are flaws, but the charm of the protagonist and the visual magic are enough to compensate for that in what is arguably the best big-screen experience this year so far.
The premise
Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up light-years away from home on a spaceship, all alone. He has no memory of how he got there, just knows that he is not an astronaut. He deduces that he was sent to a different star system to investigate an alien life form that is killing Earth’s sun. There, he meets an alien from another planet who is also on a similar mission. Together, Ryland and Rocky (he looks like rocks, get it?) must find a way to communicate and discover how to kill this parasitic life form and save their planets.
What works
Project Hail Mary does not fit a genre. It is as much a space drama as a coming-of-age story, while also a buddy-cop whodunnit and a farcical satire. And despite all this, it has heart. That is supplied by its two protagonists. That is what keeps the film ticking.
There is no denying that the USP of Project Hail Mary are its visuals. Some of the scenes of spacewalk and Grace trying to capture the alien entity are shot stunningly well. The visual effects, colour grading, and sound all come together to make space feel beautiful, scary, and awe-inspiring all at the same time. What makes it even better is that Grace is a non-astronaut. His sense of wonder at watching it all mirrors ours. The unlikely hero is our eyes and years into this new world. He carries our cynicism, our mistrust, but also our hopes.
Beyond the visuals, the film hinges on the chemistry of its two leads. Ryan Gosling brings the heart here. He is a fine actor who has not really been tested in his roles of late. Grace does not test him too much either. But it still gives him the responsibility of carrying a film largely on his shoulders, with very little support. And as he did in Drive, he passes with flying colours here too. Rocky is the other star of the show. The surprisingly likeable and cute alien life form Ryland meets is made even more affable by James Ortiz’s brilliant voice acting. It features 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 is too long for its own good. More than the runtime, what does not work for the film is the stretched ending. At least twice before the film actually ends, it feels like it could have ended. Yet, it soldiers on, and after a while, it feels as if Lord and Miller are confused on how to end the story of Ryland Grace. The last 20 minutes or so do leave a sour taste in the mouth after what has been a magnificent two-hour spectacle before that. But just for that experience, just to see the magic cinema can still weave, you’d want to sit through that. Oh, and preferably in front of the biggest screen you can find, if you can find one in India that is.
