Weekend Mullings - Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary is based on a book by Andy Weir, who also wrote the novel The Martian, which Ridley Scott adapted into a film in 2015. I liked The Martian a lot, and felt it owed a lot of its success to its lead, Matt Damon.

I read The Martian, and found it incredibly dull; just not my jam. I have not read Project Hail Mary, but I have a feeling the books are very similar, and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller may have learned an important lesson from the movie version of The Martian: in order to make a story filled with a lot of science talk interesting, you need to cast someone very charismatic to deliver all that science talk. And Project Hail Mary works almost entirely because of Ryan Gosling's performance as reluctant astronaut Ryland Grace. 

The Earth is dying because something is draining the sun of its power. And not only the sun, but several other stars in the universe. Middle school teacher and molecular biologist Grace is approached by a government agency, led by Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller, giving a wonderfully dry performance) to help figure out just what is happening, since his previous work in molecular biology...is somehow related. 

Like I said, the detailed science stuff isn't my bag, and I'm not as entertaining as Ryan Gosling is in explaining it, but trust me that within the film, it does make sense. Grace is happy to help with the research, but draws the line at going into space. Of course, he does end up in space, and while there, pairs up with an unusual life form that is also trying to prevent the death of a star.

This pairing is both the comedic and emotional hearts of the film, and at times, the sentimentality is a little heavy handed, but Gosling prevents it from ever falling into maudlin territory. At a little over two hours and thirty minutes, Project Hail Mary is way, way too long, especially for a story that treads some well worn science fiction tropes. Also, for a movie filmed for IMAX and set in space, there weren't a lot of moments where I felt truly in awe of what I was seeing, even though I know that was the intent. Ultimately, this huge movie succeeds in smaller ways, and primarily because Ryan Gosling proves he can have chemistry with the unlikeliest of costars, even a rock.