A zero-gravity slog at times, ‘Project Hail Mary’ is saved by Gosling’s charisma—and an unlikely alien friendship
By Dana Barbuto/Boston Movie News
Ryan Gosling bonds with a faceless five-limbed alien rock in “Project Hail Mary.” It’s the best alien friendship since E.T. and Elliott— and they go for all the feels. Quick… turn on your heartlight.
But Gosling isn’t just vibing with an animatronic alien—he’s also on a one-way mission that could decide the fate of humanity, of course.
Directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord strap him into a spaceship and off to space he goes to save the dying sun in this adaptation of Andy Weir’s 2021 sci-fi bestseller, which—based on the energy in the room—clearly inspires strong feelings among fans. Gosling plays Ryland Grace, a molecular biologist who’s brilliant but just reckless enough to get himself exiled from academia. Naturally, he rebounds as the hottest middle-school science teacher alive. You can’t hide that pretty face behind rimless glasses and pass him off as a nerd.
I saw it at the Mugar Omni Theater at Boston’s Museum of Science, where the screen is so massive and the seating so steep it feels like the movie is swallowing you whole. Not that this is a problem—especially since you’re stuck with Gosling for a hefty 156 minutes. This is his second stint in space on screen; the first was in “First Man,” where he played a sad Neil Armstrong. Here, he’s the opposite: all airheaded charm and blond-guy swagger.
Gosling’s presence goes a long way, because the movie itself is… a lot. It’s overstuffed and overly long. I even caught a second helping of the last 40 minutes at another screening, and that stretch alone felt like two hours. There’s too much science, too much backstory, too much heavy-handedness in its triumph-of-the-human-spirit thesis. Gosling gets lost in space and, of course, finds himself, in ways the filmmakers want to feel unexpected but aren’t. Even the name Grace is doing overtime—salvation, divinity, gift from God (and yes, Gosling is indeed a gift). Subtlety is not part of this mission, or this movie.
Drew Goddard, who adapted Weir’s “The Martian,” adopts the same structure: problem, jargon, solution, repeat. “Astrophage!” “Centrifuge!” “Space microbes!” The complex science bored me. Cut half the tedious exposition, and you’d still have the same (much shorter) movie. Or maybe it would’ve gone down smoother if Gosling were explaining astrophysics in a bubble bath, sipping champagne, like his “Barbie” counterpart Margot Robbie did in “The Big Short.” Instead, video logs keep Gosling talking, explaining, narrating—just in case you missed the point the first five times.
When we meet Grace, he’s waking up alone, 12 light-years from Earth, his crewmates dead, his memory scrambled, swilling vodka from a pouch that looks like a Capri Sun. Watching him stumble around the ship, slowly rebooting his brain, is genuinely fun. He taps into that slightly dim, cocky energy he has down to a science: a little dumb, a little smug, very watchable. The movie is at its smartest when it just lets him be both sarcastic and sweet.
Then comes Rocky. What begins as first contact becomes the film’s emotional core. Rocky, the alien slab voiced by James Ortiz, is Grace’s partner in survival. They figure each other out, bond, shadow dance, share jokes, and suddenly it’s a full-blown interstellar bromance. Two lonely guys in space trying to save their respective suns—because, conveniently, Rocky’s star is dying too. The stakes get bigger, the side quests get riskier, and their friendship comes into focus as the one thing that works.
Back on Earth—via flashbacks—the script fills in gaps that no one really cares about. German actress Sandra Hüller is the icy, no-nonsense mastermind who recruits Grace. Her scenes with Gosling work in a yin-and-yang way: he’s a goof, she’s all steel. The problem isn’t the actors; it’s the nonlinear storytelling that jarringly jumps between the unfolding expedition and the earlier events that set it in motion, killing narrative tension and pacing. Hüller’s haunting karaoke rendition of Harry Styles’s “Sign of the Times” is a highlight, even if it screams, “EVERYONE’S DOOMED.”
Sure, “Project Hail Mary” is heartfelt, and sometimes it lands. But Miller and Lord (the duo behind the “Lego” and “Spider-Verse” movies) can’t quite shake their instincts, and the tone wobbles between sincere and oddly juvenile. At times, it feels like a kids’ movie, just don’t tell the youngsters that it’s essentially a suicide mission. The final stretch leans so hard into earnestness that the final scene practically drifts in from “The Muppets.” Influences from “E.T.,” —so many that it wouldn’t feel out of place to hear John Williams’s iconic “Flying Theme”— “Interstellar,” “Castaway,” “High Life,” and more are obvious.
At times, it’s a zero-gravity slog to get through, but Gosling is so out of this world that he saves the movie from being sucked into a black hole.
‘Project Hail Mary’
Rating: PG-13 for some thematic material and suggestive references.
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller
Directors: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Writer: Drew Goddard
Running time: 156 minutes
Where to watch: In theaters Friday
Grade: B-
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