REVIEW: PROJECT HAIL MARY
THE GIST
It’s a great buddy film on an epic scale. It’s full of good humour and heart.
THE REVIEW
SPOILERY
EXPECTATIONS
Ok so my expectations were high for this:
At the time of writing, this film had an average rating of 8.8/10.
I love Phil Lord & Christopher Miller films and the humour/heart in them.
Never liked Ryan Gosling until I saw The Big Short & then The Nice Guys and have been a huge fan ever since. Don’t get me started on First Man. What a movie!
Trailers looked intriguing. I thought they may be revealing a bit much by introducing the alien in them though.
Heard and read short snippets of early reviews which are highly praising the film. I think masterpiece has been thrown around but I always take that as hyperbole. Some people say they preferred the book.
Having never read the book I wanted to know as little as possible because this seems to be gearing up for one of those films you never forget seeing for the first time.
A confession, this is not the first time I have seen this. 8 days ago I saw an early public screening and tried to review it then. Problem was, I was burnt out, I had been for a couple of weeks. My eyes were sore, my face hurt, my muscles ached, my brain was mush, I was exhausted. Anyway I had already watched How To Make A Killing that day and was ready to sleep going into Project Hail Mary. For the runtime it alleviated my symptoms a bit but I was not in a great state to watch let alone review a film. I rated it 7.75/10. I wasn’t amazed with the film bit I did enjoy it a lot. It’s the same way I feel about The Martian. There is so much heart in this film it was so nice to see. But it did not wow me like I thought it would, and I really wanted it too. So here I am going to see it again after a week of resting to see if it makes a different impression.
CONTEXT
In March 2020, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was nearing a deal to acquire the project, an adaptation of the then-upcoming Andy Weir novel Project Hail Mary, with Ryan Gosling set to star in and produce the film. The rights for the novel were acquired for $3 million. In May 2020, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were hired to direct and produce the film. Drew Goddard (who previously adapted Weir's The Martian into a feature film) was hired to write the screenplay the next month.
THE PLOT
Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory slowly returns, he soon discovers he must solve the riddle behind a mysterious substance that's causing the sun to die out. As details of the mission unravel, he calls on his scientific training and sheer ingenuity -- but he may not have to do it alone.
THE EXPERIENCE
Despite still recovering from burnout, I was alert and intrigued the whole time on my second viewing. That says a lot about the film. But I still couldn’t bring myself to rate it an 8/10 though.
It was sometimes an odd dual experience of thinking it was long winded but at the same time, not being able to take my eyes off the screen.
This movie is full of heart and more a story about friendship and connection, that just happens to be set in space.
THE MEAT
Ryan Gosling: This film really is on the back of him. He owns it. I could only maybe picture a younger Brad Pitt or maybe even a less cynical Ryan Reynolds being able to do this film but I think would still pale in comparison to what Gosling did. His teacher/doctor character was so wacky and likeable and had to be for the film to work for what came next. Even though the co-star, who is an alien was introduced, the movie was still riding on Gosling.
The trailer: Shouldn’t have shown the alien in the trailers. I just found myself wanting to get to the bit where he meets the alien (about one third of the movie) and when it did it was already expected what was to happen anyway. I get it. I get it would have been hard to promote not showing the alien. But I couldn’t help thinking not knowing would have been a far greater experience.
The directors: Incredibly subdued humour for them, they restrained themselves well. They showed they could amp up the heart when needed.
The soundtrack: At times I was hoping the space music could have been more grandiose and louder. I’m a Nolan fan though, not everyone’s cup of tea. Nothing really stands out trying to think back after watching it twice regarding the soundtrack. I did like the choice of song the scientist played by Sandra Huller did Karaoke for, really struck me for some reason.
It’s derivative: It’s like so many other movie ideas thrown into one. Yes the story about the sun dying because of these alien cells is original but everything else is like everything else. Sometimes it’s like The Martian. Sometimes it reminded me of Alf or E.T.. There is a spacewalk gone wrong suspense scene. There is a spaceship getting pulled into the planets gravity scene. There is zany but hilarious communication misunderstandings between Grace and Rocky which has been done before. This movie wasn’t particularly great in originality for those things but it was the way they pulled off the story of the connections throughout.
The alien: I’m surprised they made something that looked like that into such a coherent and loveable character. It’s still not a believable alien to me though. It always looks like some sort of puppet.
SUMMARY
Kinda met my high expectations but at the same time was a bit let down.
Don’t let that put you off though, I would watch it a third time.
7.75/10
