Project Hail Mary

Today on Amazon Prime, I finished watching “Project Hail Mary,” released theatrically in March but on streaming last month. My brother initially made a plan that we all go out and see it, but he ended up watching it by himself, so I decided to wait until this came out on streaming to see how it was. This is another novel adaptation that I didn’t know anything about, but how is it, seeing how this has been getting great reviews.

Waking up on a strange spaceship, school teacher and passionate biologist Ryland Grace, played by Ryan Gosling, has to piece together his broken memory on not only how he got to space, but why he is there. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and adapted by Drew Goddard from the Andy Weir novel of the same name, this immediately sucks audiences into its interesting problem, and this ends up being one of the greatest sci-fi films ever.

Andrew Dex said in his review, “Known for his outstanding earlier novels The Martian and Artemis (also soon to be adapted by Lord and Miller), renowned sci-fi author Andy Weir constructed a stunning sci-fi world with Project Hail Mary, which could have only been a dream to translate to the big screen. Just like with Ridley Scott’s take on The Martian, Weir’s grounded use of science within his storytelling shines through wonderfully. It makes for a compelling watch as you attempt to figure out each urgent situation alongside the protagonist.”

During Ryland’s flashbacks, we see that single-celled spaceborne organisms called Astrophage are draining the energy from the Sun, causing Earth to be near destruction, and doing the same to every nearby stars – except for a distant star called Tau Ceti, which has somehow not been affected. The government-appointed agent Eva Stratt, played by Sandra Huller, puts together a good team of astronauts and scientists the organization has, and sends them on a one-way space mission to Tau Ceti to find out how they can fix the sun. Because of his background in molecular biology, Eva recruits Ryland to find out some way of fighting Astrophage. However, Ryland’s not an astronaut, so how did he end up on the Hail Mary?

Dex noted, “Backed by a stunning and commanding soundtrack from Daniel Pemberton (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), alongside beautiful cinematography from Greig Fraser (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Dune, The Batman), the creative energy and passion from everyone involved is on display through every single frame.” Phil Lord and Christopher Miller also used no green and blue screens, which not only makes you like the film even more, grounding the story inside a believable setting.

If anyone saw any trailer for “Project Hail Mary,” then they probably saw an alien character named Rocky. Voiced by puppeteer James Ortiz, the friendship between Grace and Rocky has already become iconic. The two share great moments of humor, joy, and complete fear, as they team up to save both their kinds. Just like they say, “Amaze. Amaze. Amaze.”

Dex credited, “n its later act, we see huge, beautiful, sweeping sci-fi sequences that have you mesmerised, which eventually leads to – just like the book – a satisfying ending. With what comes across as three huge narrative sections that differ rewardingly from each other, and an ending that ties everything neatly together, the storytelling pace of Project Hail Mary is flawless.” This is a perfect balance.

Dex ended his review by noting, “Thanks to movies like Interstellar, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Dune, sci-fi has found success with a more serious tone in recent years, but Project Hail Mary is something for everyone. It’s almost Spielberg-esque in its approach. Capturing the monumental tone of the book in a grand scale that you could not be prepared for, it is sci-fi at its absolute best.”

People might say this film is like how Christopher Nolan treated the superhero movies, where it is told out of order and mixed together, which I noticed, but I wasn’t bothered by it. However, with the length of the film being near three hours, I had to watch it in pieces, which I did while exercising. Currently, this is streaming on MGM+ and Amazon Prime, so if you want to watch it on there, I highly recommend it. Whether you read the book or not, I think everyone will enjoy this film. Check it out and enjoy yourselves, but if you can’t see it in one sitting, I’m right there with you.

Thank you for joining in on this review tonight. Stay tuned this Friday for the finale of “Universal Soldier Month.”