Can the box office be saved? Project Hail Mary is, well... a Hail Mary in itself to revitalize exceptional box office for a stacked year of movies, but can Ryan Gosling stick a landing without Barbie on his side, or have another flop on his hands despite it being another worthwhile addition to his repertoire? With this adaptation of the sci-fi bestseller, the author of The Martian brings another space-adventure story about a lonely astronaut.
The adaptation centers on Rylan Grace, a scientist and teacher who is hired to figure out what is causing the Sun and other stars in the nearby solar system to dim, as if they were ill, a development that could lead to Earth's extinction. He is sent to space on a mission to figure out why one of these stars is not affected by this space disease and meets an unlikely friend along the way. With a lack of a serious tone in how I presented that summary, which is the opposite of what marketing is for, is the best way I can explain the plot.
Although a story of significant science fiction themes of a sort of dystopia, there is this theme of loneliness, which is something that both Andy Weir is good at in the novel and Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Drew Goddard manage to translate into this movie, where being stuck in spaceship making theories of a space disease becomes an allegory of the impending doom that when let with the responsibility on your shoulders to save the world, and it is only up to you.
There is a lot in this movie that honestly reminds me of the beats of what can be the closest thing to a live-action Pixar movie. This sentiment also applies to Daniel Pemberton's enthralling score and to the visuals and cinematography that Lord and Miller capture in this adaptation. Apart from the beautiful space scenes, the practical sets used for the movie were also done well, especially in the case of Rocky's puppetry, the alien that Rylan meets on this world-saving endeavour.
Now, with the characters, it is fair to say that this might be Ryan Gosling's best performance yet. There are significant times when he is just the kooky but smart American in a room full of stuffy smart people that aren't as 'fun' as he is, but he is the main character and we are meant to like him more than others, but his best moments shine better when is on the ship, alone and/or interacting with a puppet alien with no intelligible face.
As much as I am very much encouraging to watch Project Hail Mary, I had read Andy Weir's novel a year ago, and I would have considered it one of the better books I picked up until I reached the last 100 pages. I am not a big fan of its ending, but I understand its sentiment due to when it was published, in hopes of having a less bleak ending because, DUH, to have hope at a dark time, to promote humanity's strength is to work together, which is very much one of the themes of this film. As it is a faithful adaptation, none of the aspects of this book were changed in this film, and it may resonate with many viewers when seen on the big screen.
But I do highly recommend watching it on the biggest screen possible or in any premium format, for it is an event to be seen. The visuals, sound, and sheer scope deserve to be experienced in IMAX or Dolby, even if you are not 100 percent a fan of the book, to heighten your experience and help you appreciate this specific movie-going experience. For those who haven't read the book, however, they are in for a treat and several sequences to get ready with tissues nearby
Comments