David R. Walker

Archive for the ‘Phil Lord’ Category

Project Hail Mary

Directors: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Huller, James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung

Running Time: 2 hours and 36 minutes

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

22 Jump Street and The Lego Movie directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller land some star power in their new film Project Hail Mary in the form of triple Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson, La La Land, Barbie) as the main and possibly the only character Ryland Grace, a likable but reluctant saviour of the universe and maths teacher who is recruited by the government headed by Eva Stratt superbly played by German actress and Oscar nominee Sandra Huller (Anatomy of a Fall) whose sternness off set’s Ryland Grace’s goofiness.

Project Hail Mary is a very strange science fiction film in that there is only one main character Ryland Grace who heads off into outer space to save the earth from imminent demise as the sun is being destroyed by a microscopic alien species which is also killing off the stars.

Eleven light years away, Ryland Grace is stranded on a super space ship with enough artificial intelligence to sustain him. The only problem is that he is the only survivor on this trip. Think 2001, a Space Odyssey. Grace realizes that he has to save the earth by journeying to this distance star in the solar system where he encounters a friendly alien whom he calls Rocky, voiced by James Ortiz.

After some initial communication difficulties, Grace and Rocky, a crustacean type alien strike up an unlikely friendship as they band together to find a specific organism to send back to earth to rejuvenate the sun.

Drew Goddard’s screenplay based on The Martian writer Andy Weir’s novel is both confusing and funny, yet it doesn’t have sufficient conflict to keep a film going for 2 and a half hours.

What saves Project Hail Mary from being a bad space trip is the brilliant acting by Ryan Gosling who has the charisma and screen presence to sustain this film amidst absolutely spectacular visual effects.

Project Hail Mary is a confusing film with a non-linear story telling method which makes the narrative less compelling while the directors choose to emphasize the cool space ships and the weird technology over human relationships amidst impending doom.

Sandra Huller does her best in an extremely limited role but her star power fades next to that of Ryan Gosling who carries this lengthy film, which is definitely entertaining but is basically a lengthy and weird space bro film. Huller is more suited to intelligent European arthouse cinema than flashy American sci fi.

Project Hail Mary has stunning visuals and brilliant cinematography by Greig Fraser who won an Oscar for Dune in 2022. Unfortunately the script needed some work and the lack of a singularity of vision makes Project Hail Mary a bizarre space film which lacks urgency, action and emotional resonance.

If you love beautiful visual effects then watch Project Hail Mary but a lack of editing and a decent script causes this space drama to lose its shine.

Project Hail Mary gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10. It’s entertaining but not brilliant.