Project Hail Mary is destined to become one of my go-to feelgood films. A solid science fiction story, it packs in enough heartfelt emotion to have left me in tears repeatedly. While it's not the most original of stories, with the influences of previous sci-fi favourites easy to see, it combines these elements into a story that carefully balances human spirit, the wonder of the alien and the isolating vastness of the universe. There's a wealth of talent on this film. While I haven't (yet) read Andy Weir's novel, I understand that this adaptation follows it closely and that any significant plot points occur in both versions. Scriptwriter Drew Goddard also wrote the screenplay for the previous adaptation of a Weir novel, 2015's The Martian, but I'll always know him as one of the best writer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, as a director on Cabin in the Woods, The Good Place and more, and as the creator of the Netflix Daredevil series. The film-making duo Lord and Miller created the Spider-Verse series and The Lego Movie. What we have here is a group of people eminently skilled in creating visually arresting worlds that use visual and physical effects to tell entertaining and moving stories.
Ryan Gosling is exceptionally good as Grace, managing to sell the character as an everyman in spite of being a certified genius and, well, looking like Ryan Gosling. (As an aside, I never really fancied Gosling before, in spite of his obvious charms. But put him wonky glasses and a chunky knit and make him play a dork and it's another story.) It's not every actor who can convincingly share scenes with a team-operated puppet, especially one without any recognisably anthropomorphic features, but Gosling handles it perfectly. The multi-talented James Ortiz brings the alien Rocky to life with what seems like ease, and his chemistry with Gosling is palpable, in spite of their being no scenes in which they actually interact. Indeed, Ortiz wasn't originally intended to voice Rocky alongside operating him, but the bond that developed between the two actors clearly made it obvious they should be performing together as two best friends of entirely different biologies.
Sandra Hüller might be even better than either of them as Eva Stratt, head of the project. She portrays Stratt as a reserved and driven woman dealing with impossible choices, with deep and heartbreaking emotion threatening to break the surface at any time. Even when we learn what she has done and might be expected to turn against her, she remains completely sympathetic. And the film wouldn't be the same without Lionel "L-Boy" Boyce as the restrained but incredibly likeable Carl.
Telling the story in a mixture of flashbacks and immediate events works well, although the extent of Grace's amnesia isn't always clear and we're not always sure if he knows more than we do at any given point. There are some shaky conceits that need to be accepted for the plot to work. Sending someone on perhaps the most vital mission in human history when they don't want to go is surely a gigantic risk; even with two others on the ship, he could refuse to help or even sabotage the mission, regardless of how keen he was to help on the ground. I loved that Rocky's species, the Eridians, were vastly ahead of humanity in technological matters but lacked certain areas of scientific understanding, but it's still hard to credit that they could build an interstellar craft without any knowledge of ionising radiation or relativity. The reason that the astrophage hasn't overrun Tau Ceti is so obvious, it's quite painful waiting for the two genius space travellers to realise it.
It's also true that Rocky becomes significantly less interesting an alien life form once we are able to understand him; however, he becomes a much more loveable character in the process. There's room for a film where the alien is not able to speak in a cheerful American voice but remains a full and sympathetic character. However, that may also be a film that is fully focused on the discovery of alien intelligence, rather than balancing this with other huge and interesting science fiction concepts. Similarly, there's an argument to be made that leaving the story's ending open would be more effective, rather than the feelgood, almost saccharine final scene we get. On the other hand, Earth's fate remains very much uncertain, and it's hard to argue with that ending when I'm smiling so much.
There's inevitably been talk of following Project Hail Mary with a sequel. While it's surely essential that Weir write the story first, it could work. There are, after all, plenty of other star systems being impacted by the astrophage, and surely some of them must also be home to intelligent life. But perhaps this is a film that better stands alone. If the balance between this film's component parts was even a little off, it wouldn't have been anywhere near as good. Trying to capture that again might be unwise.
