Project Hail Mary

This weekend, Project Hail Mary, the new Sci-Fi film starring Ryan Gosling and based on the book from the same author who wrote The Martian, is released in theaters. It is also directed by the team that directed The Lego Movie and wrote the two Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse films. Project Hail Mary follows former school teacher Ryland Grace as he finds himself alone in space on a mission to save the sun from going out. I have read the book and was a huge fan, so I was very excited when they announced it was going to be a movie. This was one of my most anticipated movies of the year.

I thought this movie was fantastic. Hollywood needs to take notes and make more non-franchise films like this. This is just a perfect movie that will please everyone. It has Sci Fi, humor, emotion, and relationships, and manages to balance them all so well. The Sci Fi aspect is so great, borrowing aspects of Interstellar and Arrival while having the realistic yet easy-to-understand science of The Martian. Project Hail Mary doesn't try to dumb things down for its audience by just making the science aspect like magic, but also doesn't bog the movie down with a bunch of science talk, making it boring. It meets in the middle by explaining concepts in a way that normies will understand while also using concepts that science nerds feel would actually work and make sense. The alien aspect of the film also fits so well, feeling fun and relatable while also feeling realistic. The movie also has a lot of humor to it. Ryan Gosling knows how to play these simple ideas and make them come across funny. The growing relationship between Ryland and Rocky was also really fun as the two attempted to communicate and understand each other. I also thought the relationship between Ryland and Rocky was really sweet and well done. You see the two grow closer to each other over the course of the movie, which leads to some very emotional and heartfelt moments and the conclusion of the film. I also thought the movie did a great job of revealing how Ryland got to be on this spaceship. Instead of just dumping a bunch of exposition at once, the movie intercuts him on the mission with flashbacks to his time on Earth and how things fell into place for him to end up in space. Each flashback adds a new aspect to Ryland's character and helps the audience understand him, as well as adds more layers to his role and the ultimate ending of his mission. This movie just takes all the best aspects of a bunch of great Sci-Fi films and combines them into one amazing film. Finally, though it has been a while since I read the book, from what I remember, I thought it was very accurate to the tone and story in the book and makes for one of the better book to film adaptions. All of the plot beats that I remember from the book, it seems to hit in the movie.

Overall, this is a great movie, blending science, humor, and emotion for nearly everyone. It's my favorite film of the year so far, and I expect it will stay in my top five.

Score: 9.5/10 Grade: A Recommendation: This is a must see movie