There’s a great movie within the just-opened PROJECT HAIL MARY.
It’s competing with a buddy comedy between Ryan Gosling’s glib scientist and a space alien that gets in the way, but when it’s serious, it’s wholly involving. The odd couple is from different planets, both astronauts, trying to save their homes from a microorganism that’s slowly draining the energy from a shared sun. It makes for a gripping and claustrophobic watch at the movie theater, a story with the highest of stakes – life or death – but in the filmmakers’ attempt to alleviate the tension with humor, they often overdo the jokiness.
The plotting showcases a world that looks all too recognizably like today. NASA scientists, headed by the stern Dr. Eva Stratt (Sandra Huller), discover that the Sun is cooling dramatically due to a microorganism known as an astrophage. It keeps growing and eating fields of energy in its orbit, and because of its appetite, Stratt and her team surmise that it will cool Earth so much within 30 years that the planet will become a frozen wasteland with the death of two-thirds of the planet’s population. Gosling plays Dr. Ryland Grace, a troubled but shrewd expert on microorganisms who is assigned a team of professional astronauts to travel many light-years into space to stop the insatiable astrophage from feeding.
The film’s tension is evident immediately as the story opens with Grace already in space, waking up after years of hibernation to a spaceship he is unfamiliar with, and, worse yet, his team has died in transit. Grace seems to also be suffering from some sort of amnesia, too, and his efforts to acclimate himself to an unknown environment onboard become harrowing. Can he figure out how to run the controls and stay alive? Fortunately, his memory starts to come back, and he’s shown to be quite capable. Along with such revelations, Grace talks to himself to alleviate his fears, which also provides narration to fill us in on all that he’s doing.
Soon, Grace discovers that there is an alien astronaut with a similar mission to save his planet within a stone’s throw. The alien seems to be some sort of stone creature, with movements resembling a crab’s. (A stone crab?) The alien, dubbed “Rocky” by Grace, tries to communicate with the American, but their communication skills hardly jibe. Again, there’s rich tension here that keeps us guessing. Can they find a way to interface, overcome their different worlds, and even work together to stop the astrophage? Eventually, the two learn to bridge their gaps using an electronic device aboard the American ship that helps them communicate through pictures and translated text. When the two do start to communicate and make real progress toward their missions together, the scenes are inspiring and even moving. Gently humorous too. But then the laughs start to compile to the point of overwhelming matters, and suddenly a lot of their relationship leans into silliness. The two banter, argue, rag on each other, almost like mismatched characters from movies like THE ODD COUPLE, RUSH HOUR, and THE HANGOVER.
The two even end up horsing around together – dancing, jiving, vibing – with Rocky starting to feel like a cuddly alien along the lines of E.T. What happened to these two scientists assigned the most serious of missions? Perhaps the filmmakers felt a need to lighten matters since the core plot here is so dark, but would a scientist like Grace really be dropping his guard with all kinds of shenanigans, silly hats, sunglasses, etc., while playfully ragging on his new partner? It feels misplaced, too, because the alien is a far superior astronaut and scientist to Grace and Rocky’s space acumen alone should keep his inferior from treating him like a kid brother. It also doesn’t help that the real-time dynamics of said mission to save the galaxy are continually interrupted by lengthy flashbacks showing how this misfit Grace ended up onboard. Granted, those scenes are illuminating, but they retard some of the pacing and tension that’s been built up in space.
Throughout, there’s a remarkable sense of claustrophobia aboard that tight ship, a genuine sense of wonder at all that is occurring in the stars around them, and, yes, an inspiring sense of hope as these two species learn to work together despite all barriers. Screenwriter Drew Goddard, adapting the bestseller by author Andy Weir, along with directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, have a good thing going here, marred by some overdone humor. Tonally, it feels off and maybe even betrays the mission. Still, this film is mostly a nail-biting story, filled with compassion for its astronauts, and a sense of time, space, and stakes that will keep you captivated.
