Dirs: Phil Lord/ Christopher Miller | Cast: Ryan Gosling,
Ryan Gosling finds himself on a mission to save the world in this playful sci-fi buddy movie about friendship. It’s a cosy critique of our modern life on Earth
As science teacher Ryland Grace he wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, Grace begins to uncover his mission: to solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. He must call on his knowledge of ‘astrophages’ in order to stop the stars dying out and everything on Earth from extinction, but a surprising friendship that comes out of the blue – quite literally – means he may not have to do it alone.
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Project Hail Mary is based on a novel by Andy Weir and scripted by Drew Goddard who adapts it for the screen. For once this is not about baddies killing each other in a desperate bid to conquer the world – or Space, for that matter – but a soft-hearted look at vulnerability; the fear of loneliness and the lack of belonging with a focus on companionship from wherever it comes..man, beast or even inanimate object, as we soon find out.
The ‘characters’ of Wilson (in Castaway) and ET spring to mind when we set eyes on Rocky, the entity Grace meets when he reluctantly travels light years away in Space. Rocky is smart and sympathetic and reminded me of ‘Spotty Dog’ from the childhood TV series ‘The Woodentops’ on ‘Watch with Mother’. Except Rocky (voiced by James Ortiz) resembles a crab with four mechanical fingers on each ‘arm’.
Gorgeous Gosling plumps for a goofy performance that oozes boyish charm and self-deprecation. Sandra Hüller gets a small but significant role as the tough-talking German boss of the Hail Mary Project. She targets the hapless teacher and ejects him into Space against his will. But for once the scientific plot-line takes a backseat (for me, at least) to this tender tale of connection where a friendship develops between the self-effacing scientist and the well-meaning Sci-fi creature who embodies the positive human qualities of kindness, cleverness and sensitivity.
In Greig Fraser’s stunning set pieces and state of art cinematography Grace and Rocky will work together towards a solution to avoid world famine and death in a bond that tests all outside forces proving the way forward for humanity is through collaboration and understanding, not war and destruction. Never was such a shiny, hopeful story so relevant and welcome as today.
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