As “Project Hail Mary” begins, Ryland Grace awakes from a long-term coma, dazed and disoriented aboard a ship in space. He finds his two crewmates dead. And he is immensely alone, trying to remember his mission.
As the story develops, adapted by Drew Goddard from Andy Weir’s 2021 novel, the scenes take us back to Grace’s time as a science teacher and the revelation that Earth faces a catastrophe because a mysterious substance is killing our sun, threatening all of humanity.
Ryan Gosling plays Grace with a mix of focused dedication and goofiness, showing how he helps his young charges understand science with games.
Yet this unassuming microbiologist, whose past work rankled other scientists and led him to take his talents to the classroom, seems to hold the key to tracing the source of the problem to a far-off galaxy.
A former administrator of the European Space Agency, Eva Stratt (played by Sandra Hüller), recruits Grace to design the mission that will save the planet, and hopefully thwart a new Ice Age. It is a true long, long, long-shot effort, thus the ultimate Hail Mary pass (recalling a football play named for its throw-it-out-there-and-pray nature.)
Back on his ship “Mary” (whose computer is voiced by Priya Kansera), Grace eventually traces the problem back to the alien culture that started draining the sun, where he encounters another spaceship. Aboard that ship is another entity whose crewmates have all died, an anthropomorphic confluence of shifting rocks that Grace uncreatively calls “Rocky” (voice of James Ortiz).
The movie, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, clocks in at a whopping two and a half hours, alternating between scenes on the ship and flashbacks where we learn how Grace got into the situation. Like Weir’s previous adapted project, “The Martian,” much of the film zeroes in on one person’s resourcefulness. In that film, Matt Damon’s Mark Watney hobbles together potatoes and solar panels to save himself. Grace’s mission is similar, yet broader in that the lives of humanity and the rock people all hang in the balance.
Elements of comedy help lighten the mood as the man and rock-man learn to communicate and work alongside each other, and grow to understand and love each other, despite their differences.
For a movie with a prayer in its name, “Project Hail Mary” is surprisingly bereft of faith or religiosity. In one exchange, Stratt says that the project will save the planet, “God willing.”
Grace retorts, “You believe in God?”
“It beats the alternative,” the mission leader tells him, hardly a ringing endorsement.
And yet, the Hail Mary, the ship, is “full of Grace,” since he is the only one aboard.
The story shows the resilience of humans and the ability to use knowledge, cooperation and empathy to work toward a solution. Unlike many apocalyptic films these days, the danger to the planet is not human-inspired climate change, but an unseen alien factor. Nonetheless, Grace and Rocky together find a solution.
Despite not focusing much on faith, “Project Hail Mary” is a fun movie to watch and highlights humanity’s resilience in the face of difficulty.
The movie contains some intense imagery and themes. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned; some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Gunty writes from Arlington.
