Ryan Gosling’s newest acting venture, “Project Hail Mary,” released on Friday, March 20, and has been a huge hit ever since. The film, based on Andy Weir’s 2021 science fiction novel of the same name, became the highest-grossing debut for Amazon MGM Studios after earning around $80.5 million.
Gosling stars as Ryland Grace, a science teacher who wakes up on a spaceship with an incredibly important mission that would save Earth from the death of its sun. As he slowly gets his memory back and realizes how he ended up in space, viewers are shown flashbacks of the events leading up to the opening scene.
The mission is complicated and difficult, though Ryland quickly discovers that he may have a partner in his endeavor – in the form of an alien, later named Rocky, with similar motives.
The technical elements of Ryland’s mission are explained with enough detail for non-scientists to get the gist of what is going on without the film being bogged down with confusing concepts and terms. I can’t speak to how much of the science is fictional versus realistic, though, because I am part of the aforementioned non-scientist audience.
The cinematography delivers shocking and heart-stopping visuals of space that have viewers gasping at the beauty on the screen. This is made even more impressive by the fact that the film uses no green screens whatsoever; everything on screen is either a set that was really built or visual effects. Rocky was created by mixing puppetry with post-production animation, so Gosling could actually be “interacting” with the alien during their scenes rather than having to imagine him.
There is a small number of characters featured prominently in the film, with some of the other ones being the woman in charge of the mission, Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller), and security guard/lab assistant to Ryland, Carl (Lionel Boyce). While they are important to the events leading up to the mission, most of the film focuses on Ryland and Rocky in their quest.
As Ryland and Rocky work together, the story opens up into an emotional narrative about how teamwork between like-minded individuals – regardless of their species – can create beautiful things. There are moments where you will laugh, cry, gasp and sit on the edge of your seat throughout the film as the plot develops.
Personally, I had all of the above reactions as I watched the film. My high expectations for the film were exceeded as I felt myself care about these characters more than I initially thought possible. I plan to read the book as soon as I can to consume even more content and learn about what was understandably cut in order to adapt the story for the big screen.
Overall, the film is a stunning reminder that there is so much out there to discover, maybe even a home you didn’t realize you were missing.
Junior Emily Myers is a Copy Editor. Her email is emyers3@fandm.edu.