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On Friday, April 10, the crew of the Artemis II mission to the moon splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after a successful mission. I watched the rescue efforts to pull the crew out of the Integrity capsule off the coast of San Diego on my phone in the parking lot of Fort Collins’ local AMC theater, just 20 minutes before I sat down to watch “Project Hail Mary.”
As someone who has a soft spot for space stories and finds herself moved to tears more than I maybe should over tales of space missions and humanity traversing the galaxy, I perhaps should have structured my weekend differently. Between the Artemis’ success and the beauty of “Project Hail Mary,” I probably discarded 10 tissues, but it was the most beautiful double header.
I grew up looking up at the stars and learning pretty much everything about space exploration that I could. “Apollo 13,” “First Man” and “Hidden Figures” all populated my adolescence as I consumed as much media as I could about NASA and space. I’ve been a fan of Andy Weir as an author and storyteller since I saw “The Martian” when I was 12. I’ve seen that film probably 30 times — it’s one of my comfort movies. I still remember the first time I saw that movie, and how I spent the next week pretty much unable to think about anything else, which is exactly the same experience I had upon finishing “Project Hail Mary.”
It is, without a doubt, one of the best films I’ve seen in a few years. Yes, it’s that good.
Adapted from Weir’s 2021 novel and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, “Project Hail Mary” focuses on Ryan Gosling’s character Ryland Grace, an ordinary middle school science teacher who is selected to help a global cohort of scientists solving the problem of a dimming sun as a result of alien bacterial forms called astrophage. If the scientists can’t figure out a solution to astrophage, which has infected every star in the galaxy except for one, humanity will go extinct in 30 years. Grace wakes up on a ship with no memories of who he is, how he got to space or what his mission operative is in traveling to a star system far away from Earth.
With its premise being so different from “The Martian,” I had my skepticisms going in to see the film. The genesis of “The Martian” has always been the enduring power of humanity to come together to save someone through the strength of the human spirit. While both “Project Hail Mary” and “The Martian” feature a human stranded in space alone, the mission crew that rescues Matt Damon’s character in “The Martian” is one of the best parts of the film, and I knew “Project Hail Mary” didn’t feature that sort of a supporting astronaut cast. What we got was far better, however: We got Rocky.
It took about 30 seconds for Rocky, the alien Ryland meets while orbiting the uninfected star, to charm me. I was sort of unsure about Rocky, who was promoted heavily in trailers, when going in — an alien? Who looked like a rock? This is what was causing audiences to rave about this film?
Rocky possesses more humanity and kindness than the rest of the human cast of the movie combined. He is funny, delightful, sweet and adorable. Created out of puppeteering teams and occasionally voiced off-set by Gosling’s daughters to evoke real emotions in Gosling, Rocky brings out a softness and gentleness to Gosling’s star performance. They riff off each other with perfect comedic timing. They watch each other sleep for safety. They both sacrifice safety and comfort to save the other. The platonic chemistry Gosling establishes with Rocky leads the audience to completely believe in his existence and their connection. Gosling deserves award nods for his performance.
The supporting cast of humans, however, adds to the complexity of the story as well. The moment when coldhearted mission leader Eva Stratt stands in front of a room of scientists and astronauts before the beginning of the mission and begins to sing a karaoke rendition of “Sign of the Times” by Harry Styles elevates her from coldhearted and cruel to someone simply trying to survive. It is an emotional turning point of the film.
It is hard to find anything about the film to dislike, except for the crucial pacing at the end that does accelerate some key scientific details that make the plot a little muddled. Aside from that, the cinematography, sound mixing, score and writing are all phenomenal. I particularly liked the detail in which sound mixers would choose to mute Grace experiencing “loud” moments, like explosions or screaming, to create tension. It helped keep the audio bearable in a genre that is often filled with loud explosions for dramatic effect.
The movie is full of heart and humor. I laughed out loud for a good portion of the film. I audibly “aww-ed” at sweet moments, gasped at tense moments and cried. A lot. It evoked every emotion that a cinematic experience should.
While journeying to the far side of the moon, Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch observed both the moon and the Earth from the windows of the Integrity capsule and quoted Rocky’s catchphrase: “Amaze, amaze, amaze.” In a world that has been filled with constant bad news, it feels like the enduring power of humanity and exploration may be the antidote to the tragedy and pain we so desperately needed. “Project Hail Mary” is a perfect cinematic representation of friendship, kindness and humanity.
Reach Allie Seibel at entertainment@collegian.com or on social media @allieseibelmedia.
