PROJECT HAIL MARY
Directors ~ Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Writers ~ Drew Goddard, Andy Weir
2026, USA
Stars ~ Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz
Sort of ‘Flight of the Navigator’ for fans of ‘The Martian’ and ‘Interstellar’. Which isn’t so surprising as this is also taken from an Andrew Weir book ~ meaning lots of Personal-Growth-By-SciFi and pleasing problem solving ~ and directed by Lord and Miller ~ meaning cleverness and unassuming fun in equal measure. It’s also probably overlong with a structure that gets to the good spacey stuff and then flashes-back, so there’s no real build-up; and there feels like there’s multiple false endings before it pledges all-in with ... well. And yet, it all slides along easy, without the sense it’s padding too much (although the karaoke probably is). Mostly this is down to some wonderful visuals and the Grace-Rocky friendship which are a little at odds with the more austere flashbacks.
For those that objected to ‘Hamnet’s manipulations, ‘Project Hail Mary’ won’t be for you (unless you let popcorny genre flicks off the hook) as you know exactly how the emotional rollercoaster will go: scary dilemma to lead up to the weepy part, for example. But it does it so well and so winningly that it proves again how exemplary Lord and Miller are at this family fare that satisfies all ages. ‘The LEGO Movie’ and ‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs’ showed how deft at being wacky and super-saturated with ideas and pop-culture they are and their ’21 Jump Street’ showed they could do more traditional-looking comedy. They can’t resist a pop-culture ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ reference or a screwball inclusion of Miriam Makeba’s ‘Pata Pata’, but never lose control of tone whilst throwing in such odd details. It is perhaps Daniel Pemberton’s controlling score that is pitched at the most obvious.
Ryan Gosling brings the name and doesn’t drop the ball when moving from human interaction to puppets; Sandra Hüller is great at projecting deadpan complexity under the rote steely Head of Projects, but it’s Rocky (voiced by James Ortiz) and his ship that will steal the show. The ship is a gorgeous monolith and Rocky is achieved with tangible puppetry and funny in the way that foreigners misunderstand English idioms. Yes, despite the apparent allusions to hard science ~ it is unbelievable that Grace would manufacture a translator in no time at all (and I’m not fully sure how it functions clearly and audibly all the time) ~ and the idea that an alien encounter would be something that Pixar wouldn’t turn down puts paid already to true alienness. Rocky doesn’t stray too far from the American human template, so there’s nothing about him we cannot understand. Despite the hat-tips, this is not that film where hard science dominates ~ e.g. spacecraft don’t move cartoonishly when steered badly, and I’m sure there are lot of certan details and terminology to annoy science pedants ~ yet nevertheless it always feels it is attentive. Simon Mayo’s reservation is in the meticulous science of Weir’s novel being forfeited for goofiness, and there is something to that, but as it is strong in slick entertainment that such lacuna can be tolerated.
Rather, its insistence on two different cultures coming together to defeat a shared pending environmental apocalypse is almost radical in these trolling and trying times. Its benign open-heartedness and theme that friendship and collaboration overcomes, etc, is winning and not just performative. It is this that gives it worth in pessimistic times, as well as being quite fun and humanitarian, even if it not quite the immediate classic its cosmic-impressive visuals might insist.
