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Film Brain is ecstatic about this adaptation of Andy Weir's book, where Ryan Gosling and an unlikely alien friend have to save the universe, that is rip-roaring amalgamation of a lot of classic sci-fi that's sure to become one of them.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Projector, and on this episode, Ryan Gosling makes a friend in space
00:04as they try to save the universe together in the film adaptation of Project Hail Mary.
00:25Rylan Grace, player Ryan Gosling, wakes from a coma with amnesia aboard a spaceship, and his two other crewmates have
00:31died in transit.
00:33As his memory gradually returns, Grace starts to piece together why he's there, a microorganism known as Astrophage is making
00:40the Earth's sun dim, causing an extinction-level event in 30 years' time.
00:45Grace was hired by Eva Stratt, by Sandra Hula, as part of Project Hail Mary, a last-chance attempt to
00:51save Earth, and the ship is on course to Tau Ceti, the only star in the universe that is not
00:56infected, to figure out why.
00:58But Grace soon realises that he's not alone in this mission, after all.
01:04It was inevitable that Project Hail Mary would make its way to the screen, especially given how successful Andy Weir's
01:09previous book, The Martian, was, where it was brought to film by Ridley Scott back in 2015.
01:14Ryan Gosling and MGM bought the rights to the book before it was even published back in 2020, with the
01:19idea that Gosling would star in it, and try to repeat that earlier success.
01:23And when the book came out the following year, it was a huge smash that garnered rave reviews.
01:29Also back from The Martian is Cloverfield writer Drew Goddard, who did the script for that movie, and he returns
01:35to do the adaptation here.
01:37Piloting the ship this time is Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the directors of the Lego movie.
01:41And I do have to admit, I was a bit dumbfounded when I was researching this, as I learned this
01:46is their first directing credit since 22 Jump Street back in 2014.
01:51Which is nuts, right?
01:53Because Lord and Miller have never gone away, and they're exceptionally prolific as producers, being especially hands-on with the
02:00universally acclaimed Spider-Verse films.
02:03So much so that we do have a tendency to think of them before the actual directors of those films.
02:09Of course, we know the big reason why there is this massive gap in their careers.
02:14They were fired from the Star Wars prequel Solo midway through the shoot, with most of it being reshot by
02:20credited director Ron Howard.
02:22It was all very public and acrimonious, and certainly there was a lot of questions at the time over where
02:27the duo, who had mostly worked in animation,
02:29were simply not able to handle the complexities of a big blockbuster sci-fi movie, as their previous live-action
02:36directing credits were the Jump Street movies.
02:38Or maybe they were just too idiosyncratic for a major franchise like Star Wars, and they just weren't the right
02:44fit.
02:44But if there were any lingering questions about their ability to helm an ambitious, big-budget sci-fi flick, then
02:50Project Hail Mary can finally put them to bed.
02:53This is a fantastically directed film, with all the playfulness, creativity, and emotional heart that we've come to expect from
03:00Lord and Miller's work intact,
03:01and an absolutely roaring success as an adaptation.
03:04And it is obviously very much in the same vein as The Martian, especially since they have the same premise
03:09of an astronaut alone in space.
03:11And just like that movie, it's anchored by a hugely charismatic central performance that carries the entire film.
03:18I'll just come out and say it, I've been a huge fan of Ryan Gosling for many years, going all
03:22the way back to things like Drive.
03:24He's a fantastic actor that's immensely watchful.
03:27And this is the absolute testament to that, because Gosling is not just in every single scene of this film,
03:33but there are large chunks of this where he's effectively acting by himself, or to a puppet.
03:38It's perhaps an even more demanding role for Gosling than it was for Matt Damon,
03:42because while Damon spent almost that entire film on his lonesome,
03:45it was an ensemble piece that split its time between him and the other characters back on Earth.
03:50This movie is entirely from Grace's point of view, even the way the narrative is framed,
03:55so we experience it as he does.
03:58And Gosling has developed a quite self-effacing screen persona in recent years,
04:02in contrast to some of his earlier, more brooding performances.
04:06There's a lot of humour in his acting, and that's especially true here,
04:09particularly in the film's earlier scenes where he's fumbling around, disorientated and uncoordinated,
04:15with wild long hair and a big bushy beard, raving like a madman.
04:20Even after that, he's still clumsily tripping up around the ship,
04:24and particularly struggles at first with trying to control his actions in zero gravity,
04:29flailing as he floats around cluelessly.
04:31It's a very physically demanding performance by Gosling,
04:34especially with all the complexities of having so much wire work,
04:38and yet he manages to make it look effortless, because he's got such good comic timing.
04:44Likewise, I'm sure that Lord and Miller's famously improvisational approach
04:47also clicked with Gosling, particularly in the recorded video diaries,
04:51where he has a number of funny lines,
04:54although he wears t-shirts almost exclusively consisting of science puns.
04:58But Gosling also sells the big emotional beats to the film too,
05:02and the devastating sense of loneliness that his character feels.
05:06Sometimes, even within the same scene,
05:08you'll go from laughing to being genuinely moved,
05:11and there are points in this where Gosling is achingly vulnerable.
05:15One scene in particular two-thirds of the way through,
05:18where Grace gets some life-changing news,
05:20might be some of the best acting that Gosling has ever done.
05:24It's an incredibly likable performance,
05:26and like Damon before him,
05:28he becomes a convincing everyman for the audience to project themselves onto.
05:32And this speaks to the appeal of Andy Weir's writing,
05:36because his stories might be flights of fancy,
05:38but he tries to ground them in plausible science.
05:41Weir is doing hard sci-fi,
05:43but in an approachable way that mixes it with pulpy genre tropes.
05:48We relate to his characters,
05:49because while they are exceptionally smart,
05:52their methods are often trial and error,
05:54trying to find solutions using limited resources.
05:57We feel like we're trying to solve the problem alongside them,
06:01and that's how Weir gets us engaged with the science,
06:05by making it fun and exciting in its own right,
06:07because it can lead to surprising and unexpected outcomes.
06:11When they make a discovery,
06:13we share that same catharsis with them,
06:15because there's something immensely satisfying
06:17about seeing someone science the shit out of this,
06:21as Matt Damon famously said.
06:23If I did have a little nitpick with Project Hail Mary,
06:26I do think at times that it can rush through the actual explanations
06:29of how Grace accomplishes what he does,
06:32but I understand that's a trade-off that you have to make for a film.
06:35In a book, you've got room to deep dive into that,
06:38but a film has to prioritise pace,
06:41especially when there's a lot of ground to cover,
06:43like there is here,
06:44and that still barely fits within the realm of two and a half hours.
06:48It's not important to fully understand the specifics
06:51of how Grace manages to do something,
06:53only the sense that he does.
06:55But if that sounds a bit like the investigative elements of a whodunit,
06:59then that's very deliberate,
07:00because it's meant to be a mystery,
07:02where we have just as many questions as Grace.
07:05What happened that he's now on a spaceship?
07:07Why is he there?
07:08What is astrophage,
07:10and why is the sun dying?
07:12Why is Tau Ceti the only star that's intact?
07:15These are the sort of questions that Grace tries to ask
07:18in a room full of people,
07:19trying to catch him up on everything,
07:21and they have to just keep chanting back,
07:22we don't know.
07:25And gradually, over the course of it,
07:27we get most of the answers.
07:29But for Grace at first,
07:31to paraphrase David Byrne,
07:33you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large spaceship,
07:36and you may ask yourself,
07:37well, how did I get here?
07:39So the film plays out in two parallel timelines,
07:43with Grace in space on the Hail Mary,
07:45and Grace on Earth leading up to the mission,
07:47which are his memories slowly returning to him.
07:49These are in two different aspect ratios,
07:51so the scenes in space are opened up to 2-to-1
07:54in the regular version,
07:55or even further to 1-4-3,
07:58depending on the IMAX print you see,
08:00and the scenes on Earth are in 2-35 scope.
08:03So you have two very distinct looks
08:05for different sections of the movie.
08:07It's in these Earth scenes that we meet Eva Stratt,
08:10played by Sandra Hula,
08:11who drew a lot of deserved attention
08:13for a fantastic turn in Anatomy of a Fall,
08:16who hires Grace on the back of an old paper that he wrote.
08:19Stratt is quite pragmatic,
08:21and even seems quite cold at times.
08:24There's an early moment where Grace humors the art
08:26if he's expendable,
08:27and she has to confer with a row of people
08:29to confirm that they would prefer if you didn't die.
08:33But she has to be hard and tough for the sake of the mission,
08:36which is her utmost priority.
08:38But it's based on an idealism,
08:41and there is a caring warmth to her
08:43as much as she tries to hide it,
08:45and she's always supportive of Grace.
08:47Hula gets a standout bit in a karaoke scene
08:50where she belts out Harry Styles' Sire of the Times,
08:53which is apparently a late addition to the film
08:55that Gosling insisted upon once he heard her singing voice.
08:59It was absolutely the right choice.
09:01It's a beautiful moment
09:03that sums up the whole character perfectly,
09:06even down to the song choice
09:07that's quite poetic
09:09if you know what the song is supposed to be about.
09:11Hula excels at playing these complex characters,
09:14and she's excellent playing a pivotal supporting role.
09:18And in a way,
09:19she's sort of the core of the story as a whole.
09:22When you think about it,
09:23the stakes of the story are exceptionally bleak,
09:26as all life will become extinct,
09:28and what's left of humanity that doesn't initially perish
09:31will be plunged into freezing temperatures
09:33and fighting over what food and resources are left.
09:37Even at the start of the film,
09:38Grace is teaching a class
09:39who will be the generation that grows up through this threat,
09:43and they're all terrified that they're going to die.
09:46And he assures them that the best and brightest
09:48are looking for a solution,
09:50unaware that he will become a part of it.
09:53This is pretty clearly an allegory
09:54for the looming threat of climate change,
09:57with Astrophage being a textbook MacGuffin
10:00that serves the needs of the story.
10:02It's both an existential threat,
10:04but also a remarkable,
10:05if dangerously unstable, energy resource
10:08that serves as part of the solution to its own problem,
10:11as it's the fuel that allows the Hail Mary
10:14to make its journey.
10:15It gets even darker,
10:17as that's a one-way journey,
10:19as that's only the amount of fuel there is.
10:21So Grace has to try and accept the fact
10:23that not only is he alone in space,
10:26but he will die there too,
10:28having to sacrifice himself for the sake of humanity.
10:31But this is a triumphantly optimistic story
10:33about the resolve of the human spirit,
10:36ingenuity, and survival,
10:37when all hope appears to be lost.
10:40One that does have some echoes
10:42are something like Interstellar.
10:43Grace's biggest problem is mostly himself,
10:46and his lack of self-belief.
10:48He's become a middle school science teacher
10:50after his theories were derided,
10:52and he's accepted that that just is his place.
10:55And every single step of the way,
10:58Grace keeps telling Strat
10:59that he's not the man that they're looking for,
11:02memorably exclaiming,
11:03I put the nut in astronaut!
11:05But she can see his potential,
11:07even if he doesn't.
11:09And for all his doubts and cowardice,
11:11when he's pressed,
11:12he's more than smart enough to fend for himself.
11:15He struggles to work out how to pirate the ship,
11:18given he had no training for it,
11:20but he does eventually master it.
11:22He can do it,
11:24he's just more scared to accept
11:25that he is able to do it,
11:28and have that responsibility.
11:30Grace's capability and courage surprises even himself,
11:34and the film is all about embracing the possibility of hope,
11:37and accomplishing something beyond
11:38not just what you thought possibly of yourself,
11:40but against such impossible odds,
11:43there's almost miraculous.
11:45But perhaps the most miraculous thing in the film
11:47is the central friendship that diverts between Grace
11:49and the rock-like alien that he calls Rocky.
11:52And yes, this being an MGM film,
11:55he can show him the movie of his namesake.
11:57In the original book,
11:59Rocky was meant to be something of a surprise for readers.
12:02That's not the case for the film,
12:03which has put Rocky front and centre of the marketing campaign.
12:07And while the publicity for the film
12:08has maybe given a little bit too much away about it,
12:11you can see exactly why they did this.
12:13Not only does this set the film apart from The Martian,
12:16but this relationship is the very heart of the film.
12:19Clearly, the initial encounters between Grace and Rocky
12:21draw a lot of inspiration from Arrival,
12:23especially how they interact on a bridge between their two ships,
12:26separated by a panel,
12:28to try and protect each other from their incompatible atmospheres.
12:31And just like that movie,
12:33they have to try and figure out how to interact with each other
12:35and find a common language,
12:37at first by mimicry and later through puppet shows.
12:41Soon, Grace has found a way of translating Rocky's trills and sounds into English,
12:45voiced by lead puppeteer James Orteez.
12:48And while Rocky has a bit of a tendency to mix up his words and phrases,
12:52they manage to work with each other.
12:54And Rocky is a wonderful creation from Star Wars creature designer,
12:58Neil Scanlon,
12:59brought to life through a combination of physical puppets
13:01and VFX by Parrington FX House Framestore.
13:04He's distinctly alien,
13:06moving and acting like a crab,
13:08seen by echolocation,
13:10and not even having a face to express himself.
13:13As Grace says,
13:14faces are overrated.
13:16But despite their differences,
13:18Grace and Rocky share a lot of common ground,
13:20because they're mirror images of each other.
13:23Like Grace,
13:24Rocky is completely alone,
13:26having lost all of his other crew,
13:28and he is there for the exact same reason,
13:30to save his world.
13:32The bond that forms between the pair after their long periods of isolation is genuinely quite moving,
13:38especially as they each do what the other can't.
13:41Rocky is a skilled engineer,
13:43crafting objects out of a metallic form of the gas xenon.
13:46And like Grace,
13:47you grow to love Rocky,
13:49even without any humanoid features,
13:51because he has such visual personality,
13:54especially as he rolls around the Hail Mary in a little protective sphere,
13:58he's very cute and adorable.
14:00Even the repeated image of their ships,
14:02linked together,
14:03spinning in tandem to create gravity on the Hail Mary,
14:06serves as a visual metaphor for how they work together.
14:10And that the movie manages to get you so emotionally invested in their dynamic,
14:14is what makes it so heartfelt.
14:16Particularly in the extended action scenes,
14:18where they have to risk their lives for each other,
14:21and for the sake of the mission.
14:22You genuinely care for them.
14:25And it's a wonderful portrait of friendship
14:27that is the film's most unique element.
14:30Lord and Miller's direction is particularly strong in the space scenes
14:33and the sheer scale and beauty of it.
14:35You can tell you took a lot of visual inspiration
14:37for the likes of 2001 A Space Odyssey and Silent Running,
14:41and the scenes where Grace gets outside in his space suit
14:43are especially impressive.
14:45The shots in space are often played in scientifically correct silence,
14:49aside from the film's score,
14:51which Lord and Miller even managed to effectively play
14:53for an almost Lego movie-esque gag,
14:56where Grace stutteringly tries to steer the Hail Mary
14:59away from Rocky's massive ship in a distant long shot.
15:03They've also clearly been inspired by astrophotography,
15:06creating a strikingly colourful view of the planets and stars.
15:10And it's just an amazing spectacle.
15:13You just overcome by awe.
15:15It's particularly apparent in the fishing sequence,
15:18but also a scene where Grace has to collect samples of astrophage,
15:22and the view snaps into infrared,
15:24which is just wondrous and breathtaking in its beauty.
15:29As you can tell by all the films I've name-checked
15:31over the course of this review,
15:32Project Hail Mary is a smorgasbord of pieces
15:35taken from other iconic sci-fi movies.
15:38But those are some exceptional flicks to be borrowing from,
15:41and Project Hail Mary is good enough
15:43that it deserves to be mentioned in the same company.
15:46While it does sometimes show the strain
15:48of trying to condense all of what the book was
15:50into feature length,
15:51and does feel a little bit overlong,
15:54I also don't think there's anything
15:56you could really cut from this either,
15:58not without severely damaging it in some way.
16:01As an adaptation,
16:02I think fans of the book will likely be very pleased,
16:04but if you're like me and you haven't read it,
16:06it's still very accessible.
16:08It's a terrific movie
16:09that is everything that you go to the cinema for.
16:13It's funny, moving, smart,
16:15exceptionally active,
16:16and truly spectacular.
16:18It's a big, crowd-pleasing blockbuster
16:21that is triumphantly optimistic,
16:23which is exactly the kind of escapism
16:25we need in such gloomy times.
16:28I think it may well be an early contender
16:30for one of the best films of 2026,
16:32or to express that in a way that Rocky would say,
16:35amaze, amaze, amaze.
16:36If you like this review
16:37and you want to support my work,
16:39you can give me a tip on my Ko-fi page,
16:41or where YouTube's Super Thanks feature,
16:42which is right below the video.
16:44Or you can be the Adrian to my Rocky
16:46over at my Patreon,
16:47where you can see my videos early,
16:49among other perks,
16:50including access to my Discord server.
16:52And you can also join YouTube memberships
16:53for similar perks.
16:54Or you can just simply like, share,
16:56and hype the video.
16:57It really is appreciated.
16:59Until next time,
17:01I'm Matthew Buck,
17:02fading out.
17:06I'm Matthew Buck.
17:07I'm Matthew Buck.
17:08I'm Matthew Buck.
17:08I'm Matthew Buck.
17:09I'm Matthew Buck.
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