I’m not familiar with the source material whatsoever but regardless this was phenomenal. An epic sci-fi odyssey that’s large in scale and knows exactly how to make feel any kind of emotion.
- Director – Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
- Runtime – 156 minutes
- Certificate – 12A
- Country – United States
I’ll start out with the plot because that’s probably the part I cared least about and that’s completely fine. The sun is dying and Ryan Gosling’s Ryland Grace needs to find out why is essentially the plot, but it gets a lot more scientific than that. It’s nothing that I was overly interested by but I didn’t mind being strung along this journey and that’s because of Gosling.
I think very few other actors could have pulled this off for me. I love Ryan and a large majority of his films, and his presence alone is enough for me to care about a film. Here his presence is off the charts.
So charismatic and earnest, he perfectly captures the feeling of the film. I just had this massive smile on my face throughout.
Not only is he charismatic and earnest, he is obviously hilarious. There aren’t any big jokes that are told but it’s these smaller moments between him and Rocky that are just funny. The humour doesn’t come from a punchline, it comes from watching these two interacting.
Rocky can be dismissed as another small creature to be marketed at first, but he is so much more. As a puppet that technically doesn’t actually say a line of dialogue I was on the verge of tears for him. He brings so much heart and warmth to the film and Gosling is acting like he is actually a real alien.
The cinematography is simply stunning. Unfortunately this watch wasn’t in IMAX but I will try and rewatch it on IMAX but even what I did watch it on, I was blown away. Obviously the scenes that are in space – specifically the Petrova Line and the ‘fishing’ sequence. Wow I genuinely had goosebumps for the entirety. Even besides that sequence, it is still shot incredibly well and that includes the lighting. The way they lit the ship from the light emitted by Tau Centi was beautiful.
What makes those two specific scenes so good though is Daniel Pemberton’s fantastic score. Personally, I think he should have won the Oscar for Best Score with his Across the Spider-Verse score and hopefully he gets nominated next year. From swelling orchestral to electronic music, it just works. The only problem with his score is that there is so many tracks where the music keeps building up it feels like the film is about to come to an end but then doesn’t. It does happen a fair few times and ultimately does mess with the pacing.
Project Hail Mary is a sci-fi epic that has enough heart, comedy and stakes to carry along a so-so plot with a brilliant performance from Ryan Gosling and a sweeping score from Pemberton.
Project Hail Mary is now paying at the Lockworks.