REEL | Ryan Gosling Saves the Universe – 'Project Hail Mary'

"You just need to find someone to be brave for."

Amazon MGM Studios / Lord Miller Productions

Acclaimed comedic filmmaking duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller adapt The Martian author and scientist Andy Weir's other grounded science-fiction astronaut novel, Project Hail Mary. "Just Ken" himself, actor/producer Ryan Gosling, stars in the impressive, almost-solo film about a mild-mannered but brilliant high school science teacher who is reluctantly sent into outer space and forced to save the universe in a last-ditch effort to prevent our dying sun from ending life as we know it.

Once again scripted by veteran screenwriter Drew Goddard, Gosling's comic performance centers the aspirational interstellar odyssey in media res before he travels to another galaxy on essentially a suicide mission. He wisely streamlines the more complex scientific elements through the amnesiac flashback structure (taken straight from the novel) to heighten the more emotional elements of saving humanity and betting everything on the titular, unlikely "Hail Mary" plan.

Despite being primarly a two-hander between Gosling's everyman Dr. Grace and his spider-like, rock alien buddy, "Rocky," voiced and performed by lead puppeteer James Ortiz, the film also co-stars a no-nonsense Sandra Hüller as the NASA official in charge, with Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, and Milana Vayntrub filling out some of the smaller crew character parts back on Earth.



Oscar-winning Australian cinematographer Greig Fraser shoots the stunning visual splendour of outer space superbly. Filmed digitally in the crisp 1.43:1 IMAX aspect ratio format and resolution (then converted to a 70mm film print) when in orbit off-Earth, Lord and Miller frame the isolation and coldness of outer space with an exhilarating reverence to the genre. Much of the film is a thoughtful mashup of elements from other notable sci-fi films, such as Arrival and Interstellar, with stark visuals inspired by the iconic 2001: A Space Odyssey and the sense of friendship from E.T.

Lord and Miller craft Project Hail Mary into a highly emotional yet crowd-pleasing intergalactic adventure that truly captures the pure optimism and hopefulness of space exploration. Its wry sense of humour makes the stylishly produced sci-fi procedural elements more digestible, told as an alien buddy comedy of the greatest scale and spectacle, thanks to the sheer ingenuity and majesty of the filmmaking.

Project Hail Mary screens in IMAX 70mm exclusively at Cineplex Cinemas Langley (one of only two theatres in Canada) and standard 70mm at International Village.


More | YVArcade / Inverse / Polygon / ScreenCrush