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

"I put the 'not' in astronaut!"

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 alone and forced to save the universe in a last-ditch mission 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 interstellar odyssey in media res before he's forcibly sent to another galaxy on a suicide mission. He wisely streamlines the more complex scientific elements through the amnesiac flashback structure (from the novel) to heighten the more emotional elements of saving humanity and betting everything on an unlikely "Hail Mary" plan.

Despite being mostly 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 the no-nonsense Sandra Hüller as the lead 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 lenses the stunning visual splendour of outer space. Filmed digitally in the crisp 1.43 IMAX aspect ratio format and resolution (converted to a 70mm film print) in orbit, Lord and Miller frame the isolation and coldness of outer space with an exhilarating reverence. 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 2001: A Space Odyssey.

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

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


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