Project Hail Mary was... unfortunately mid. However, there are some good moments scattered that kind of make up for the premise of the movie.
Project Hail Mary Review: Mission Successfully Unsuccessful
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It seems that movies have been getting... unoriginal as time goes by. Being a person who is a fan of Andy Weir and loved the adaptation of The Martian, I was heavily excited for Project Hail Mary, and the initial reviews seemed nothing but to add to my excitement for the movie.
Spending a little fortune, I watched Project Hail Mary as God (and Andy Weir/ the directors) intended for me to - IMAX. Of course, the visuals were mighty impressive, and the music was grandiose in nature. However, there was one giant elephant in the room that many people failed to notice.
Read on to find out why I am calling Project Hail Mary a mid... and no, the movie isn't completely bad. In fact, it is better than Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man for me (which you can read about here).
The Plot: Rocky and Grace Save The Stars
The red and white lights vanished into nothingness as we saw a body bag. The zip opens, and we see Ryan Gosling's Ryland Grace with a heavy beard and unkempt hair when he wakes up from a coma. It felt like the iconic Andy Weir novel had been brought to life.
Everything that happens after he wakes up... was not what I had expected.
This would be a good time to tell you that a spoiler warning is now in effect. Don't read on if you haven't seen the movie (do continue if you have read the novel, though).
The biggest problem that I had with Project Hail Mary (like any book lover would) is that the plot happens too fast. Skipping all the calculations and the sciency stuff, Ryan Gosling's Ryland Grace realizes that he is in the wrong solar system within the first 10 minutes of the movie (which was a bummer).
As the plot continues, we see the humor getting up a notch with every second that passes. The introduction of Rocky's ship and the scaredy cat that Ryland Grace had become is by far... the worst part of the movie for me.
Ryland Grace was funny, but not scared, in the book. I mean, of course, he was scared, but he was a rational and logical man instead of a funny man pushing buttons and hoping for a miracle. I believe that I have arrived at the most controversial point of my review with this setup.
The movie... was too funny. Hold on, let me cook. I realize that Andy Weir's protagonists are meant to be funny. However, there's a sort of fine balance between the humor and fun that Mark Watney had (in The Martian) against the grim reality of him being stranded on a planet devoid of life.
On the other hand, Project Hail Mary was funny, but it was too funny that I had forgotten about the apocalypse on Earth happening that instant. I felt like Simon Cowell watching Ryland Grace play 'Tag' with Rocky's spaceship before their first encounter.
The humor stopped getting to me, and I wanted the movie to be just a tad bit serious. Not to mention that the flashback scenes from Earth and the present scenes in space... were a bit unjustified.
The Plot Was Too Over The Place
Continuing my rambling against the plot of the movie, I loved it when the novel shifted perspective from present to past and back to the present again. I had a faint idea that it would look quite terrible if it were to be adapted into a movie, and boy, was I right.
I mean... it wasn't terrible, but it felt unjustified. The movie felt like it spent a lot of time on Earth while Ryan Gosling was stuck in space. Rather than the glimpses and extended sequences that were in equal amounts in the Andy Weir novel, the first half of the movie was a chaotic section of Earth to space and so forth.
I found myself wondering about Ryland Grace while we were on Earth, and vice versa. I wanted to see the apocalypse happening on Earth while Rocky and Ryland were sitting in the beach simulator. This chaos also led to a staggering problem that I found impossible to see: the movie didn't feel real enough. Speaking of things that didn't feel real, let's talk about Eva Stratt.
Project Hail Mary Ruined Eva Stratt For Me
What you're about to read... is not hatred towards the actress Sandra Hüller. She is a brilliant actress, and I loved her portrayal of Eva Stratt in Project Hail Mary... except for a few places. We get it that Hüller can sing well (loved her singing). But... Eva Stratt singing a song in a bar full of people is simply unacceptable.
In the novel, Eva Stratt is a ruthless and cunning personality who doesn't give a flying rocket about who thinks what of her. Of course, there's a certain hint of admiration between her and Ryland Grance, but the movie adaptation of Eva Stratt was shown to be this emotional and smiling character that didn't sit with the book side at all.
I had to avert my eyes during the Eva Stratt singing scene because I couldn't see the filmmakers butcher her character mercilessly like that. Of course, I couldn't close my ears, and my imagination filled in the rest (which was simply... ugh). However, there are some good things about the movie, too, where I believe credit is due.
The Bromance Between Rocky and Grace is Just Perfect
From the moment that they first saw each other until their last on Erid, the chemistry between Rocky and Ryland Grace has been nothing short of perfect. From the laughs and the vocabulary that they share to the concept of "hugging" that Ryland Grace teaches Rocky, it was simply phenomenal and perfect.
I actually cried during the scene where Rocky says Ryland Grace to take 2 million pounds of Astrophage for the return journey home, since that solidified the bond between Rocky and Ryland (aside from Rocky saving Ryland in the centrifugal chaos earlier).
In fact, the extraction of the Taumoeba from Adrian's atmosphere and the visually stunning scene of Astrophages in the Petrova Frequency were two of the best scenes in the entire movie for me.
The Music and The Second Half Were On Par
Again, credit where credit is due. The music of Project Hail Mary is simply perfect. Every beat, every grand lift, and every emotional piano note hits right where it's supposed to be. Stunning visuals and the feeling of being timid in the vastness and starkness of space are perfectly captured by the ethereal, almost unreal score by Daniel Pemberton (whom I have been following since King Arthur: Legend of the Sword).
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller proved that they can be just as good in a live-action movie as they can be in an animated movie (Spider-Man: The Spider-Verse franchise). On a positive note, the second half of the movie was almost as interesting as the first half of The Martian. That's why... I called it a mid-movie.
Closing Thoughts
To give the movie a proper ending that it deserves, I would like to share my closing thoughts on Project Hail Mary. The ending... was rushed (not the article, the movie). It was rushed to the point where I turned around, and people around me were confused whether they had reached the conclusion of the movie or not.
It felt almost anti-climactic as Ryland Grace detached the probes from the spacecraft, and the next scene we see is him and Rocky chilling in the beach simulator while Eva Stratt looks at the data and smiles (again). The ending... didn't feel like an ending.
It didn't feel earned or hard-fought for. It felt almost as if surviving the odds of space was enough hardship for Rocky and Grace, and at the end, the two simply rode off into the sunset (in this case, Erid) and became best friends for life. It almost felt banal and childish at one point.
In the novel, the ending felt justified and hard-earned. The concluding pages saw a rise in the tension, and the stakes did become higher and higher with each turn of the page. However, in the film, it simply felt like just another act, and poof, Earth and Erid were saved.
To conclude my review of Project Hail Mary, the premise was solid, the script and humor felt weak, and the ending rushed. The character of Eva Stratt was completely butchered, but the second half, alongside the visuals and the score, pretty much covers it up as a decent flick or a "one-time watch" as some people like to call it.
Final Score: 6.5/10
Project Hail Mary is currently screening in theaters (USA).
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