So Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up on a spaceship with no idea of who he is or why he's there. The rest of the crew are dead, and the ship is almost at the Tau Ceti system, eleven light years from Earth. Sure, he's stressed out, but don't worry; as indicated by his cry of "am I smart?" after automatically figuring something out, Project Hail Mary is all about entertainment, not angst.
Which is a little surprising considering Grace soon figures out (and remembers - as the present day story progresses, lengthy flashbacks fill in his past) that he's part of a last ditch mission to save Earth's sun from being eaten by space microbes. As this is based on an novel by Andy Weir (The Martian), this somewhat shaky idea is basically an excuse to throw around some real science, but again, no need to worry; despite literally every character in the movie being a genius, the explanations are kept down to earth.
Before, Grace was a massively overqualified high school science teacher who was roped into a project by the world's scientists - led by Eva Stratt (Sandra Muller) - to figure out what was going on. Now he's at Tau Ceti, the only infected star system where the sun isn't slowly going out. He's there to find answers. And he's not the only one.
Also alone in his spaceship is an alien eventually dubbed Rocky (James Ortiz) - it seems it's a little difficult keeping a full crew alive in outer space. A spider-like creature that's basically a hand made out of rocks, Rocky is a skilled engineer, and once Grace figures out a way for them to communicate we've got something of a buddy comedy in space complete with wacky bickering. Oh yeah, and saving two separate worlds.
At its core, this isn't any smarter than any number of big dumb Hollywood blockbusters. What makes it seem like it is, on the surface at least, is a few offbeat choices here and there. The threat to the sun isn't an alien invasion, and the response doesn't involve blowing something up; Rocky is alien in form and abilities, even if his (his?) personality turns out to be pretty standard sidekick material.
Likewise, by downplaying the drama - the big emotional reveal of the story is totally undercut by both the film's structure and the way nobody actually seems to care about it - this takes on a tone of "we're above all that". This would like to be seen as an intellectual thriller, even if the content is firmly down the crowd-pleasing end of the scale.
Where The Martian was relatively low stakes (one man, live or die) and the threat here is of a new ice age and half the world's population dying in a few decades, The Martian also had a ticking clock that was constantly ratcheted up; one mistake and it was all over. Here, the tension is nearly non-existent: scenes are leisurely, time stretches or contracts as needed (numerous scenes take place over days or weeks) and with such a limited cast nobody is expendable.
What this does have in spades is problem solving, and as with The Martian that turns out to be enough. Seeing likable people (and aliens) working together to figure stuff out is solid entertainment, and this mixes in enough variety - the flashbacks are also about problem solving but of a different kind, while being in space does prove to occasionally be both exciting and hazardous - to keep the two and a half hour run time flowing freely.
Gosling's role here is largely to deploy charisma as a character who's main setting is "flustered", while Rocky is endearing enough for there to be some actual tension when his life is at risk. Despite being a two-hander (Grace and Eva in the past, Grace and Rocky in the present), this feels epic enough to be a satisfying big screen experience, all the while making sure the story stays focused on human-level concerns like working together and making friends.
It's a heart-warming, optimistic vision of the future - based on global cooperation and taking firm action on a looming climate disaster. So sadly, despite the science and the spaceships, this is a fantasy through-and-through.
- Anthony Morris
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