Entertainment

Project Hail Mary Review

By Emily Markin

From Home Depot runs to making friends with aliens to entering the atmosphere of an unexplored planet, “Project Hail Mary” has it all—and it surpasses expectations. 

Based on the novel of the same name by Andy Weir, “Project Hail Mary,” directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, was released on March 20, becoming a major box office success and grossing over $425 million worldwide as of early April. 

The movie centers around Ryan Gosling’s character, a middle school science teacher named Ryland Grace, who begins the movie by waking up out of a medically induced coma and discovering he is alone on a spacecraft because his two crewmates have died in their comas. Grace has to remember why he is on this ship to begin with; he is responsible for saving the world and has been left alone to do it.

All of the stars in the universe have been infected by an unknown “star-eater” called Astrophage. Grace has been tasked with identifying what exactly Astrophage is and how it spreads, the process of which is shown to viewers through carefully placed flashbacks that occur throughout the movie, providing viewers with exposition during the entire film. As viewers, we seem to receive this information as Grace remembers it, allowing us to feel more connected to him as we become more familiar with his past.

Grace discovers that Astrophage is a cell, and now must learn how to kill it. To do this, he is sent to explore the only uninfected star, Tau Ceti, over 11 light-years away from Earth. It is on this journey that he meets an alien from a planet called Erid and names him Rocky. Rocky and Grace learn how to communicate and become fast friends, realizing they have the same goal: curing their suns from the plague of Astrophage.

A puppet was created to portray Rocky, with a team of puppeteers working to control him throughout the whole movie. The lead puppeteer was James Ortiz, who also voiced Rocky. Utilizing a puppet to portray Rocky allowed Gosling to physically interact with a character during scenes and convey a stronger bond between Grace and Rocky.

In addition, the film used no green screens, which is a hugely impressive feat for a movie taking place in space. Instead of green screens, “Project Hail Mary” teams opted to create massive 360-degree sets with full spacecraft interiors that could move around to mimic space movements and zero gravity situations. 

Cinematographer Greig Fraser utilized modified cameras and camera tricks to achieve the many visual effects in the movie, bringing more realism and keeping viewers engaged in the beautiful shots throughout the movie. 

“Project Hail Mary’s” score was composed by Daniel Pemberton, doing a wonderful job of conveying and enforcing the emotions felt in each scene. The soundtrack includes many celestial and space-like sounds, immersing viewers in each scene.

Overall, “Project Hail Mary” is an incredibly beautiful movie that combines tropes of friendship, adventure, and heroism, transporting audiences to places humans have not yet dared to explore. For a movie that turns a thumbs down into a good thing, this film receives infinite thumbs down from me.