Space: the final frontier…unless we’re talking movies, in which case the subject matter has had a train ran on it by Hollywood for decades now. But that just reflects the intense fascination the human race has on the great unknown, and we’ve managed to to use it as a lightning rod for a variety of emotions. Fear, loneliness and adventure can all be pulled from the wonders of the universe, but some of my favorite instances use the limitless space to reflect back on the individual and highlight the drive that makes human beings so remarkable. And annoying, but you know, saving the world warrants you to a little silliness.

Project Hail Mary finally gives filmmaking duo Chris Miller and Phil Lord the big budget blockbuster spectacle they were destined to have…like two movies ago. But the duo make the most of the time, driving a charming if not somewhat sickly sweet Ryan Gosling through a visually stunning adventure about human perseverance and having a funny little pet rock. Yeah, it’s cheesy and borderline sugar coated at times, but it still feels like it’s been a while since we’ve gotten a big sci-fi movie that feels so earnest without becoming too overly artificial. It’s been a slow year so far but I do think this is one of those films worth braving the pigsty that is the current movie going experience to see on the biggest screen you can.

The world is dying and humanity is gonna die with it. But enough about current times, a middle school science teacher Ryland Grace is tasked by the government to help fix an extinction-level phenomenon that requires a perilous journey into deep space. Along the way he forms an unlikely friendship with a creature on a similar mission as they race to save their planets and maybe discover a little bit about themselves along the way.

We may never get a The Nice Guys sequel, but I’ll be supporting Ryan Gosling every step of the way regardless. Can’t say the dude doesn’t have range, and in this film, Gosling is tasked with roping in the comedic and dramatic as the character of Ryland Grace carries the somber alienation of being alone in space, but manages to have a silly little time as well. Gosling’s charm is undeniable and he definitely keeps this from growing drab or boring, but the characterization of Grace can admittedly be a bit overbearing at times. This film is all about maintaining hope in the face of insurmountable odds, but does there have to be a joke for every single situation. Lord and Miller are known for their mile a minute joke output, so I wasn’t really mad about that going in, but it does feel like some of Grace’s more dramatic moments are undercut by the need to insert a joke. I get it, comedy is a coping mechanism and all that, but it still feels like the film is struggling to let these moments resonate at times. Gosling is still a delight so it’s not a huge issue, just offputting enough to be likable yet you still totally understand why he’s a got no one in his life.

Turning in the best performance though is Sandra Huller, who plays Eva Stratt, the head of the Hail Mary project and the one who recruits Grace. She’s cold and standoffish, but there’s complexity to her that makes total sense. She, perhaps more than anyone, understands the stakes of what’s to come and approaches the situation with surprisingly more humanity than you’d expect. She isn’t calloused into not caring; she probably cares more than anyone. That’s why when she gets a moment to do some karaoke to Harry Styles Sign of the Times, a surprisingly very apropos song choice, it genuinely shook me more than perhaps any other moment in the movie. She serves as a great foil for the self-conscious and joking Grace, although the film almost hints towards something romantic between them? They don’t pull the trigger on that, which I’m pretty thankful for.

And that’s because Grace already has a soulmate and that’s Rocky, a stone spider type alien he meets on his travels. Rocky’s appearance in the book was a pretty big surprise that wasn’t telegraphed from the get go, but you couldn’t really expect a Hollywood movie to not tell you about its cute little critter. I won’t spoil too much about Rocky’s role in the film, but his relationship with Grace can be quite endearing as they learn more about one another. His Microsoft Sam-esque voice is cute and his butchering of the human language leads to some decent laughs, but it can be a bit much at times. You could tell Rocky was gonna be the merch magnet here, so they really revved him up to be a quirky animal sidekick. It’s fine for what it is, but how can you not at least feel some love for a creature brought to life so effectively.

This thing is really a visual and production marvel, from the puppeteering of Rocky to the rotating sets employed for the spaceship. The big tout that’s been attached to this film is that they used no green screens for this. Of course there are obvious visual effects that can only be generated by a computer, but it’s still astonishing to see some of the visuals they pull off with practicality. Having no green screens means you really have to put some thought into how you’re going to block or light a scene around the environment, and I think that attention to detail really pays off. There’s a groundedness to it that heightens the claustrophobia and the anxiety of being on a ship by yourself, even when the story sometimes to forget about that. 

Now, I haven’t read the book, but my wife has, and a lot of my friends have, so that kinda means I read the book too? Not really, as I can’t really speak too confidently on what the movie gets right and wrong from the book. From what I understand, most of the plot is fairly intact with some specifics either minimized or left out completely. But I want to focus on what it succeeds on as a movie, as well as what it trips up on, removing the book from the equation. Like I said, it’s dazzling to watch while also being humorous and heartfelt, but I can already tell people are gonna have some issues with the comedy. Yeah, it’s a bit cutesy, no doubt in an effort to make this more accessible to younger audiences, but like I kinda mentioned before, it does lead to the movie feeling a bit declawed at times. There’s some real emotional gut punches here that occasionally get hindered by the film being unwilling to drop the humor at times. There’s also some pacing issues here and there that made me dip in and out at times while the film also seemingly struggled to end. There’s like three climactic blowoffs that feel like everything is wrapped up, but then it just keeps going. But overall, these aren’t really huge issues for me, because the team still managed to create a bit of hope-core that does showcase the bravery that lies in all of us that can be brought out due to unfortunate circumstances.

Project Hail Mary is a genuine feel good time at the movies, one that isn’t steeped in irony or pessimism and actually knows how to trigger something deeper in the heart. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s wrapped in visual mastery that only blows you away the more you look at it. I really did enjoy this, but there’s something to it that kept me from outright loving it. Maybe it’s the overly cutesy tone or its narrative dips, but I’m not exactly feeling the urge to rush and see this again. But I definitely think this is 100% worth seeing on the biggest screen you can. It’s been a minute since we’ve gotten something hopeful at this scale, and I think we could all use a little hopium nowadays.

RATING

PETROVA LINE

One of the most stunning visuals in the film involves what’s called astrophages. Basically these microorganisms feed solar energy and form an infrared line from Sun to Venus as they hop across the galaxy. When our hero Grace stands among them, it makes for a really dazzling scene, and I wanted to capture that in a cocktail. So, keeping with the cosmic setting, this is going to be a bit of a cosmopolitan riff, but we’ll be adding some watermelon and gin flavors to the drink, because it is warming up out there and we need a nice drink for summer. The combination of fruit and botanicals make this a sweet, easy to drink cocktail that utilizes a flavor that doesn’t get a ton of play in most cocktails. Additionally, we’ve got a few special ingredients to make it even more cosmic. So I hope you like it, because it’s the only drink we’ve got onboard for the next two decades.

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5oz gin
• 1/2oz lime juice
• 1/2oz cranberry juice
• 1/2oz watermelon liqueur
• 1 dash orange bitters
• Pinch of luster dust (pink preferably but I used purple)
• Garnish: cherry + lime wheel rind

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add ingredients to a cocktail shaker and shake with ice.
2. Strain into cocktail glass filled with ice.
3. For the garnish, pierce the rind of a lime wheel with a toothpick with a cherry in the center.