Project Hail Mary Review

 

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are back in the directing chairs after twelve years of being away from it and mostly being writers and producers. But the question is did they come back directing a hit or a miss?

Project Hail Mary is a sci-fi adventure film based on Andy Weir's 2021 novel of the same name. The companies that produced it are Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Pascal Pictures, Open Invite Films, Waypoint Entertainment and Lord Miller Productions with distribution by Amazon MGM Studios. As previously mentioned Phil Lord and Christopher Miller directed but it was Drew Goddard that wrote the screenplay.

The story is, Dr. Ryland Grace wakes up in a spacecraft with no memory of why he's there but after some time he pieces it all together. He learns he was sent to space to figure out what's going on with the sun's surface and prevent a global cooling disaster. It's a huge task but thanks to an unexpected friendship Dr. Grace won't have to do it alone.

Initial Reaction

If you read my Most Anticipated list then you know I've been looking forward to this because Lord and Miller are directing and they haven't done that since 22 Jump Street back in 2014. So I was curious what they'd be bringing to table but only this time as directors.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

It's the pacing. While some parts move along gracefully, there were also some sections that dragged. It also didn't help that scenes are go flashback, present, flashback, present.

Pros

At first I was gonna start off this review by praising Ryan Gosling's performance and I will later, but I gotta give the biggest praise to how the film looked. Greig Fraser has done amazing cinematography for films like Dune, Dune: Part Two, The Batman, and The Creator, but I think Project Hail Mary is just might amaze people more than those movies. There's rich textures, beautiful set designs, and gorgeous cosmic images. I just couldn't take my eyes off the screen. Alright now it's time to Ryan Gosling. He brought his usual charm and wit, while also providing great bits of physical comedy. But his best parts were vulnerability and being deeply human. Because of these aspects Dr. Grace is a very likable character. Now I did love the story for its scientific and adventurous feel, but what I loved most was the growing friendship between Dr. Grace and Rocky. While teaming up on the same mission was a great part of their story, seeing them interact and become friends was both moving and very heartfelt. The friendship was the story's biggest highlight.

While I had a slight issue with the pacing, I still think you should check out Project Hail Mary. It's a modern day sci-fi film worth watching.

My final rating is, Great.

So that's all for now. Sorry I didn't post this Saturday like I usually do for newer movies, but sadly yesterday I had to attend a funeral for a family member and it didn't feel right to be thinking about uploading a review when my main focus should be on something far more important. Sorry to just drop that on you but I just wanted you to understand what's going on.

But in more brighter news, come back on Monday, Mar 23rd, for A Look Back at review of season one of Daredevil: Born Again. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.