In the near future, scientists discover that the sun is starting to dim, because of an infestation of a microorganism known as Astrophage. They calculate that it will result in a catastrophic global cooling of Earth within 30 years, leading to famine and the deaths of billions. A high school science teacher, Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) is persuaded to join the international team who are looking for a solution to the crisis. Years later, he wakes up from an induced coma on a spaceship, with little initial idea why he is there, and to find that he is the sole survivor of the crew.
Co-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have had a long partnership but there was nothing in their filmography that indicated that they could pull off an ambitious project like this. The screenplay by Drew Goddard, adapted from a book by Andy Weir, who also wrote The Martian that was very successfully transferred to the screen by Goddard, so that was potentially more promising. But throughout the run time, I struggled with deciding whether the movie was working as it was very uneven.
The start was rough with a confused and dishevelled Grace wandering around the empty ship in scenes that I felt were too similar to many I had seen in space based movies before. From then on, the plot unfolds in two timelines: the space mission and explanation of how Grace ended up there. Once Grace was recruited, momentum was gathered and the scenes between Gosling and Sandra Hüller as his superior gave the film a lift. The pair are excellent actors and for a non-romantic couple, they had real chemistry.
Back in space, Grace encounters an alien life form and that leads to the funniest moments, but also highlight that it is a little odd that a movie about the imminent extinction of the earth is so often played for laughs. Things get more serious when Grace has to make a choice that may cost him his life, but any gravitas is lost in a very silly ending.
In the end, I enjoyed more of Project Hail Mary than not. Gosling and Hüller are terrific and Daniel Pemberton’s score is suitably epic.
Rating: 7 out of 10