RIOTUS

I talk about escapism a lot because we need a means to break out of this world and find a little solace in another one. Project Hail Mary, whether it’s the book, the audiobook, or now this movie directed by Miller and Lord, is more than that. It’s a story a friend shared with me when her heart had broken in grief, and because it’s about hope and what it means to be brave, it’s more than escapism. It’s healing.

It all started with the audiobook, which, everyone who knows me will tell you, is the greatest audiobook ever created. You may doubt me, you may disagree with me, but I know I’m not wrong. The novel is by Andy Weir, who also wrote The Martian, and is narrated by Ray Porter. Who does an incredible job making you feel entirely immersed in this world of Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling). Using nothing more than his voice—a gift he animates and sculpts into every shape of humanity, alien, and space exploration possible—Porter makes us feel we know these people and have been to these places. If there is a single point of criticism—and it is tiny—the Chinese accents are, yeah, well. Everything else is great. The audiobook is an entirely immersive experience. Reading the novel is the same, so this adaptation had a lot to live up to (unless you haven’t read it, and then you’re fine). It’s easy to see why Gosling needed to make this movie, and everybody he brought onto the project shared the love.

Project Hail Mary is a story about our world in an extinction-level crisis, but it centers on three people: Grace (Gosling), Stratt (Sandra Hüller), and Rocky (James Ortiz). The problem starts when a bunch of super-dense (no light can penetrate them) space dots called Astrophage come to our galaxy and start gobbling up our sun. If they finish their meal, temperatures will drop, and that will be our last winter ever. Actually, that’s not where the story starts; that’s what it’s about. Project Hail Mary starts with Grace waking up on an interstellar spaceship with no memory of how he got there and a computer system that keeps asking him, “What is 2+2?” He doesn’t know—but he used to. The process of getting his memory back and finding a way to save the world through ‘SCIENCE!’ catalyzed by the transformative power of friendship, is fuel for the journey we take with him.

The reason science fiction exists is to expand our collective imagination. It gets us thinking, reshapes awareness, inspires us to solve problems we haven’t met yet, and precedes technological innovation. Sci-fi has also frequently been a warning siren of doom, Doom, DOOM. Project Hail Mary is built different, yet that’s what makes it good sci-fi. Most stories like this would be about the misery and the hardships and how terrible we are as humans. This story, like the name of its hero, finds our Grace.

Here, a lonely middle school teacher, whose greatest scientific theory got him booted out of the community—well, that and his ornery personality and slick mouth—finds a reason to defy fear and become the hero his students need him to be. Grace finds more than purpose; he earns friends who love him past the hardest decisions of their lives. When I tell you friendship saves the day, I’m not kidding. Drew Goddard wrote a script that capitalizes on all the good stuff in the story, adds some new things, and allows Ryan Gosling to do what Ryan Gosling does so well. That’s shine. How Gosling didn’t become food for the Astrophage is beyond me. Maybe those space dots don’t recognize a true star when they see one.

This is also a story where a woman, who seems tougher than a Navy SEAL in an armored mecha suit made of vibranium, is the person with the heart, mind, and unflinching nerve to lead us through catastrophic times. That’s our Stratt, and Hüller plays her with quiet magnetism. The scenes between Hüller and Gosling are some of the funniest but most emotional in the movie. And this woman can sing, turning what could have been a standard karaoke scene into a confession of what might have been if the world weren’t dying.

Y’all, alongside being endearing in acting, writing, and direction, this is a stunningly beautiful movie, too. Some people might find it a little long. That isn’t the case for me. There’s a true sense of wonder in Project Hail Mary. Everyone on the creative team works to give us space in a new lens. Look out for the Petrova Line. That’s where we see the glow of the Astrophage reflected in ultraviolet light. Or new planets and burning atmospheres and solid Zenon woven into sculptures. If this production design isn’t nominated for all the awards at the end of the year, you’ll know somebody is playing with us.

And then there’s Rocky, the alien from the planet Erid— puppeteered and voiced by James Ortiz. Rocky is the hot-stone heart of Project Hail Mary. He’s hilarious and grumpy and probably one of the greatest engineers in the universe. If you care about looks, he’s basically a spider made of decorative rocks and eats by shoving food up where the sun has never shown. I adore this little Eridian guy.

And shoutout to Lionel Boyce (Marcus from The Bear). Nothing in the solar apocalypse is possible without Carl.

Project Hail Mary is everything you want it to be, whether you’re a fan of the book, movies, or can’t resist good science fiction. More than anything, it’s big on feelings, friendship, and being brave when it matters—and that’s more uplifting than rocket fuel. 

See it immediately. Then watch it again.