Project Hail Mary

By Joanna Langfield

Thoroughly delightful, this sci-fi adventure offers many rewards. Not the least of which is it sure Makes Science Great Again.

Based on Andy Weir’s 2021 best seller and brought to the screen by a team of proven box office savvy filmmakers, this is a friendly treat, a movie/movie that not only entertains, but touches our minds and hearts.

A wonderful Ryan Gosling is completely winning as Grace, a scruffy and enthusiastic junior high science teacher. A team of government types whisks him away, knowing the thesis he wrote and thought was disproven years ago, might be just the theory they need to help save the Earth. A somewhat mysterious Sandra Huller leads the international team of very smart people and Lionel Boyce (who I love on The Bear) offers Grace just about the only touch of human grace and encouragement. Until Grace finds himself in outer space, and in the unexpected company of Rocky, an alien also trying to prevent the cosmos from utter destruction.

Wisely, the film aims more for the fun stuff than it does the particulars of the gravely serous work involved. After all, at its heart, this is a story about what humans have done to our planet and the sacrifices some of our best and brightest must make to save us. Details are danced through, which left me, one curious about process, a bit confused at times. But let us not nitpick. Written by the screenwriter who gave us the terrific The Martian, and directed by the Spider-Man duo, this piece knows how to make its points while having a good time. For us watching, resistance is futile. We’re in good hands and we can sit back, relax, maybe even cry a little and enjoy the ride.