‘Project Hail Mary’ Is a Space Saga Full of Grace— and a Winning Star Vehicle for Ryan Gosling

Ryan Gosling is a Hollywood hearthrob who has played many serious roles over the years. Yet some of his most appealing performances have been in films that leverage his naturally ironic demeanor. The new blockbuster “Project Hail Mary” gives him the perfect vehicle to showcase this aspect of his persona. Portraying a reluctant astronaut sent to figure out why the sun and stars are dying, the actor brings his put-upon expressions and tendency towards wry detachment to a film in which he often has no scene partner. That is, no human one — for Mr. Gosling’s character does eventually meet, and develop a friendship with, an alien. “Rocky” is what Dr. Ryland Grace (Mr. Gosling) christens the alien, and it’s an appropriate moniker since the being resembles a spider made of stones. Rocky’s other stand-out feature is that it has no real face, lending their interactions a slightly ridiculous quality, reiterated when Grace declares that ”faces are overrated.” One imagines Norma Desmond would not concur.Somehow, this weird creature and the plausibility-straining premise of a school teacher sent to save the solar system turn out to be the basis for a relentlessly entertaining alien buddy movie, one that feels at times like “E.T.” transposed to outer space. Like the 1982 Spielberg classic, “Project Hail Mary” contains moments of unabashed emotion, elevating it beyond its sci-fi trappings and even pushing Mr. Gosling to go beyond his bemused comfort zone. The irony is probably not lost on the actor that it took a film in which he performs with a puppet — for Rocky is not CGI — for him to give one of his most unguarded performances yet.The movie’s plot follows the standard trajectory of a space adventure, with flashbacks to Dr. Grace’s life before the mission. To the astronaut, these also serve as reminders of past events back on earth because when he wakes up from his medically-induced sleep millions of miles away, he finds he can’t remember much.The initial flashbacks show how he was convinced to leave his job as a middle school science teacher to help research a mysterious substance dubbed “astrophage” that’s causing the sun to dim and which will result in catastrophic global cooling within 30 years. These early scenes — both on the spaceship in the present time and via flashbacks on earth — zip with humor and buoyancy despite the apocalyptic subject matter, scientific jargon, and the fact that Grace’s fellow astronauts, a pilot and an engineer, did not survive the light-year journey. Ryan Gosling and Sandra Hüller in ‘Project Hail Mary.’ Jonathan Olley for AmazonSandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall”) plays the head of the international force gathered to find a solution to the solar diminution, and the acclaimed actress’s dry Germanic tone ricochets nicely, and almost romantically, off Mr. Gosling’s smart but antic manner. Yet it’s when Grace meets Rocky as both of their ships hover near a star unaffected by astrophage that the film arrives at its central relationship. The process of learning to communicate makes for several amusing scenes as the astronaut and alien meet within a docking tunnel, with references to Mr. Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” Meryl Streep, and more adding to the light mood despite the shadowy, often translucent cinematography. Grace finds out that Rocky, too, is the sole survivor of his spaceship and that his planet has also been impacted by the substance. Eventually, Rocky becomes Grace’s “roommate” on the astronaut’s spacecraft, and the two band together to figure out why astrophage isn’t harming the nearby star. While directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller generally keep scenes between the two funny and fleet, the duo doesn’t forget to include breathtaking images of space travel and cosmic dust nor heart-pounding action sequences, such as when our hero must go on a spacewalk or when the ship nearly breaks apart after flying too close to the star.One might wish that Rocky’s personality had a bit more to it than the avidity and earnestness of a typical dog. Additionally, the third act drags a bit with sentimentality, yet there’s no denying the consummate direction, Mr. Gosling’s charming silliness and vulnerability, and the story’s simple message. As Ms. Hüller’s character states at one point, the key to bravery is “someone to be brave for.”Based on a novel by science fiction writer Andy Weir, who also wrote the book on which “The Martian” was based, the film’s global cooling plotline could be interpreted as a metaphor for its inverse: global warming. Ultimately, though, the film works not because it has an underlying political agenda or conveys grand statements about the importance of science and international cooperation. It succeeds because it’s a consistently delightful, occasionally surprising, and openhearted paean to friendship, collaboration, and sacrifice.

‘Project Hail Mary’ Is a Space Saga Full of Grace— and a Winning Star Vehicle for Ryan Gosling

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