Project Hail Mary
A scientist (Ryan Gosling) wakes up aboard a ship deep in space, with all his crew mates dead. He battles amnesia to discover that he’s been sent on a mission to stop the sun from dimming.
We’re back with the Something Strange1 book club (where we read a book, then watch the film of it) and I’ve not quite finished the book yet so I’m writing about the film first. Some spoilers ahead.
It’s hard to resist the allure of the ‘one man solving a space mystery’ genre and this one delivers pretty well. It’s a gentle film with more E.T. vibes than I was expecting, but that’s not strictly a bad thing.
Sandra Hüller plays the woman in charge of saving the world. She is amazing as ever and actually lends her character a little extra depth and warmth than what was written in the book.
Gosling is well cast but perhaps badly directed and under-used. I got the feeling the brief was for a sort of millennial-humour type thing which does get some laughs, but it also tends to rob the film of emotional power in its more sincere moments.
In fact, while this is a good film and a careful adaptation of the book, I have to admit that I just didn’t quite connect with it on any sort of profound level. I wonder how the film would have turned out in the hands of a different director (this one has been a commercial smash hit so wtf do I know). What we got was a totally valid way to read the book, but I was maybe hoping for a different take on it.
Still it’s well worth your time and as a friend pointed out, it’s poised to be the sort of film everyone enjoys watching over Christmas with the family.