Project Hail Mary

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

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There have been countless films about outer space and space travel. The most iconic of these in recent memory are “2001” from Stanley Kubrick and “E.T.”from Steven Spielberg. In what can be thought of as a hybrid of the two, “Project Hail Mary” from directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse”) isa quirky and immersive space tale that is both whimsical and heartfelt.

Greatly boosted by the realism of Ryan Gosling and stunning visuals, the film creates an entertaining meditation on friendship and the will to survive.

Dr. Grace (Ryan Gosling ) is a PHD graduate forced to take a job as a middle school teacher because of his experiments which are difficult to validate. He is approached by dispassionate government department head Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller) who tells him bluntly that a stream of light traveling from Venus in a straight line is going to collide into the sun and usurp its power which in turn will cause life on earth to extinguish over time. The only hope is to make a spaceship and follow the line’s orbit in the off chance of discovering an antidote to Armageddon.

Stratt won’t take no for an answer. Grace is taken by force.

Grace wakes up alone on a spacecraft. He nearly goes out of his mind. Once he regains his faculties both emotional and physical, he makes small excursions outside. Grace encounters a ship that looks very like the Sagrada Familia cathedral by Antoni Guadi. He travels downward through a tunnel and is struck by fright encountering a strange rock like form, a cross between a crab and a baby elephant.

As Grace is flabbergasted and enchanted, the alien form mimics him and gives Grace a small figure modelled after himself.

Through technology the sentient being communicates with Grace and an affectionate rapport develops. Grace names the crab-like rock form Rocky. of course.

The two are entangled in their quest to save earth and humankind.

Gosling is excellent as the pensive, sometimes percussive loner struggling to accept an apocalyptic reality. Sandra Hüller is a fine contrast to Rocky’s ultra-buoyant quips.

The cinematography is terrific, depicting many scenes of the cosmos as a prismatic soup, forever churning, and changing. And of course there is the black depth of space: sinister in its mystery, vast in solitude.

Though the science explanations are far fetched together with an ending that is straight out of Disney, the film manages heart and apprehension. Keep your extraterrestrial ears tuned for a quick cameo by Meryl Streep.

The story has equal parts mystery and mayhem and will satisfy everyone. Only the film’s final seconds reveal a misstep, too sticky sweet and silly for most alien tastes, excluding children.

Write Ian at ianfree11@yahoo.com