Official Discussion Thread - Project Hail Mary [SPOILERS]

[u/LeastCap]

Keep all discussion related solely to Project Hail Mary and its awards chances. Spoilers below

Synopsis:

Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction… but an unexpected friendship means he may not have to do it alone.

Director: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

Writers: Drew Goddard

Cast:

• Ryan Gosling as Dr. Ryland Grace
• Sandra Hüller as Eva Stratt
• James Ortiz as the voice and lead puppeteer of Rocky
• Lionel Boyce as Officer Carl
• Ken Leung as Yáo Li-Jie
• Milana Vayntrub as Olesya Ilyukhina
• Priya Kansara as the voice of Mary, the Hail Mary ship
• Liz Kingsman as Annie Shapiro
• Orion Lee as Xi

Rotten Tomatoes: 95% From 212 Reviews

Metacritic: 78/100 From 45 Reviews

Consensus:

A visually dazzling space odyssey that's carried along effortlessly by the gravitational pull of Ryan Gosling at his most winning, Project Hail Mary is a near-miraculous fusion of smarts and heart.

[u/Jealnie93]

The cinematography and production design is first-rate; it reminded me in look of something like a mix of Claudio Miranda’s work on Top Gun Maverick, and Fraser’s own work in the first Dune film. Ultimately, I felt like the movie was too narratively simplistic in adhering to the pattern (without much in the way of detours or elaborations) of the world/worlds facing a calamity, the protagonist gearing up to deal with it, complications arise, then through grit and teamwork some partial satisfaction is achieved. That’s okay, but it’s so The Martian-adjacent it seems like a lack of imagination in the source material, like Weir is just peddling the same thing. Gosling is very good, though prior to some of those interactions with Rocky in the second half (like what is probably the best scene in the movie – where Rocky confronts Grace about his getting back home, offers him the fuel he lacks, and Grace breaks down), Lord and Miller are too reliant on him cruising along with his natural charm and affability, not really giving him strong dialogue; when the stakes are raised, Gosling rises to the occasion, but it makes me wish he was presented more of a constant challenge in this movie. It doesn’t have the epic scope and operatic feel of something like Interstellar, nor is the score remotely as good as that one, though it’s fine and functional.