Project Hail Mary - Very Satisfying Science Fiction Film with Plenty of Heart Warming Moments Based on Critically Acclaimed Novel

I have been looking forward so much to this movie when it was released more than 2 weeks ago in the US. But since it was during the "black out" period in Indonesia to celebrate Eid al-Fitr holiday where only Indonesian films were given priority to be released, we had to wait till yesterday when it's finally available. It has advance ticket sale since last Friday and I did not hesitate to buy them immediately. OK then, let's just get on with the film.

Brief Story Line

Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling - The Fall Guy, The Gray Man etc) was a middle school science teacher who woke up from induced coma in a space ship, suffering from amnesia. As he tried to assess his situation, Grace was able to slowly regain his memory and remembered that the sun was dying from an unknown micro organism. It was revealed that he was part of scientist group led by Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller - Anatomy of a Fall, Munich - The Edge of War etc) studying and finding solution to save the world.

When the ship reached its destination, Grace unexpectedly encountered something that he never anticipated but could be the thing required to save the earth.

So what would happen to Grace and how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Got to be honest when I saw this movie's poster and read the science fiction genre, I was under the impression that this would be a space adventure kind. And since I did not read any of the film's info (or saw its trailer), the assumption was always kept in my mind. That is until I finally saw this movie and realized I was completely wrong. Yes it was set in space but it's not exactly the adventure kind like Star Wars or similar films/series. When a movie did not go exactly as I hoped for, usually I would be disappointed or at least did not really enjoy it despite the quality. This time though, I was pleasantly surprised and loved it a lot.

The film was so awesome in its story telling supported by amazing performance from Ryan Gosling who was very charming through his habit of talking too much but obviously very intelligent. The way he adapted to the situation combined with few flash backs that were done nicely without creating confusion made this fun to watch as we slowly got better idea of what happened. But the most interesting part was when Grace reached the destination as ever since that moment on, the film became really fun and heart warming with some touching scenes that made us a bit teary. I really do not want to give spoiler so I would leave it for you to experience yourself.

This movie has a very long duration of 2 hours 37 minutes including closing credits but no mid or post end credit scene. Amazingly my wife and I did not feel it tiring as it was not boring despite there were not that many characters involved. My wife noticed that we had passed through mid way of the film which we did not realize. Aside from the two characters I mentioned in the brief story line above, there was another very important one named Rocky (portrayed by puppeteer James Ortiz). In addition it was also supported by other cast such as Lionel Boyce (The Bear TV series etc) as Security personnel Carl, Ken Leung (Avatar: The Last Airbender live version series etc) as Commander Yao, Mylana Vayntrub (Werewolves Within etc) as Russian engineer Olesya and several others, even brief voice of very well known actress.

In case you are not aware, this film was based on the novel of same title written by Andy Weir (very famous for writing The Martian which has also been adapted into a very successful movie starring Matt Damon and directed by Ridley Scott). With such track record, no wonder this one is also becoming a huge hit, already grossing more than USD 425 million worldwide (by the time I wrote this post). And it's definitely no big surprise considering the very positive reviews and word of mouth, plus the well-liked story. My wife and I are definitely part of the ones who enjoyed this a lot, even though there were moments that the science was a bit challenging to grasp (I had to read in wikipedia on the plot to get better understanding after we finished the movie). 

Credit should definitely be given to the duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (directors of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street movie etc and creators of Clone High and The Afterparty TV series) who managed to direct this greatly and also the writer Drew Goddard (Cloverfield, World War Z etc). From what I read, the film seemed to be following the novel closely but with a scene towards the end that I agreed was wonderfully added to provide better closure. So if you are from Indonesia or other location where this film was just recently available, I would highly recommend to see this soon. I think it would be nice if you see this in IMAX cinema (we saw this at a studio with Dolby Atmos sound system at the expense of the screen format, but we still love it as it was satisfying). However, you might not be able to fully enjoy if you are not a fan of hard science movie, though I believe the theme and story itself would really be pleasing. Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars