Based on the award-winning novel by Adam Weir, Project Hail Mary is a science fiction adventure film directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Project Hail Mary stars Ryan Gosling, James Ortiz and Sandra Hüller and is ready to launch into cinemas worldwide, hoping to recreate the same success of the book.

Middle school teacher turned astronaut against his will, Ryland Grace, awakens on a spacecraft with no memory of himself or his mission. He realises he is the sole survivor of a crew sent to the Tau Ceti system to save Earth from disaster. To do so, Grace must rely on his vast array of scientific knowledge, sheer ingenuity, and human will, but he learns he is not alone. He encounters a rock-like alien he names Rocky, and the two bond, learning about each other’s home planets and working together to try and complete Grace’s mission.

Ryan Gosling leads the cast as Ryland Grace, and the film primarily focuses on him. With a runtime of 2 hours and 36 minutes, the movie heavily relies on Gosling to carry the film, and he does an amazing job to keep audiences engaged from the beginning to the end and never feels like it overstays its welcome. His performance shows plenty of character development with how he approaches every situation, learns anything he’s not familiar with and how he overcomes them. Even though he knows he might come back alive, his determination to learn about the unknown is part of what keeps him going. His most fun scenes are, of course, when Rocky is introduced.

Rocky is a small rock-like alien creature with five legs and no face, but it can see and communicate. Instead of using CGI, an animatronic was built by Neal Scanlan Studios, who have also built animatronics for Star Wars, Jurassic World and Prometheus. When audiences see Rocky on screen, he is actually there in real life with James Ortiz as the voice actor and lead puppeteer. This helps give Ryan Gosling something to interact with, making their interactions feel more authentic.

Rocky, as a character, has plenty of personality, even without any facial expressions. Ryland, the genius he is, finds a way to translate Rocky’s speech pattern into English so that Rocky can understand him as well. A computer speaks for Rocky, making him sound monotone with imperfect English, but somehow still conveys his feelings, and his body language shows plenty of emotion. Ryland and Rocky have such good on-screen chemistry that it actually looks and feels like a human is interacting with a real alien, and audiences will adore them both, especially Rocky.

Sandra Hüller as Eva Stratt, Ryland’s superior and the head of the Hail Mary project. Audiences will be on the fence on how they feel about Eva Stratt, trying to figure out if she’s genuine or has an ulterior motive, but this is what makes her character interesting. She isn’t seen in the film nearly as much as Ryan Gosling, but anytime she appears, the plot thickens. The film also stars Priya Kansara as the voice of the Hail Mary ship, Lionel Boyce as Officer Steve Hatch, Ken Leung as Yáo Li-Jie, Milana Vayntrub as Olesya Ilyukhina, Liz Kingsman as Annie Shapiro, Orion Lee as Xi, Aaron Neil as Narender and more as various supporting characters.

Despite being a sci-fi film, it surprisingly doesn’t use as many special effects as you would expect. The filmmakers have stated that green screens and blue screens were not used at all, which is hard to believe at first, but there is already plenty of behind-the-scenes footage available on YouTube, giving official sneak peeks into the making of the film. Various set pieces were shown, mainly the Hail Mary ship’s interior and its many rooms, plus various miniatures for other scenes, and how the studio used big screens to show the outer space, which replaces the green screens and blue screens. Fans will be eagerly waiting for the release of the DVD or Blu-ray just to see more behind-the-scenes footage.

Many films in recent years heavily rely on CGI, but Project Hail Mary goes back to how older movies were done, and the entire film looks awe-inspiring. The film does have some special effects but leans far more into practical effects, giving a sense of realism and authenticity. It creates the lonely feeling of being isolated in space, but also makes it feel peaceful and a place of serenity, despite the Earth being in danger. The film’s score was composed by Daniel Pemberton, who creates something for every occasion and adds so much to the raw emotion of the film.

The way everything is presented will make us deeply care for Ryland and Rocky. Even if their futures are looking bleak, audiences will be enjoying and savouring every moment they have together while they still can. The film adaptation does leave out certain details from the book, but still manages to get a lot of the important aspects in, making great use of the 2 hours and 36 minutes runtime and not feeling rushed. The film does drag on a bit in parts, but it won’t be long before it grabs your attention again, and the big moments will hit hard.

The film goes back and forth with flashback scenes showing what happened before Ryland was sent on this mission and current events. Going between the two times can be a little confusing, but it slowly unveils more of the story and reveals plot twists that will keep audiences engaged to see what happens next.

Not enough can be said about Ryan Gosling’s performance, Rocky’s animatronic work, the highly detailed set pieces and the heavy use of practical effects to give that extra sense of realism. Even though the majority of the film revolves around Gosling, it feels like he steals the show in his own movie while carrying it all the way from beginning to end. Audiences will fall in love with Rocky, likely wanting to take him home. Long runtimes can sometimes make moviegoers hesitant to see the film, but for Project Hail Mary, it’s an asset, not a hindrance. It makes the most of the time it has, making every moment count, and that time goes by surprisingly quick because of how well everything was executed in the film.

Project Hail Mary could very well be a contender for movie of the year. It has so many memorable moments, keeps audiences glued to the screen and makes you care deeply for the characters. Audiences will laugh, feel grief and maybe shed a tear, all while being in awe of everything they see on screen with practical effects giving that extra layer of authenticity. Project Hail Mary isn’t just a great adaptation of an award-winning book while doing it justice, it is an out-of-this-world experience.

Written by: Sammy Hanson