At some point in the near future, Ryland Grace awakens from a coma on a spacecraft. Initially erratic and amnesiac, Grace discovers that two members of his crew have died, leaving him as the sole survivor, and that he is light-years away in a distant star system.
The film spends the next two hours and thirty-six minutes taking the audience on a ride they have never seen. The movie does several things well. It introduces a new concept about space and exploration, in a world of irrational and annoying behavior, the movie moves at a pace that is almost welcoming. And finally, the movie reminds everyone of what humanity was always intended to be.
After Gosling realizes that he is alone, he goes to work to find a cure for the dying Sun. As he gets to his destination, he discovers another ship. Panicked at first, he discovers that the other ship is there for the same reason. Once they both get past being shocked that another species exists, they create a common language in order to solve how to save both their planets.
The film does an amazing job of helping the audience understand the science behind the motive. It also allows the audience to experience the journey too by moving at a slow enough pace so that you become patient in watching the film. The peace of forgetting the real world everyone lives in is appreciated.
You forget about the blue states and red states, and who hates whom. You forget while watching the film that money is at the root of all evil and life as we know it. The film goes beyond pettiness back to a much larger theme: preserve life.
In the film, the world comes together to try to find a solution for an organism that is killing the Sun. If Earth does not do something, the slight temperature change could mean the death of half the planet. With thirty years until the change is real, Gosling and a team of scientists dream up the idea to visit a planet where the organisms thrive, but do not kill the Sun.
Without giving away too much of the plot, one can imagine the wonderful images that accompany the film. Space, the ship, the galaxy, and the mission itself all allow the kid in anyone who loves science to smile while watching the film.
And do not forget the human aspect of facing death itself. It is always a question of how people will react once life hangs in the balance. Will they cave to their fears, or will they rise to the challenge?
You have to see the movie to figure out which one Gosling chooses. Project Hail Mary is a play on words, meaning a last-ditch effort to accomplish something impossible. The movie did more than that, it was able to remind us of what is possible if we all come together to save each other.
Nothing is better than watching humans rise to the occasion, instead of falling to the occasion. Unfortunately, you only see that in movies now. Maybe if we are lucky, life can start to imitate art, instead of the other way around. Project Hair Mary gets a 3.5 out of 4 stars.
