Based on the book by Andy Weir, “Project Hail Mary” comes with the same zeitgeist as of his previous work made into film “The Martian”. Shaved down at its core both stories have a singluar mission statement that should read that all problems are solved with an understanding of science and humanity. Know thyself and Grace played Ryan Gosling will take the entire of the duration of the film to find what everyone in the film and everyone in the audience already knows, that he is not a coward. but he has a difficult time rationing it-he more then not a coward, he is brave. And of course-we are not alone in the universe. An epic mixture of self-discovery, self-preservation, and what it means to know thyself- add well timed comedy and you have would say the first american film of the year. 

Throw at us from the film is a kaleidoscope of color and a cargo full science exposition. “Project Hail Mary” is pumping at you at a constant rate of suspense and drama. Its mission is the belief that science based science fiction is not boring. It does that very well. Ryan Gosling is in about ninety-percent of the film and carries it. He is our barometer character. When he hurts, he hurts, when he’s scared, we are scared. It is through him that we witness and feel the story, sensational. It is a performance that is  marvelously- convincing us that his character is a coward when we all know he is not, which leads to the film’s most effective feature that cements a great film. Dramatic Irony, the audience knows something in the film that the characters do not. Edited in a way that we see the results of events and decisions after they were already made that makes the film stand out. 

There is great set production, great lighting, great character chemistry and performance, but it’s the editing and script that is its’ champion.  Lending itself to bounce from beginning of the story to the second act elevates the suspense. It is an interesting take to keep humor and occasional things light to mix up the tone that the world is ending if this doesn’t work. We feel the weight of it , but we also feel the happiness, the humor and joy that comes with the discoveries along the way. It feels that the film made every decision in pre-production and principle production and post production.

It is a rich film, there is a lot to digest, and it is of course epic and long. But it never felt like it wasted its time or carried on. Every scene is significant, every line is important to the story. Clearly there are some accolades that will be coming its way. Most notably, production design and art production, but I hope adapted screenplay and editing will be recognized as well. Hollywood seems to enjoy adapting Any Weir stuff and audiences seem to appreciate them. The dramatic irony is all of this is we know this isn’t the last story of his that will be adapted to film. 9/10