Reel Tastes & Travels – a light dose of entertainment to wake you up

Would you sacrifice yourself to save humanity? What if it was between sacrificing yourself for an outside chance of saving the world, or living for another 20-odd years knowing that most of the population is doomed at the end of that period? That is the choice facing Dr. Ryland Grace, a disgraced scientist turned middle school teacher who somehow ends up becoming the leading expert on the latest extinction-level threat facing the world. Yes, it is aliens, and no, it is not anything as jazzy as an invasion. 

The threat – Astrophage, microscopic organisms that feed off the energy of stars (including our Sun) to breed, causing the stars to gradually dim, which in turn will have cataclysmic effects on the Earth’s climate and environment. 
The mission – Travel in hibernation mode to Tau Ceti, the one star seemingly unaffected by the Astrophage in the hopes of finding a solution there.
The catch – there’s only enough fuel for a one way journey. Essentially after completing their mission, the crew will be stuck in space and die there. 

Given the movie starts with Grace waking from hibernation, it seems safe to assume what choice he made. Unfortunately, he’s the sole crew member to survive the journey -if the mission seemed like a ‘hail mary’ before, the odds look even worse now. The first half of the movie deals with Grace coming to terms with his situation and slowly recovering his memories (temporarily affected by the hibernation). Just as you start to wonder if anything is actually going to happen in the movie, enter Rocky, an alien that looks like a cross between a crab and an anthropomorphic pile of rocks, and communicates through a series of musical sounds. Turns out Rocky is in the same boat as Grace. United by their common mission, they slowly forge a friendship, strengthened by a few near-death experiences on their way to a solution that will save both their planets. 

On paper, Project Hail Mary does not seem like a film that would work. But surprisingly it does, helped in large part by Ryan Gosling’s performance as Grace. Gosling excels at playing charming but relatable leads, swept up by events and tackling it head on with humor and a crooked smile. And here he is at his Gosling-est best. The movie needs a charming leading man to keep the audience invested and he delivers. 

On the downside, the film definitely has some pacing issues – parts of it drag in the first half, while other parts (such as the formulation of the final solution) proceed at a breakneck speed. In some ways, the movie chooses to make the friendship between Rocky and Grace its core, with the Astrophage threat serving more as the backdrop for their friendship rather than a real, palpable threat (except during more grimly toned flashbacks). It works to a certain extent and definitely make Grace’s final ending less bittersweet and more understandable. But it does so at the cost of glossing over a lot of the science in the book and skipping the wonder at their ingenuity in dealing with whatever fresh challenge is thrown at them, something that fans of the book will probably be disappointed by.

However, if you’re not overly bothered about nuances and are looking for entertaining escapist fare, then this movie is perfect for you. The visuals are stunning, the performances solid and the tone light-hearted, with just enough action and pathos thrown in to make the story feel meaningful. It is not a movie that will stay with you long after the lights go back up, but it is a fun watch nonetheless.