Spoilers Ahead-
“Hope is the belief that maybe, if enough people contribute and sacrifice and believe — and throw the Hail Mary pass and make the touchdown — we just might be able to win.”
Katie McGrady, a writer for her own blog, is making a reference to the recent release of the movie adaptation of Project Hail Mary in the quote above. She discusses why the overarching theme of hope is something the world needs at this moment. Right now you can probably think of ten things that have gone wrong this week. Whether you spilled milk during dinner or your country decided it would be a good idea to start a war, there are many experiences that you can recall of things that went wrong in the last handful of days. Now try the flip side, what went right this week?
If you are anything like me, thinking of ten things that went right in the past seven days is not easy. We focus so much on the negatives in our lives and around us that we have no appreciation for the positives. Without acknowledging the good things in life how will we remember to hope? Recently, many people think of the worst possible outcomes, but what if the best outcome happens? What if it all ends up working out? Why are you not very excited when the most beautiful things happen?
Project Hail Mary is a story centered around Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling). This former middle school science teacher finds himself drifting through space 12 light years away from earth, only remembering pieces of his life as he works around the ship. Grace eventually figures out why he’s in space in the first place; he has to save earth’s sun from an organism that is depleting its energy. After being isolated for a while, accepting his fate, he encounters an alien spaceship. This sweet ride made from a solid form of the element xenon also has only one crew member still alive. The rock-looking alien has a name, but Grace decides to call him Rocky, due to obvious reasons. These two figure out a way to save both their planets from this deadly organism, but also teach each other about friendship and love. Near the end of the movie, Grace is even willing to sacrifice himself to try to save Rocky. The Grand Pinnacle Tribune describes the movie as “a story about the small, human moments that make life meaningful—even in the face of extinction. It’s a reminder that optimism, however improbable, might just be a moral imperative after all.”
In a conversation about Project Hail Mary with Lauren Johnson, she stated that “We are consuming so much media that isn’t very hopeful and is super depressing, and it makes us feel like why would we even try- but this movie was super hopeful and I thought that was good.” She agrees that this movie brings up the importance of hope in this day and age, it’s okay to acknowledge the positives. Project Hail Mary is a story that focuses on the ways that hope, thinking optimistically, reaching for that best outcome and doing everything to make it happen, changes a person and changes the world.
Grace sees the planet ‘Adrian’ for the first time, which he named after Rocky’s mate.
Putting in the Effort
This movie was exceptional, really, it felt as if I was in space with the dynamic duo. Most people watch this movie thinking that most of that effect and feeling was created using AI or greenscreens, when in actuality those weren’t used at all. The movie features some digital effects, but they were all created by people. Through this, you can feel the love and effort put into this movie, the way that everything feels so real. AI has taken away those human aspects of creativity, the little ‘mistakes’ that make art beautiful.
The 3 hour 45 minute original cut of the movie was called ‘embarrassing’ by other filmmakers, Zach Sharf, a writer for Variety Magazine states. They may have said it was too long, but I know many people who would love to watch an extended director’s cut. Besides, the Lord of The Rings trilogy has a runtime of nine hours, not including the additional two hours combined for each movie’s extended cut, and there are a good amount of people who watch those annually.
When I asked Johnson if she would watch the original cut, the answer was an immediate “Yes.” Her reasoning was that the ‘shortened’ two and a half hour version was “5/5 stars,” and that they put so much “care and effort into [Project Hail Mary],” commending them for “not using the cheapest, most efficient method,” but worked so hard to make it look the best it could. She concluded by saying “You can really see the effort and passion in the movie.” Johnson would love to see more of Grace and Rocky on their adventure, opening up their friendship even more.
Unfortunately, Comicbook writer Chris Agar says we probably will never get to see a director’s cut available to the general public. Without the usage of green screens or AI, there is a lot of material that is not finished or ready to be put into the movie. It would take countless hours of touching up, or fully building the scenes in order for the longer-form piece to release. We can only hope for a few special cut scenes to be released, fulfilling the slump most of us are in after watching this spectacular artwork, because what could live up to it?
Rocky is a species called an Eridian, who lives on the planet Erid. He is a remarkable engineer and built himself a bubble so he was able to go in Grace’s ship whilst still breathing ammonia.
A Biological Experience
While watching Ryland Grace first communicate with Rocky, the theater was giggling. The puppet shows and dance moves to try to bend the language barrier made many laugh, but it also just felt so innately human. I guess human may not be the right word, since there is an Eridian part in the conversation, but just a foundational, biological experience. With socialization, connection, and love, we often forget that at our root, we are just a group of individuals striving for relationship.
Bickering and all, Grace and Rocky have a deep friendship, just like anyone else may have. Rocky had what Grace needed, and the forced-to-be astronaut had the scientific knowledge in order to save them both — and their respective planets — utilizing the aliens’ skills in engineering. The Grand Pinnacle Tribune goes on to compare Project Hail Mary to E.T. the Extra-terrestrial. They state that it’s not only due to the alien-man dynamic, but for the sense of friendship and relationship being at the very core of the film, “Illustrating how empathy and collaboration can transcend even the most profound differences.”
Acceptance of those who may look a little different, or breathe an element that you may not be able to, can change the world. Johnson describes Grace’s character arc by sharing that “at the beginning [Grace] wasn’t even willing to die for the humans that were on earth, he thought he wasn’t brave enough, but now he’s like making that decision to sacrifice himself and like head back and die for humans but also for the Eridians that he’s trying to save, and Rocky.” Grace changes throughout the story. He starts to remember his life and realizes this is something he has to do. He doesn’t have true connection with anybody until Rocky comes along, showing him love and teaching Grace empathy.
“[Project Hail Mary] suggests that love, friendship, and curiosity are the tools that can save worlds. As one reviewer put it, ‘Two worlds get a second chance because two very different people learn to talk to each other, and lead with empathy rather than fear,’” Grand Pinnacle Tribune writes.
Grace shows Rocky his Hackysack of Earth, one of his only personal items from his teaching days. It seems as though this is the point in the movie where Rocky and Grace really connect.
A Gamble That Paid Off
“It’s not your job to keep [theaters] open, it’s our job to make things that make it worth you coming out.”
Ryan Gosling makes this statement pertaining to the apparent decline in movie theater attendance. With the rise of streaming services, more and more people opt to watch films at home. Most people find no harm in doing this, with the overall expense of watching 200 movies being the same price per month as seeing one. The reason why this has become an issue is that streaming decreases movie revenue, meaning they have to constantly put out new material to watch to keep people engaged, subscribed, and paying. The push for quantity over quality is killing the movie industry.
Johnson stated in her interview that “Just being [in the theater] and experiencing [Project Hail Mary] with other people for the first time is incredible… seeing all the effort put into it, it’s cool to also put in effort to make that worth it for them, [to give] money to the services that create those movies that mean so much to us and the people who make that happen, and the theaters.” The collective euphoria of experiencing something so emotional and human with so many people you might not know creates these unforgettable moments. The movie theaters gift us the opportunity to continuously have the out of body experience, sharing tears and laughs, smiles and stress. We cannot take these sentimental moments for granted.
Agar said that this movie was a “$200 million gamble on the part of Amazon,” but I think that gamble paid off. Even through the little controversy on if the centrifuge was actually balanced or not, many of the 60,000 reviewers have good things to say about this 4.3 star average movie on Letterboxd. JoshuaCaine says the “movie was 👎,” (If you watch the movie you’ll know that’s a good thing), while manteiguinha states “amaze amaze amaze!’
My review? Overall I would say this instant classic gave the world some much-needed hope, optimism, and passion, and it proves that love — of any sort — is what makes a Hail Mary possible.
