Have you ever wondered what it would be like to wake up stuck in space? “Project Hail Mary”, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and screenplay adaption of the science fiction novel by Andy Weir, hits this thought right on the head.
The Film follows middle school teacher Ryland Grace, played by Ryan Gosling, when he wakes up in a spaceship with amnesia and no recollection of anything leading up to that point. Grace must find a way to remember the past and complete the mission he was tasked with doing with his new alien companion, Rocky played by James Ortiz.
The Acting:
Project Hail Mary had phenomenal acting not only from the actors on the screen but the puppeteers as well. The interaction between characters on the screen was very natural. All the actors did a fantastic job at making the characters’ lives unique. You can definitely tell that every actor put their best effort into this project.
The Visuals:
The film primarily uses practical effects, opting out of fully relying on green or blue-screens and instead builds a massive, fully realized interior set. Since the Ship was built, it allowed cameras to move freely and the actors to interact more naturally instead of it being a big screen.
The alien character, Rocky, was primarily brought to life using puppetry and animatronics, with CGI enhancing aspects the puppets cannot do fully on their own.
While the film is still very “vfx-based” production that utilized digital effects for scenes from in space, the decision to use physical effects helped to enhance the actors’ performances and made the environment and interactions feel more realistic
Pacing:
The movie had a very steady pace and was neither too fast nor too slow. However some details from the book were left out, but the majority were pretty trivial to the plot of the story.
Final Verdict:
I would give this film a perfect five out of five Stars. The movie was emotional, but it felt like the cast and crew were really able to bring the book to life.
