It is rare for me to really love or really hate something. I feel like, for the most part, I find everything to just be solid. I tend to have a positive reaction to most things, but my feelings don’t often vary too far from this baseline.
“Project Hail Mary,” however, has reminded me of what it feels like to be completely and utterly obsessed with something. I was reminded how cool space is and the wonders of scientific discovery. I wish I had the brain capacity to be in STEM.
I can confidently say after watching this movie (twice) that it is one of my favorite cinema experiences of all time. Any movie that can captivate my brain-rot-ridden head for its entire duration is a solid movie; this one goes above and beyond even that.
Ryan Gosling puts on what I think is one of his most impressive performances, and one I wouldn’t expect from him. I don’t have a ton of experience with him outside of “The Notebook” and “Barbie,” so it feels a little out of place to me, but he does a great job in the role of Ryland Grace.
I also really enjoyed the story and themes of this movie. It offers hope in the depths of despair and shows how good humanity can be at its best. It features countries working together toward a single goal, which I think is really important to see in times like the ones we are in now.
Even when it seems like things can’t get worse on Earth, we can turn to space for inspiration as a completely unexplored frontier. The idea of life somewhere else in the universe is also cool because it would be nice to know that we aren’t the only things in existence.
One of the best themes from this movie is friendship. I won’t get too deep into this to avoid spoilers, but this movie was surprisingly inspiring and uplifting. I will admit that I did shed a tear during this movie, something I did not think possible when I went into the showing.
There have been some online complaints about the numerous scientific mistakes throughout the movie, but these were not a major issue for me. On second viewing, I noticed some of the issues, but as an untrained mind, I couldn’t really tell the significance of the mistakes.
This movie is probably the first to make me want to read the book immediately after watching it. I first watched “Project Hail Mary” on a Saturday night and began reading the book on Monday morning. After a week, I have made it to page 214. I literally can’t get enough of it.
I love how quote-worthy this movie is. There are a ton of funny moments in this film, which is really cool to add to the scientific parts of the movie in a comedic way. All the characters work well and build off of each other in exciting ways.
I could go on for a very long time about this movie — and I have to those close to me — but I will cut myself off.
I can’t sing the praises of this movie enough, and I highly recommend both the book and the movie to anyone, particularly those interested in space. The story is great, the characters are great, it has some of the most beautiful scenes I’ve seen in a movie and I just can’t get enough of it.
I am happy to say that “Project Hail Mary” is a masterpiece, and I am confident it will be my movie of the year, even though it is only April.
DeGear can be reached at [email protected].
