Project Hail Mary is popcorn sci-fi at its best

Have you ever wondered what Arrival would be like if it was also a goofy buddy comedy? Me neither. And yet the strange combination somehow fits together in Project Hail Mary. The movie follows a scientist who travels to the far reaches of the universe to save humanity and is forced to work alongside an alien in the same position. It’s silly and heartfelt, tense and hopeful. It may be a seemingly odd mixture — but the strangest part of all is how well it all works.

Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller of Spider-Verse fame, and based on the novel of the same name from The Martian author Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary stars Ryan Gosling as a science teacher named Ryland Grace. In a previous life, Grace was a biologist whose career stalled because of some out-there ideas about what forms life could take on other planets. But when a mysterious phenomenon starts causing the sun to dim, along with seemingly every other star in the galaxy, scientists around the world are stumped. And it’s Grace’s previously controversial views that lead to him being brought on board in an attempt to solve the potentially world-ending crisis.

The story jumps back and forth between two time periods. There’s Grace as he works with scientists all over the globe to find a solution, which mostly serves as a way to set up just what’s going on: there’s a microorganism called “astrophage” that feeds on solar energy, and it’s eating up stars. All except one, Tau Ceti, which also happens to be farther away than any space mission in human history. Eventually, Grace ends up on the team going there in hopes of finding some answers — despite frequent protestations that he’s not an astronaut. Years later he wakes up from cryosleep to discover he’s the team’s only survivor and has to pull off the mission solo.

Initially, Project Hail Mary doesn’t feel too far off from the hard sci-fi established by The Martian. There are lots of discussions of scientific principles and shots of Ryan Gosling, who somehow makes looking through a microscope seem cool and exciting. But things take a turn when Grace arrives at his destination and discovers he’s not alone. Another ship, piloted by another lone astronaut — only this one looks like a spider made of rocks — is there with the exact same goal of saving their planet from the star-hungry astrophage.

That’s where the buddy comedy aspect comes into play. It’s a little bit like Arrival at first, as Grace and his new friend Rocky have to learn to communicate despite their vast physiological and cultural differences. It’s a tall task, but it happens a little too easily in the film, as Grace simply comes up with a translation tool that lets Rocky speak through a laptop. But it’s still a lot of fun watching them learn to live and work alongside each other. While Grace is a lonely scientist who just so happens to have the charm of Ryan Gosling, Rocky is a bit like one of the now-ubiquitous alien sidekicks in every modern Star Wars production. That means he’s equal parts cute, charming, and annoying. He builds little models and often communicates via puppet shows, and eventually builds a hamster ball so he can roll around Grace’s ship. When he gets worked up, he chirps “amaze amaze amaze.” The pair joke and learn and make real sacrifices for each other.

Project Hail Mary makes some hard turns between its do-or-die, science-based premise and the often silly and playful friendship that develops between Grace and Rocky. And while it does occasionally veer too hard into comedy — Rocky gets a little obnoxious toward the end — it also manages to strike the balance in tone remarkably well. When things should be light and heartfelt, they feel exactly like that. And when the story gets serious — like during a death-defying mission to collect samples from an alien planet, or a poignant bout of karaoke from Grace’s boss Eva (Sandra Hüller) back on Earth — it can morph into a pulse-pounding thriller or heartbreaking drama.

This makes it a more accessible film than The Martian, merging its predecessor’s scientific focus with the soul of a blockbuster. The hard sci-fi elements of Project Hail Mary are core to the story, but never get so overwhelming that you forget about the human (and alien) elements that give the film its emotional weight. It’s a difficult balancing act that Project Hail Mary handles deftly. It manages to have an epic scale thanks to its incredible stakes — but it also has a lot of heart through its story about a pair of unlikely buddies.

_{Project Hail Mary is in theaters on March 20th.}