I recently watched (and rewatched) Project Hail Mary (PHM), a movie featuring Ryan Gosling and a friendly alien rock named Rocky. This incredibly emotional movie is one of the first movies in a long time that I feel is so worth watching. Full disclosure, this article will be full of spoilers. Project Hail Mary is a film adaptation of the book with the same title by Andy Weir.
The story of PHM follows a scientist, Dr. Grace stranded in space, lightyears from Earth, with no prior memory of how he got there. The other two astronauts in his ship were deceased upon him waking up from the induced coma he was in. While he goes through time in the ship, he slowly discovers what the mission could be, and why he is there. As his memory comes back, he suddenly arrives to the location the ship is due to be at, which is a solar system lightyears away from earth. Years before, it was discovered that the earth’s sun was dying due to an alien substance that was dimming the sun, causing earth to lose 15-30 degrees of temperature over the course of a few decades.
Later in the story, we meet Rocky, a space rock alien that found Grace’s ship drifting in the system Rocky was also sent to explore for the same reason Grace was sent. The sun in that solar system has the same alien substance as earths sun, but the sun isn’t dying. It’s found that Rocky is also alone after his crew died due to radiation poisoning. Throughout the story, we follow the two going through ways to figure out what is wrong with their suns. The two find a way to communicate and enjoy each other’s company. Rocky watching Grace sleep every night as cultural tradition from his planet. Grace also shows Rocky what Earth is like using the special screen environment room in the ship. The two get used to each other as they solve the mystery of their dying suns.
The two develop a strong bond that, in a way, restores my faith in humanity. During a mission in the story, the two get severely injured, causing Rocky to enter a small coma after he saves Grace during a loss of control of the ship, and Grace is forced to spend days alone once again, but, this time, watching Rocky sleep. Rocky recovers, eventually, but not after completely tearing your heart apart in your cushioned theatre seat. The two get back to work getting the discovered solution to their problems ready for production and their respective journeys. While the two embark back to their planets, and issue is discovered by Grace, forcing him to turn back to help Rocky with the same issue. Using his ship, he takes Rocky back to his planet, and Grace gets his own built environment, similar to Earth on Rocky’s planet, while he waits for repairs and refueling of his ship.
The story is extremely cute for lack of a better term. Too often, I watch movies that aren’t unique. This was however, one of the best movies I have seen in my life. From the acting to the heart wrenching story, this movie will stay with me for a long time. It shows how humans face the test of sacrifice, and how when we are out of humane options, sometimes a sacrifice is the only way to move forward. This movie was, indeed, “amaze amaze amaze”.