Movie Review: Gosling, Lord and Miller make science fun in ‘Project Hail Mary’

Ryan Gosling is put to the ultimate movie star test as the only person on the screen for a large part of the picture. It begins with his character, Ryland Grace, waking up from an extended sleep in a spaceship. His long hair and bushy beard suggest he’s been sleeping for quite some time (his highlights may tell a different story, but maybe I should repeat to myself it’s just a show and really just relax). Even worse, he’s alone and he has no idea how he got there or who he is.

The movie's not out to annoy you with wheelspinning: There are soon flashbacks and an alien friend added to the mix as he starts to piece together a picture of who he was on Earth (“Am I smart?” he wonders out loud) and try to complete his apparent mission to save the sun.

Except there’s the small matter that Grace is pretty sure he’s not a hero. On Earth, he was a middle school science teacher. When his students ask about the strange dots that have appeared outside the Earth’s atmosphere that seem to be causing the sun to die, he assures them that the world’s top minds are figuring it out. Against all movie logic when it comes to the extraordinary nobody, he's not excited to discover that he might be their only hope.

Some government types have found an old paper he wrote while getting his doctorate, an idea that made him the laughingstock of the scientific community. He tries to tell them at every step of the way that they’ve got the wrong guy for the job. “I ride a bike to work … and it’s not for exercise,” he tells Sandra Hüller’s project manager Eva Stratt. But he's scrappy and keeps working the problem.

“Project Hail Mary” does make you wonder whether a guy who looks like Ryan Gosling could disappear into the backdrop of his own life the way Grace has. But really what’s the point of that thought exercise? It doesn’t require too much suspension of disbelief to get invested in the journey of someone who essentially has to learn to believe in himself. And it doesn’t hurt when it also comes with an improbably cute alien sidekick who we’ll come to know as Rocky. He’s voiced by James Ortiz and is kind of like a golden retriever crossed with a genius architect. They soon become the best of friends, which can only mean one thing: You’re probably going to cry at some point.

While Grace and Rocky are the main show, Hüller is a particular standout as the dry, practical head of the operation. Gosling already spoiled her big, irresistible karaoke moment in his “Saturday Night Live” monologue, but I suspect it’ll still be a highlight. “The Bear’s” Lionel Boyce also lights up every scene he’s in as a private security/bodyguard type.

Lord and Miller haven’t directed a live action movie in some time, whether or not you count the ‘Solo’ Star Wars debacle, and it’s nice to have them back and teaming with a cinematographer with a keen grasp of scale and visual effects like Greig Fraser.

As in Lord and Miller’s animated movies, their tone and pace remain singular. “Project Hail Mary” might blow past a two-hour runtime and yet there’s rarely a dull moment with all the problem-solving, earnest irreverence and unabashed commitment to imbuing life and wit into every molecule of the story. Daniel Pemberton’s unusual, buoyant score and Joel Negron’s sharp editing are key.

So many filmmakers feel the need to overwhelm their intergalactic spectacles with pathos to match the cosmos. It’s kind of refreshing that “Project Hail Mary” doesn’t have a dead wife or kid weighing down our protagonist — just an alien friend and all of life on Earth.

“Project Hail Mary,” an Amazon MGM release in theaters March 20, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for “some thematic material and suggestive references.” Running time: 156 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.