The Hail Mary Project

While there have been many good sci-fi movies in the course of the last 50 years or so, and lots of spin off TV series as well, it is a difficult task to come up with a really original script and plot line for such a movie.  Somehow, some way, the Hail Mary Project has managed it, and produced a movie the whole family can and should see, full of pathos, and thrills, and scratching the itch we seem to have about ‘aliens’— is there anybody out there?  This movie gives a positive answer to that quest and question, and then it adds a gigantic plot twist— what if multiple stars in the galaxies are dying, and sentient beings on both earth and elsewhere, in this case Eridian are looking a way to avoid the disaster of total extinction?  So they launch ‘hail Mary’ probes looking for a miraculous solution to the problem. Along the way, Ryan Gosling playing a scientist named Grace, and an alien who looks like a chunk of metamorphic rock (hence Mr. Grace calls him Rocky), obviously a cousin to the Thing in the Fantastic Four, encounter each other, and discover they are the only surviving members of the crew that were put into deep sleep while they travelled for years in deep space, and the onus is on these two unlikely comrades to save their respective planets.  In short, this is a sci-fi ‘buddy’ film, and it is beautifully filmed, and Ryan Gosling deserves an Oscar nomination for his winsome portrayal of a reluctant hero, trying to save the day.  This is a movie worth seeing in IMAX as it is visually gorgeous, and though it is two hours and 36 minutes long, like all good long movies, it seems much shorter because it so successfully engages the audience’s desire to see what’s next, and how things finally turned out.   This movie is creative, with some original elements in it, even for a sci-fi movie, and with a surprise ending one wants to stand up and cheer.  Here are some trailers to whet your appetite, and remind you that a good and beautiful sci-fi movie should engage your sense of awe and wonder.