Project Hail Mary

This movie was advertised so much and had so many positive reviews — and the trailer was breathtaking enough that we decided to see it on the big screen in IMAX. Either my expectations were too high, or the movie genuinely isn’t that good. Time to add a fly in the ointment.

The first thing that immediately catches your eye is the visuals. Overall it looks wonderful, but some scenes felt a bit lacking in quality to me — or maybe I was just expecting it to be more grounded in realism.

Since I’ve already started on realism and expectations: the movie wasn’t serious enough for me. It felt more like a fairy tale for kids. The astronaut figured out how to communicate with the alien way too fast, and understood him way too quickly. Everyone “dies” five times and comes back five times. Everything gets done just in time, with no real losses or consequences — just pure luck. It ends up being too fantastical even by the logic of the fantasy genre. Nothing can be that perfect or that lucky.

Ryan Gosling gave a good performance, but there were a couple of scenes that felt a bit cringe. That’s most likely a problem with the creators and the script rather than Ryan himself.

Honestly, this movie feels way too overrated. I left more disappointed than satisfied. It’s just another cosmic fantasy action film, not particularly high quality, where another white American saves the universe purely because he’s lucky enough. Boring, tired and not worth the time.