Ryan Gosling has done it again. Project Hail Mary, the Phil Lord and Christopher Miller adaptation of Andy Weir's sci-fi novel, opened this weekend to a stunning 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and a respectable 78 on Metacritic.
The film, written by Drew Goddard (who also adapted Weir's The Martian), follows Gosling as Ryland Grace, a schoolteacher-turned-astronaut who wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there - or why he's humanity's last hope.
Critics are calling it the rare intelligent blockbuster that doesn't condescend to its audience. "It's cerebral without being cold, spectacular without being stupid," wrote one reviewer. "Exactly the kind of movie studios claim audiences don't want anymore."
And yet here we are: a $190 million original sci-fi film - not a sequel, not a remake, not based on a comic book - crushing it with both critics and early audiences. The theater I saw it in was packed on a Thursday night. People stayed through the credits. You could hear actual gasps during the third act.
What makes Project Hail Mary work is the same thing that made The Martian work: it trusts us. It doesn't dumb down the science. It doesn't feel the need to explain every single thing three times. Lord and Miller understand that audiences can follow complex ideas if you just present them clearly and keep the momentum going.
Gosling, for his part, carries the film with the same effortless charm he brought to Barbie and The Fall Guy. He's become Hollywood's most reliable leading man - the guy who can do comedy, drama, action, and science fiction without ever feeling like he's slumming it or playing down to the material.
