Science fiction has an Oscar problem. For decades, the Academy has treated the genre like a guilty pleasure—fine for visual effects nominations, maybe a technical award or two, but rarely worthy of top honors. Arrival came close. Interstellar should have. Now Project Hail Mary might finally break through.
Ryan Gosling's latest collaboration with directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller has landed with a spectacular 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 80, the kind of critical consensus that makes Oscar strategists start sharpening their pencils six months early.
The film adapts Andy Weir's beloved novel about a lone astronaut (Gosling) who wakes up on a spacecraft with no memory of his mission, only to discover he's humanity's last hope for survival. It's The Martian meets Arrival with a dash of cosmic wonder, and critics are calling it "pure joy," "a miracle of a movie," and "the crowdpleasing cinematic experience many will cherish and not soon forget."
What makes this Oscar-worthy? Gosling essentially carries a two-and-a-half-hour film largely solo, delivering what NextBestPicture calls "one of his finest performances in years." Daniel Pemberton's score is already generating buzz. And Greig Fraser's cinematography—shifting aspect ratios, IMAX spectacle—gives the film the technical craftsmanship Academy voters love.
Compare this to recent sci-fi Oscar attempts: Arrival earned eight nominations including Best Picture but won just one. Interstellar was shockingly shut out of major categories. Gravity won seven Oscars but lost Best Picture to . The Academy respects sci-fi's craft but rarely embraces its heart.
