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| Beacon Theater, Pittsfield, back row, 10:30am. The HVAC blew on us the whole time, I put my puffer on my legs to keep warm, and eventually put my gloves back on! |
When this movie was announced, "from the author of The Martian", all I said was "if they can replicate that blend of hard science and light tone, I will love it." Then when I heard it was directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, I got excited - Lord and Miller are behind some of my favorite movies of the last 15 years:
- The best superhero movie of all time: Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse
- The best Batman movie: The Lego Batman Movie
- and The Lego Movie !
What they've accomplished is an excellent hard sci-fi movie, somewhere between Contact and Interstellar. (Also, I need to watch Arrival again - I am sure I am going to pull parallels out of that movie too.) As my wife put it, Hail Mary is about "no man is an island". Ryan Gosling's Ryland Grace is an egghead genius, but also a fallen pariah in his world of science, who is essentially alone in the world, and is also the most cowardly human you could imagine. The imminent End Of The World places Grace in the most physically alone location of any man ever (10-ish light years from Earth) in a job requiring the most courage of any occupation yet devised (solo astronaut). Is that a recipe for drama, or what?
I was frustrated when the marketing weasels at the movie studio couldn't help but share- I mean spoil - the reveal of the rock alien Grace befriends/teams up with in the movie. IIRC the first trailer basically ends with the reveal that there is some kind of alien in the movie. Marketing weasels are terrified of getting fired because their movie didn't draw big opening weekend crowds, and they'll never get fired for doing too much to promote - I mean spoil - the movie. So here we are.
What I didn't know is that there is a much bigger twist in the last act of the movie, a reveal that I respect tremendously on a acting and storytelling level. I didn't expect it, I never would have guessed it, and it's a plot twist I've never seen before. All I'll say is what my wife said about Gosling's film roles: "Gosling's superpower is his ability to very believably portray a streak of weakness, cowardice, self loathing, immaturity or all of the above, in a heartbreaking way, where we somehow still root for him and don't want to murder him."
Early on in the movie Grace marvels at how brave the astronauts are, especially for accepting a one-way trip to the stars. Grace does not have any heroism in himself. The captain only replies "you just have to find someone to be brave for". This is the pivot on which the rest of the movie turns.
A perfect balance of thrills, tears, and comedy. As a family we argued about it all through lunch afterwards (in a good way). A must-see in the theater.