Project Hail Mary

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⭐8/10

I won't deny that I had Tim's book review in my mind going in, his criticisms poisoning my mind like he's Worntongue whispering in my ear. The truth is that I'd probably agree with him when it comes to the book. The script of this movie stood on a knife's edge, ever teetering and in danger of falling into dreaded cringe. I think it successfully toes the line in the movie, and that is for one reason alone: my best friend Ryan Gosling. 

I think this book was written with Ryan Reynolds in mind, and if he was the Ryan casted, this movie would have been 0/10. But as the saying goes, Ryan Gosling overcomes a multitude of sins, and so instead of being bad, I think this movie was good. Great in fact! I laughed a ton, Gosling making all of this work with his charm and good looks. This is a Ryan Gosling buffet, getting all you could want for 150 minutes straight: sad Ryan, funny Ryan, smart Ryan, dumb Ryan, all in cool outfits and about 6 different hair styles. As captain of the Gosling fanclub, this was all the Ryan I could want. 

The other character in this movie is Rocky, and he's something between Baby Yoda and Johnny 5. Again, I loved the interactions, and when he comes to the ship in the bubble I won't deny that my heart grew 3 sizes and I learned to love again. He's cute and funny, and sometimes that's enough. 

I'm not sure this was the perfect movie for me. I thought it looked and sounded good, though maybe a bit overdone on both counts, looking a little Marvel-y with screens full of colourful CGI vomit, and music that tries too hard and too often to create a moment. I also thought there was a bit of tonal whiplash with all this lame science trying to create a realistic and grounded story, but then shifting to some zany humour or whacky sci-fi. I kinda feel like this would have been better with a Star Wars approach. This movie doesn't work when it tries to be realistic, so why bother trying? That said, they don't try as hard as the book allegedly does and I was fine with the balance they found. 

Otherwise, my only complaint is a slight spoiler, so my warning comes now. Don't read on if you want to go in completely fresh. 

I just thought this was all a little too predictable. That's fine - this is not an overly serious movie, but the movie seems to want you to believe there are stakes, and there are no stakes, so it seemed a little dishonest or something. Gosling had a big, hard decision to make where he was gonna have to make that sacrifice he kept hinting at. I knew the moment it happened that everything would work out and it would all be okay. 

Anyways, this movie is getting tons a love and I don't mean to take away from it. It was a ton of fun to watch and Gosling is a treasure. 

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