Cinephiles have been champing at the bit for the theatrical release of Ryan Gosling‘s upcoming space movie, Project Hail Mary. And who can blame them, with the likes of Phil Lord and Chris Miller directing a sci-fi flick as well as some good-ass practical effects, it’s pretty much a movie lover’s wish upon a star. As if to send folks off into the weekend with even more hype for the film before it’s at the end of the month, MGM dropped an official clip from the movie to both satiate fans’ appetites and leave them craving more.
Based on Andy Weir’s novel, Project Hail Mary follows Ryland Grace, a school teacher-turned-supremely underqualified astronaut. To make matters all the more perilous, the dude wakes up in deep space with amnesia only to come to the slow realization that he’s been tasked with saving the world from cosmic doom.
While many a moviegoer who saw the first trailer for Project Hail Mary scratched their heads, wondering why they put a big spoiler at the end revealing Ryland would come into contact with some sort of alien. Turns out, dear reader, that is what the movie is really about: their friendship. So, to further hammer that point home, here’s an extensive clip from the movie of Ryland meeting Rocky, a little rock alien guy.
Ryland and Rocky’s meet-cute is, well, cute. The clip shows Rocky’s little rover-shaped claws peeking out of rubble beyond the wall separating the two, revealing a little figurine we can safely assume he made of Ryland. But like a kid showing off his toys, the show’s not quite over yet, because Rocky also pulls out a metal clump shaped like a four that Ryland gives us a huge assist in ascertaining what the hell it’s supposed to be, saying it’s his ship. Rocky then concludes his impromptu prop show by pantomiming his Ryland figure waddling back into the ship, even though he apparently just got here. But no worries, Ryland meekly says he’ll see Rocky again, like how Elmo would tell kids at the end of Sesame Street.
As mentioned up top, folks have been abuzz about Project Hail Mary. So much so that critics’ first reactions were glowing. Among their praises, critics found the weird sci-fi film incredibly touching, funny, innovative, and they even threw around the word “masterpiece.” After seeing 30 minutes of the film at a special screening, io9’s own Germain Lussier was blown away, saying it was “pure joy.”
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the movie will be in IMAX, giving fans an eyeful of its hypnotic visuals and booming score. But the rest of us regular folk will have to hold on to this clip (and any others they might drip-feed us) and play pretend with Lego sets before we can see what all the buzz is about for ourselves.
Project Hail Mary releases in theaters on March 20.
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