This has been seeing a lot of discussion in my circles, including a slight spoiler I tried to ignore. I decided not to wait for the next spoiler to see the flick in a theater. Besides, at 156 minutes, it promised a good way to fill my evening.
In the near future, scientists discover star-eating microbes that could decimate Earth's population in a few decades. These "astrophages" travel to Venus to reproduce, so it's possible to collect some for study. Only one vaguely close star, Tau Ceti, has not been dimming. The titular project sends three astronauts on a long, mostly comatose one-way trip to find and transmit answers that might save their sun. For unexplained reasons, only Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) lives to wake up. Fortunately, he meets a sapient alien he dubs Rocky, on a mission to deal with the same threat to another star. Their combined smarts might be just what they need.
My use of "astronauts" above was a bit generous to Grace. As revealed in copious flashbacks, not only does the middle school science teacher have no space training and get seasick easily; he had to be physically forced onto the ship, being too cowardly for a suicide mission even for humanity's sake. I don't quite buy that the crew absolutely needed his on-hand expertise in astrophages; from what I could tell, he'd already shared what little he knew with the rest of the project. His antisocial ways and history of locking horns with fellow scientists made him relatively expendable in the eyes of project leader Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller) among others.
Grace gets the most screentime, but Rocky's the apparent main attraction. He's(?) almost as unworldly as the aliens from Arrival, having a stony texture, no discernible face or head, five crablike legs with three stubby digits each, infrared vision, enhanced hearing, and a surprisingly high voice for his roughly human size. He and Grace can't live in the same environment without some kind of barrier -- a suit for Grace or a rolling dome for Rocky. He's adept at constructing things out of curiously solid xenon. With a lot of trial and error, Grace uses a computer to translate Rocky's rather melodious sounds into broken English (eventually voiced by lead puppeteer James Ortiz).
The two sometimes get a bit abrasive with each other, as when Rocky loses patience at Grace's slow mastery of technical skills or Rocky wishes for more privacy. That would explain why IMDb emphasizes comedy over drama among the genres. But when push comes to shove, they care deeply about ensuring mutual survival. It gets downright heartwarming, helped along by Rocky's partial cuteness.
A reviewing author complained that Grace's lack of friends, family, and pets back on Earth makes the personal stakes too low, kinda like how Jake Sully's human disability in Avatar cheapens his choice to stay in a Na'vi body. I'm not so sure. We don't want to be too mad at Eva. And if he does discover a way back, he'll still have been gone at least 23 years, reducing the value of any reconnection.
I can't help thinking of another sci-fi based on an Andy Weir book, The Martian. Both include a lonely, resourceful astronaut recording vlogs to send to Earth. So far, PHM looks even more popular. For my part, I find it more emotionally engaging but a little less enjoyable, perhaps for further straining my credulity. Or perhaps because I prefer Matt Damon to Gosling.
Having first known Weir as the web cartoonist of Cheshire Crossing, I now want to read more of his work. His writing has yet to disappoint me, and I hope PHM isn't his last success.
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