Project Hail Mary
Ever since I read his debut novel, The Martian, I’ve been a massive fan of Andy Weir. The novel perfectly blended a great sense of humor, wonder, suspense, and really complex scientific ideas into one of the most re-readable novels out there. Ridley Scott’s 2015 adaptation starring Matt Damon perfectly captured the tone and spirit of the novel.
While Weir’s second novel, Artemis, was decent albeit underwhelming, his third book, Project Hail Mary, didn’t just match the quality of The Martian; it surpassed it. My expectations for the movie had been through the roof. Especially with filmmakers Phil Lord & Chris Miller behind the camera and my favorite movie star, Ryan Gosling, in the lead role.
I’d been hearing the immense buzz Amazon has had for Project Hail Mary for almost a year now. The studio has been incredibly confident in the film. And for a twenty-something critic in Indiana to hear that kind of buzz early on, you knew they were trying to get the word out.
The film has already been showered in praise from critics and filmmakers all over the industry, and I’m adding my voice to the choir. Because Project Hail Mary is really damn good.
The film is told out of sequential order and begins with Ryland Grace (Gosling) waking up alone in a space station. Everybody else in his crew is dead, and he has no idea why. Actually, he doesn’t even know who he himself is. Through flashbacks, we discover that Ryland Grace isn’t some veteran astronaut; he’s a middle school science teacher.
After being laughed out of academia, Grace has kept a low profile, working in Anytown, USA. His strategy has worked until he is visited by Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller), who informs him that the leaders of the world need him for a mission that can save humanity. The sun is dying; it’s being eaten up by microscopic extraterrestrial creatures known as Astrophage. His scientific journals have once more become relevant, and humanity’s top minds have deduced that he may just have the knowledge to save humanity.
Despite having no experience as an astronaut, Grace finds himself stranded light-years away from home. Completely alone. As his memory begins to come back, he makes contact with another kind of extraterrestrial. A rock-like alien that he nicknames Rocky.
Rocky has also been tasked with saving his planet, being the sole survivor of his own crew. After finding ways to communicate with one another, a friendship forms between Grace and Rocky, and their minds combined may just be enough to save the stars and life as we know it.
Project Hail Mary has shades of Weir’s The Martian, as well as Interstellar, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the oft-forgotten 2024 Adam Sandler vehicle Spaceman. It’s also a movie about facing the end of life as we know it. Dark stuff. Despite that, it is incredibly hopeful and an enormous crowd-pleaser. Something Lord & Miller are accustomed to.
Right now, especially in the last several months, we have been bombarded with depressing headlines after depressing headlines. Project Hail Mary has arrived at just the right time. We don’t get many big-budget movies like this anymore, with this optimistic spirit. When we do, it often comes across as superfluous. That’s not what Project Hail Mary is. It’s hopeful without being too cutesy and finds ways to fit in jokes without it ever being forced or taking away from the dramatic heft.
On a technical level, the movie is flawless. Lord and Miller’s reliance on practical effects and sets pays off greatly, giving the movie a more vintage blockbuster feel than what you’d typically expect from a large-budget studio movie. None of it looks fake either; everything from the spaceship designs to Rocky himself is wholly believable.
Grace and Rocky’s dynamic is the beating heart of the movie. Even if Rocky isn’t a character with expressive facial features, the vocal performance from James Ortiz, his mannerisms, and his back-and-forth with Gosling are irresistible. Rocky never falls victim to being the annoying sci-fi sidekick; he’s charming, brings humor, and has an arc of his own. You care about him just as much as you care about Grace.
Gosling has opted out of some of the darker fare he was once known for, like Drive and Blue Valentine. Instead, he’s become more of a traditional movie star with flicks like The Fall Guy (which I found to be a great fun time, but it’s not top-tier work from him) and the upcoming Star Wars: Starfighter. Although his Oscar-nominated turn as Ken in Barbie proved he can still turn in career-defining work in four-quadrant fare. Gosling truly shines bright as Grace, and since he’s the only human on screen for the vast majority of the movie, he really commits himself to the part. He’s able to use his comedic muscles as well as flex his dramatic ones, sometimes simultaneously. He helps make Grace even more believable.
Outside of Gosling, Hüller’s Eva Stratt is the only other human who has much of a presence. For the most part, she sells her role, but it’s her unexpected karaoke moment where she really stands out. The rest of the human characters, including the other astronauts, are largely glorified extras.
Screenwriter Drew Goddard, who also wrote the screenplay for The Martian, stays true to the spirit of Weir’s novel. While certain plots are taken out, it makes sense, considering the novel is a dense 500 pages. None of the magic or heart is lost. At two and a half hours, Project Hail Mary does have a hefty runtime, but Lord and Miller have the movie flow at a brisk pace, and you aren’t bored for a minute.
Project Hail Mary is everything that a modern blockbuster should be. It has the charms, the awe and wonder, the laughs, and the charismatic movie-star performance that lead me to say it will go down as one of the best cinematic experiences of 2026. Seek it out. You won’t be disappointed.
Watching 2nd time , on tuesday , 😁