Movie Review: “Project Hail Mary”

03/25/2026 by Corrye Van Caeseele-Cook

Plot: Based on the best-selling novel by Andy Weir, Doctor Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up on a spaceship bound for Tau Ceti, suffering from retrograde amnesia. Alone, and with no idea of how or why he got on board, Grace slowly begins to determine the how and why as his memory returns. It turns out Earth’s sun is dying due to a substance called astrophage, and he was sent on a mission to solve the problem and save Earth. To compound matters, Grace soon discovers an alien spacecraft with a single passenger in the same system for the same reason. Christening his newfound friend Rocky (James Ortiz), the duo must work together to unravel the mystery of astrophage, discover a solution, and rescue both of their planets.

Review: We live in an attention economy. At any given moment, multiple constructs demand our immediate consideration. Smartphones, Facebook, Instagram, X, BeReal, Teams, email, YouTube, and a plethora of others are all carefully designed to snatch the present moment away from us. It’s no wonder that people are more distracted than ever. Furthermore, information has been reduced to quick consumable bites. Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts rule the day, leaving us barely able to pay attention for 15 seconds before it’s on to the next one. Consequently, I believe this has led to a dumbing down of media content to the lowest common denominator. Everything has to be explained rather than intuited. Why bother thinking when you can just have it fed to you by inane repetitive dialogue? (I’m looking at you, Netflix.)

Knowing all this, it is no small feat that directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s latest science fiction film, Project Hail Mary, dares to do something audacious: it gets you to think. It doesn’t insult your intelligence or treat its audience like fools. Moreover, in an era where snark and pretentiousness have infected so many movies, Project Hail Mary doesn’t possess a scintilla of cynicism. On the contrary, it’s a hopeful film that’s truly aspirational and evokes two things I didn’t realize I’d been sorely missing: awe and wonder. When you look at the global political and social landscape at present, those two elements are in short supply and something we desperately need. To say Project Hail Mary is exactly the type of film we need right now isn’t hokey; it’s simply a statement of fact.

By the time the credits rolled on Project Hail Mary, I felt simultaneously emotionally exhausted and positively exalted. Bold, beautiful, and breathtaking, directors Lord and Miller have created something truly spectacular. Thematically hefty, visually stunning, emotionally resonant, and consistently hilarious, Project Hail Mary touts a career-defining performance from actor Ryan Gosling and reminds audiences–as cliché as it might sound–why we go to the movies in the first place. Tonally pitch perfect, Lord and Miller capture the heart and soul of Andy Weir’s book, while putting their own unique touches on a movie that’s bound to be on many people’s top 10 lists at year’s end and garner multiple Oscar nominations. That the duo was able to pull this off is nothing less than a miracle.

The foundation of any great film lies in the script, and Drew Goddard delivers a truly great one for Project Hail Mary to build upon. This is, in fact, the second Andy Weir novel that Goddard has adapted, having also written the script for 2015’s The Martian. Like the Ridley Scott film, Goddard succeeds admirably this time around as well. As a massive fan of the novel, I was more than pleased with Goddard’s adaptation. While there were a few scenes from the book that would have been nice to include, Goddard sticks to the spirit of Weir’s novel and knows what makes it intrinsically work: the relationship between Rocky and Grace. Aside from the masterfully interwoven flashback scenes, Goddard rightly keeps the focus on the duo’s dynamic. I also appreciated how Goddard did not gloss over or simplify the science contained in Project Hail Mary. It showed faith in the audience and lent a distinct aspect of versismilitude. While not as scientifically rich as The Martian, this is a movie that’s unapologetically pro-science, pro-thinking, and pro-collaboration. Much like The Martian, Project Hail Mary also lacks a distinct villain. A lesser screenwriter would have seen that as a flaw, but Goddard took it as a challenge. It’s not easy to craft something where you don’t have a dastardly villain with a black hat, but Goddard makes it look easy. If anything, the villains are circumstance and time, and the conflicts that arise make for a compelling film. Also, this movie is absolutely hilarious. I lost count of the times that I laughed out loud. Yet Goddard’s humor never undercuts the emotional heart of the story. Not only do I expect Goddard to garner an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay next year, but he’s also highly likely to win.

From a visual standpoint, this movie is absolutely gorgeous. Breathtaking doesn’t cut it. Project Hail Mary is lung-snatching in its beauty. There were multiple shots, such as a spacewalk above the planet Adrian, that left my jaw on the floor. I just sat there in awe. Greig Fraser is proving to be one of the great cinematographers of our time. He understood the assignment and brought an epic scope of grandeur and wonder to Project Hail Mary that I’m not sure anyone short of Roger Deakins would have been able to accomplish. There are elements of Interstellar and 2001 at play, but in a way that never feels derivative or contrived. If you don’t see this film on 70mm IMAX, you’re really doing yourself a disservice. It’s complemented by a brilliant and soul-affirming score from Daniel Pemberton. Pemberton blends the profound with stillness effortlessly, at times pulling on our heartstrings while other times inducing excitement and adrenaline. It’s probably the best score since Dune Part Two and one that will be in heavy rotation for me over the next couple of months. Hell, I’d love to own this sucker on vinyl, and I don’t even have a record player. That’s how good this score is.

If there’s one thing that prevents Project Hail Mary from being a masterpiece, it lies in the supporting cast during the Earth flashbacks. Please don’t misunderstand me, they are in no way bad, their characters are just underdeveloped. Ken Leung and Milana Vayntrub are given almost no screentime as Captain Yao and pilot Ilyukhina, respectively. However, The Bear‘s Lionel Boyce is absolutely hilarious as Officer Carl, a government agent who helps Grace early on with his experiments. The bromance was real, and I could watch a whole spinoff show with just those two. Sandra Huller of Anatomy of a Fall fame makes an almost pitch-perfect Eva Stratt, the head of Project Hail Mary. Huller’s straight-edged and overly serious Stratt makes for a perfect foil to Grace’s goofy nature and results in some truly hilarious moments. If anything, the film version of Stratt is much less severe than in the book and gives her character a little more humanity.

However, the pulsing lifeblood of Project Hail Mary is the charming, dynamic, and heartwarming relationship between Ryland Grace and Rocky. Simply put, if this relationship doesn’t work, the whole movie falls apart. It’s very odd to say that Ryan Gosling has fantastic chemistry with a faceless rock monster puppet, but here we are. Lord, Miller, and Gosling (who also produced PHM) could have easily chosen to make Rocky completely CGI. Instead, they chose to employ the talents of legendary creature shop designer Neal Scanlan, and it was absolutely the right call. There’s something to be said for having to play off a creature that’s physically in the room, and I feel like if this were all green screen, something would have been lost. As a result of Gosling and Ortiz’s chemistry, you completely buy into Rocky and Grace’s relationship. You are absolutely invested in their story. You root for them every step of the way, laughing at their lighter interactions, crying at heartbreaking moments, and cheering as they solve problem after problem. This is a career-best performance from Ryan Gosling, brimming with humor, heart, and bringing an emotional depth to the character of Ryland Grace I wasn’t expecting. Gosling makes it look so effortless (as he often does) that we forget how monumentally talented he really is. By the end of this movie, I was ready to die for them both. (Side note for fans of the book: Lord, Miller, and company nail this ending and added an extra wrinkle I appreciated.)

Project Hail Mary is truly a wonder. I loved every single second of this movie. It’s a rousing, feel-good film that also happens to be wildly entertaining. It accomplishes that rarest of goals: it gives you something to think about, rather than telling you what to think. It inspires hope and optimism. It reminds us that bravery isn’t innate. Sometimes all you have to do is find someone to be brave for–even if that someone is a rock-like alien. So, believe in collaboration. Believe in kindness. Believe in compassion. Believe in courage.

Believe in the Hail Mary.

My rating system:

1 God Awful Blind Yourself With Acid Bad

2 Straight Garbage

3 Bad

4 Sub Par

5 Average

6 Ok

7 Good

8 Great

9 Excellent

10 A Must See