By George & Josh Bate
Evaluate the palpable excitement audiences have for Project Hail Mary and one would think the new Amazon MGM Studios movie is the next installment in a long-running franchise like Star Wars or Marvel. This level of anticipation is both a testament to Andy Weir’s acclaimed 2021 novel and an incredible promotional campaign that have showcased the film’s technical elements, interstellar narrative, and Ryan Gosling-fueled heart and humor. It’s a relief to proclaim then that Project Hail Mary not only lives up to sky-high expectations – it exceeds them. The film from directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller is an extraordinary cinematic achievement and the kind of movie that makes you grateful you’re alive at a point in history in which movies are made.
Project Hail Mary stars Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace, a middle school science teacher who wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no memory of how he got there. A series of flashbacks reveal that Grace was sent on a high-stakes mission far away to assess why a sole planet, unlike the sun and other stars near Earth, is not dying out. Grace calls on his unorthodox ideas and rich scientific knowledge to solve this enigma and save Earth from extinction but eventually discovers he does not need to undertake this mission alone.
With a runtime over 150 minutes and renowned creatives working in every department, Project Hail Mary quickly secures its status as a modern sci-fi epic. Beyond its remarkably heartfelt story, the film impresses as a visual, auditory, and technical marvel. Greig Fraser (Rogue One, Dune) provides sumptuous cinematography, using all manner of creative, in-world light sources to craft gorgeous, colorful frames. The musical score by Daniel Pemberton (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) ranks among the most emotionally effective cinematic compositions in recent memory, with certain strands and motifs alone enough to get you misty eyed.
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, meanwhile, make their return to live-action directing for the first time in 12 years with an effort that is easily their greatest filmmaking achievement to date. The directing duo exhibit a keen eye for shot composition, play intelligently with different aspect ratios, and know exactly when to go for wide shots at gorgeous landscapes and when to opt for more intimate close-ups between Gosling and his new friend (who we’ll get to in a moment).
Backed by impressive filmmaking in every department, Project Hail Mary also excels in striking a light-hearted tone that never undercuts the high-stakes of the story. The novel on which the movie is based is written by Andy Weir, who also penned The Martian, the acclaimed sci-fi novel that was adapted into a feature film starring Matt Damon. Beyond the surface-level similarity between the The Martian and Project Hail Mary in both focusing on a sole man’s journey far away in space, the films share a similar tone. Like Damon in Ridley Scott’s film, Ryan Gosling plays Ryland Grace with a levity that rarely wavers, even in the face of incredible stress and setbacks. The film, in turn, avoids the profound and melancholy tone of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar and, instead, plays far more like a textbook crowd-pleaser.
Featuring in virtually every moment of the movie, Gosling operates perfectly within the tone of screenwriter Drew Goddard’s script. The Academy Award nominated actor has some great performances under his belt (namely Half Nelson, Barbie, and La La Land), but Project Hail Mary may be his strongest and most versatile performance to date. Whether it be in First Man, Blade Runner 2049, Drive, or various other films, Gosling’s performances are often rather stoic and minimalist, featuring relatively little dialogue for a lead. Here, however, Gosling takes the levity of his turn as Ken in Barbie and fuses that with the dramatic prowess of some of his more subdued performances to craft a character that is infinitely compelling. His Ryland Grace is witty and clever but also deeply caring and thoughtful. Gosling nails the more overtly comedic and more overtly dramatic beats in the film, but it’s when a scene draws on both the actor’s comedic and dramatic chops that his performance truly stands out. It’s the kind of performance the term ‘awards-worthy’ was made for.
The strength of Ryan Gosling’s lead performance feeds into Project Hail Mary’s greatest accomplishment – its remarkable heart. After making its way through an exposition-heavy and somewhat disjointed first act, Lord and Miller’s film firmly finds its footing upon the introduction of Rocky, the rock-like alien that Ryland teams up with to save their respective worlds. Numerous projects have leaned into the Lone Wolf and Cub-adjacent trope of having an adult man befriend a cute animal or creature (look no further than Predator: Badlands recently or The Mandalorian and Grogu to come) and yet, despite how many times we’ve seen this dynamic play out, there’s something so undeniably heartwarming about it.
For as exciting as the interstellar antics and high-stakes story are, the bond between Gosling’s Grace and the alien Rocky is the true heart of Project Hail Mary. Watching their friendship develop and evolve over the course of the runtime proves so genuinely moving that tears will inevitably flow for many (including us). This feat is all the more incredible given the fact that Project Hail Mary, unlike some of the aforementioned projects, doesn’t overly rely on the cuteness factor of the ‘Cub’ in the Lone and Wolf and Cub dynamic. Instead, the film makes Rocky an endearing, lovable character through his personality, sassy attitude, devastating past, and deep affection for Gosling’s character.
Interspersed through Grace and Rocky’s collaborations to save the world are various flashback sequences that detail what led up to Grace’s mission. While the flashbacks nicely break up the pacing and give the viewer occasional reprieve from everything going on in space, they ultimately add very little to the film. The viewer already sees Gosling undertaking this mission and can piece together (for the most part) how that mission came to be, rendering much of these flashbacks redundant. Eventually, they culminate in a ‘twist,’ of sorts, that fails to justify their extensive presence in the movie.
But even quite a few unnecessary flashbacks can’t drag down a movie as exceedingly heartwarming as Project Hail Mary. The film concludes poetically and beautifully, capping off a movie destined to be one of 2026’s greatest movies.
VERDICT: 8.5/10
Project Hail Mary is an extraordinary cinematic achievement – the kind of movie that makes you grateful you’re alive at a point in history in which movies are made. Bolstering exquisite cinematography from Greig Fraser, a moving score by Daniel Pemberton, and assured directing from Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the new Amazon MGM Studios release is a visual, auditory, and technical marvel. The film deftly strikes a light-hearted tone that never undercuts the high-stakes of the story, much like The Martian (also based on an Andy Weir novel). Leading man Ryan Gosling operates seamlessly within this tone and particularly excels in scenes that couple levity with dramatic weight. After making its way through a somewhat disjointed and exposition-heavy first act, Project Hail Mary embraces its single greatest element – its undeniable heart. The friendship between Gosling’s Ryland Grace and the alien Rocky proves exceedingly heartwarming and had us tearing up on numerous occasions. While flashbacks that detail the origins of Grace’s mission add little to the film, they do not derail what is otherwise a beautiful, heartwarming, and expertly crafted modern sci-fi epic destined to be one of 2026’s greatest movies come the end of the year.