Project Hail Mary proves to be 2026’s first great film. Based on the best-selling novel by Andy Weir and brought to cinematic perfection by directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Spider-Verse and The Lego Movie) and screenwriter Drew Goddard, who also penned Weir’s The Martian, this adaptation is sure to leave fans anything but disappointed.
The movie ranks among the best films ever made about space travel, and it knows what it needs to be for it to work. It knows how to be intelligent, funny, thrilling, moving, and yes, even amazingly plausible.
Ryan Gosling stars as Ryland Grace, a middle school science teacher who is selected by a group of scientists to participate in a special mission. The sun is dimming due to a microorganism known as Astrophage, which has the capacity to cool all life on Earth. The scientists ask Grace to study the Astrophage in the hopes that Armageddon can be prevented.
Grace journeys into space for 13 years with two other scientists who die on the flight, but he awakens after being put into a coma, and he has amnesia as a result. He tries to put the pieces of the puzzle together as to how and why he ends up in space and what his mission is, which he eventually does.
While in space, Grace makes contact with a spacecraft that has a rocky-like alien life form onboard that he named Rocky. At first they only communicate through hand signals and body movements, but Grace constructs a communication device that allows Rocky to speak firstly through a computer and then he establishes a voice system.
The relationship between Grace and Rocky is really the centerpiece of the film. It provides not only the emotional anchor as well as sly, effective humor, but their relationship helps advance the story.
Gosling gives by far one of the best performances of his career. His character is the highlight of the film: a man with unbridled knowledge of how to save humanity from the imminent threat, yet he also displays timidity because he knows certain things about the microorganism that are both helpful and harmful to Earth’s existence.
He knows how to give this character the necessary development, which is seen in numerous flashbacks, as well as make himself a very convincing hero by not acting as an action hero, but rather an Everyman. He possesses brains, charm, humor, and heart, which is a rare combination in a film that demands to be an ambitious undertaking. Gosling is on screen for nearly the entire 156-minute runtime, and he doesn’t waste 10 seconds.
Directors Lord and Miller and screenwriter Goddard could’ve easily turned this adaptation into a mindless extravaganza, but instead chose to give Project Hail Mary the necessary plausibility and profundity that it requires while also making a sensational spectacle.
The movie is filled with astonishing visuals and offers exhilarating sequences combined with moments of emotional resonance that feel earned rather than contrived.
In an age when most blockbusters feel they have to have loads of eye candy to distract from their lackluster stories, Project Hail Mary proves a triumph that aims for the stratosphere and hits it.
Grade: A
(Rated PG-13 for some thematic material and suggestive references.)
Reviewer’s Note: I saw this movie at the Historic Strand in Jesup.
