It would be easy to dismiss Project Hail Mary as an amalgamation of movies set in space that we have seen over the decades. First and foremost has to be 2015’s The Martian, which presented Matt Damon alone on the Red Planet interacting with officials back on Earth. That came from author Andy Weir’s 2011 book with a screenplay adaptation by Drew Goddard, the same combination that created this new film. Throw in some 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar, Silent Running, a bit of Ad Astra, the heart of E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, the language of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the isolation of Gravity to mention a few predecessors. It is therefore a very tall order to be truly original, to create something that feels fresh and new in this well-worn genre. Cinematically, that would actually be asking for a kind of Hail Mary pass itself.
What directors Phil Lord & Christopher Miller (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, 21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie) achieve, with what I would term the most intimate use ever for the scale of those large Imax cameras, is a bit of a miracle because it is the humanity, not the hardware, that you take away from this unquestionably theatrical experience. It is big, but it doesn’t feel all that epic even though the storyline on its surface sounds like any number of setups for every disaster movie you have ever seen. Thank God it isn’t that. Essentially the sun is about to expire taking all life along with it. There is no way to save us unless we find just the right person who can essentially give up everything, including most likely their own life, travel decades into the future 12 light years from Earth and devise the formula to stop this certain apocalypse. And no, it’s not a job for Superman. This movie has no use for superheroes.
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Enter Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), whom we first meet alone on his space ship, an appearance suggesting no grooming for ages, going about his daily routine in isolation. This begins a non-linear approach to telling his story as we catch up with him on Earth in flashbacks in bits and pieces like a puzzle the audience has to slowly piece together. We see him in his classroom as a middle school science teacher who catches the eye of mysterious government official Eva Spratt (Sandra Hüller) who initiates a series of conversations exploring his expertise in exactly the Hail Mary pass they need to try and reverse the course of this certain calamity that will spell finis for life on Earth, that is, unless as she believes Grace is her man to prevent it, even as it means he will surely die trying. The alternative as she explains is he and anyone along for the ride are going to die anyway without this fix. We all will. Grace, once he finally understands the enormity of the request, wants none of it and rejects her, but she is persistent, enthralled with his formulas, and won’t give up. Of course we know he has no choice, and thus takes off on this epic journey.
Eventually he gets a partner from another corner of the universe on the same mission, a spidery bunch of rocks he names Rocky, an alien lifeforce with the similar rare level of intelligence to team with Grace on this mission, one they find they must work together and bond to pull off. The message here is clear: We are stronger with each other than divided in fear. This becomes the buddy relationship that carries the second half of this journey and this film. It’s funny and heartening, and Rocky makes for one of those adorable creature pals that gives E.T. and R2-D2 a run for their money. It also gives Gosling someone, something to play off of and relieves the isolated tedium of the early going.
The flashbacks and structure Goddard and Lord/Miller have brought to this adaptation work well here as the book itself had a very interior Grace basically thinking a lot and narrating his own story, fine for a novel but difficult to pull off in a film that runs more than two-and-a-half hours and requires dazzling visuals. For its first third we are guessing a lot about just what it is Grace is up to and how he got there, but it all pays off with thrilling results, a human story over one that emphasizes massive destruction and that, like The Martian, makes this latest trip into space one worth taking.
You can see why Gosling, who has traveled to space before in the more dour First Man in which he played astronaut Neil Armstrong, is more the common man this time, caught up in extraordinary circumstances beyond his control. He also has a great face to work with for brilliant cinematographer Greig Fraser’s frequent closeups in tight quarters. With Project Hail Mary Gosling scores one of his best screen roles, a constant star presence often alone on screen, and he keeps us with him all the way. Hüller, the fine German actress (Anatomy of a Fall), gets the kind of part we haven’t seen her do and she plays it convincingly, a determined official who knows the consequences if her bet on Grace is wrong. The other key acting triumph here is all off screen, as puppeteer James Ortiz manages to take a visual effect of a bunch of rocks and physically turn it into pure artistry. Rocky comes memorably alive. Shout-out also to Viz Effx wizard Paul Lambert and his team, as well as creature creator Neil Scanlon. All the production elements are first rate, notably Charles Wood’s production design, Joel Negron’s tricky editing, and a sensational score from the great Daniel Pemberton, which just may be his best to date.
A movie made for Imax, Project Hail Mary is mission accomplished, an entertaining and engaging piece of science fiction that suggests even though we may be worlds apart, in order to save us from ourselves we must band together now more than ever.
Producers are Amy Pascal, Gosling, Lord, Miller, Weir, Aditya Sood and Rachel O’Connor.
Title: Project Hail Mary
Distributor: Amazon MGM Studios
Release date: March 20, 2026
Directors: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Screenwriter: Drew Goddard
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub, Lionel Boyce, Priya Kansara
Rating: PG-13
Running time: 2 hr 36 min
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