Title: Project Hail Mary
Director: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Studio: MGM Studios
Release Date: March 20th, 2026

Earning over $80 million on its opening weekend, Project Hail Mary has killed it at the box office. The science fiction movie starting Ryan Gosling released to strong critical and audience reception. Based off the Andy Weir best-selling book by the same name, and stacked with stars on the cast and crew alike, Project Hail Mary promises to be the biggest and most intense sci-fi blockbuster of the year. But does the movie adaptation live up to the high bar of the book it’s based on?

Story

Dr. Ryland Grace, played by Ryan Gosling, awakens with almost no memories aboard a ship with two dead crewmates light-years away from Earth. As he recovers from effects of cryosleep on both his mind and his body, he realizes that he is completely alone, and lacks the skills of being an astronaut. But as he explores the ship, he slowly recalls his past, both who he was on Earth and what his mission in space is.

He remembers that he was a middle school science teacher and disgraced molecular biologist that a specialized in non-water based lifeforms. While teaching, scientists discover an organism that grows on the surface of the sun called the Astrophage. The dimming causes the Earth to start slowly cooling, projecting the starvation of billions within a few decades and possible extinction of humanity. Strangely, the Astrophage also forms a thin line between the Sun and Venus, suggesting that some part of its lifecycle involves something on that planet. The same dimming process is affecting all nearby stars except one: Tau Ceti. With the assumption that such a kind of life couldn’t be water-based, Ryland is recruited to be the first person to study the organism in the laboratory, and becomes a part of the broader effort to save the planet.

As his ship, the Hail Mary, enters the star system of Tau Ceti, he encounters a massive alien ship made out of a strange material. At first, Ryland thinks this vessel is hostile, possibly. But through some early, clumsy communication attempts it becomes clear that this alien ship, and it inhabitant – a stony, spiderlike creature that Ryland nicknames Rocky, are here for the same reason as he is. Their star too, is dying. Together, Ryland and Rocky must work to figure out why Tau Ceti’s sun is not dimming, and how they might use that to save their respective planets.

Characters

Dr. Ryland Grace, much like Mark Watney in The Martian, stays optimistic and a little corny, even in the face of terrifying circumstances. Ryan Gosling does a great job performing him and keeping him charming throughout, which is important because often he is the only character in a given scene. In addition, he is a brilliant scientist, and it’s interesting to watch his analytical instincts work early on in the film even before he has recovered his memory. His adaptation is also very faithful to the source material, even though we miss out on hearing some of his direct thought process. Importantly, he also has a great dynamic with the other star character. The biggest weakness of his character is in the flashbacks, where there are moments of great gravity, discussing the possible extinction of the human race, and he chooses to make silly jones. It works mostly, but sometimes it’s just too much.

Rocky is probably my favorite alien in all of science fiction. His biology is so vastly different from human biology, including the way that he perceives the world and communicates. Unfortunately, the movie does not go into nearly as much depth about how he actually works, which is a running theme. He speaks through a strange, songlike language. But he is not unknowable. He is compassionate, an adept mechanic, if not as scientifically minded as Ryland is. Physically, he also has a lot of personality, which is helped immensely by him being a physical puppet rather than CGI in most of the film. Both of these lead characters bounce off each other fantastically. A lot of the middle and later parts are so fun (or so stressful), just on account of how well these characters interact.

But another key character is in the flashbacks to the time on Earth is Project Hail Mary director Eva Stratt, a no non-sense utilitarian played by Sandra Hüller. She does a great job balancing Ryland’s corniness and keeping the stakes of the film clear. Her inert and blunt reactions to his humor somehow make him a lot funnier and more bearable in his absurdity. But she also displays a lot of cleverness, responsibility, and personal faith in Ryland that makes her one of my favorite “weight of the world” characters. And the revelations toward the end of the film, reinforces that.

My only character gripe is that we don’t get all that much of Ryland’s students, or the astronauts that went with him on the Hail Mary, which were sections that I enjoyed in the book. The children especially, could have used maybe one more scene of them reacting to his involvement in saving of Earth. After the opening, they really only show up as artifacts – doodles, drawings, planet bean bags aboard the ship. I think just a minute more of them would have done the trick.

Action

Using the term broadly here, Project Hail Mary has a couple of scenes that stood out to me early. A lot of the scenes of Ryland, either in a flashback, or with Rocky, investigating the Astrophage, stood out as excellent. It was gripping to watch Ryland make ad-hoc but impressive discoveries about that organism, and to watch him and Rocky team up to solve problems. Both this and the first contact scenes as Ryland and Rocky learn to communicate were fantastic. Later on in the film, we get some proper action sequences in the Tau Ceti system that are absolutely stunning visually and intense. While I had read the book and knew what some of the outcomes were, the friend I watched the film with had his hands up to his face out of anticipation for what was going to happen.

It also helps that the movie loyal not only to the book, but also has a strong scientific basis. Ryland and Rocky often have to fight against real relativistic, chemical, or biological problems and have to science their way out of them. This is also true as the Hail Mary is being developed and formulated in the background.

Final Score (5 / 5 Stars)

Project Hail Mary delivers everything that it promises: A thrilling, well executed science fiction adventure with a lot of heart to it. It’s visually stunning, well written and performed, and loyal to the source material. I would recommend the movie for anyone of any age, which is a rare thing to say. I truly believe that anyone, from a young kid who might get invested in the alien or Gosling goofiness, to an adult looking for strong action and compelling storytelling, will get something out of this film. And that is true whether one is familiar with the book or not.

My biggest problem with the film is more the nature of the medium. Though the movie is faithful to the source material, it loses out on so much interesting science, internality of Ryland, more conversations and story beats. But that is not something that I can fault the film for, when it already has a runtime of 2.5 hours. I hope it encourages moviegoers to pick up or revisit the book. I know that I sure will.

What about you? Do you think Project Hail Mary was a great film? Is it faithful to its source material? Let us know in the comments below or head over to our Discord channel to join the conversation.

Featured Image Credit: MGM Studios

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