Film Review - Project Hail Mary

Funny story. My idiot brain, whether it's post-radiation reasons or just simple obliviousness, thought it bought our tickets to Project Hail Mary for Friday at 8 pm. Turns out, it actually bought tickets to the Saturday at 8 pm showing. So, with that being said, to the person I accidentally stole your seat from, I sincerely apologize. I absolutely had no idea I'd done this and legitimately thought I had gotten tickets to that showing. That is my fault and wish I would've realized it much sooner so you didn't have to move. I am not really sure how our tickets still got printed or why the showing for Saturday at 8 was in the exact same auditorium as the Friday at 8 showing. I promise it was an honest mistake.

All right, now that I got that out of the way, let's get into my review.

As always, spoiler alerts so if you haven't watched the movie yet, maybe come back after you did.

Title: Project Hail Mary

Release Date: March 20, 2026

Director: Phil Lord, Chris Miller

Screenplay: Drew Goddard

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, Milana Vayntrub, James Ortiz, Liz Kingsman, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, Priya Kansara, Orion Lee

Run Time: 2 hr 36 mns

Genres: Hard Science Fiction, Space Adventure/Survival, Speculative Thriller, Alien/First Contact

Overview: Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory slowly returns, he soon discovers he must solve the riddle behind a mysterious substance that's causing the sun to die out. As details of the mission unravel, he calls on his scientific training and sheer ingenuity -- but he may not have to do it alone.

There are few movies I've watched over the years that were so good, it made me want to read the novel it was based on. The last one I can really think of would be Ready Player One. Project Hail Mary can now be included on that list. At some point, I definitely plan on buying the novel and reading it.

Project Hail Mary had all the right ingredients. Ingredients that really came together to keep me fully engaged the entire length of the movie. It had excellent casting. The actors felt natural together. Lines were delivered excellently, which only added to getting sucked into the movie. I loved the way it started with Ryland Grace (played by Ryan Gosling) coming out of his coma. We, as an audience, get to go along for the ride as he tries to piece together all the whys, whats, wheres, whos, and hows. I loved the flashback sequences and how the story had a dual timeline experience. It felt easy to follow and while dual timelines can muck things up and get confusing, the flashbacks only added to the story. It gave it coherence and helped explain how a science teacher with zero astronaut training ended up on a spaceship meant to save the human race.

And then there's Rocky (voiced by James Ortiz). The way this completely alien, in every way, lifeform interacts with Grace and how the two of them form an unbreakable relationship was awesome. Rocky was my favorite character. I loved their mannerisms, the way they talked, the way they messed up classic English idioms. The interactions between the two were genuine, funny, and captivating. It makes it easy to see why and how they become such close friends. To the point where both of them risk not only their lives but their ways back to their home planets for each other.

Project Hail Mary had depth. It had tension and suspense. And, as an added bonus, it was much funnier than I anticipated. It even had a pretty surprising plot twist at the end with Grace being drugged and then forced onto the ship against his will. I really dug that this character, who ends up saving Earth, didn't even want to be there at all. In fact, the only way to get him on the ship was to drug him. That was very nicely done. It subverted the expectation that even though he was against it at first, somewhere along the way he had to have changed his mind. That he decided to be brave and get on that ship himself. Right? Nope! Drug him and stick him on there ended up being the plan. It was messed up, for sure, but at the end of the day, I could definitely relate to Eva Stratt's (played by Sandra Hüller) decision to go that route.

I enjoyed pretty much every moment of the movie. The only thing I will say that is a negative, in my opinion, is the fact that we never get an answer to why or how the other two shipmates died. I only have my theories at this point but man, I want to know. What the hell happened to them?

I would highly recommend this to anyone wanting to watch a great movie with a great story. Especially for people that love scifi, alien, or movies with high-suspense, high-stakes situations.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5