What’s It About

Astronaut Ryland Grace wakes up on a space station with no recollection of who he is or what his mission is. As his memory slowly returns, he soon learns that he was sent to the Tau Ceti solar system to reverse the impact of a space event that has already hurled Earth into the early stages of an ice age. As details of the mission unravel, he must call on his scientific training and sheer ingenuity, but he may not have to do it alone.

MOVIESinMO REVIEW

Let’s get one thing out of the way first. Project Hail Mary is the kind of movie that reminds you why you fell in love with going to the movies in the first place. It is big, it is beautiful, it is surprisingly funny, and by the time it ends, you may find yourself wiping your eyes while trying to pretend you are not. This film earns every single one of those feelings. And yes, it is also almost devoid of Black faces on screen, which in 2026, remains frustrating and worth naming out loud. Hollywood continues to write blank checks for imagination while writing out people of color. We see you. Now, with that truth told, let us talk about what Project Hail Mary actually delivers, because it delivers plenty. Ryan Gosling plays Dr. Ryland Grace, a former molecular biologist who got pushed out of the scientific world for thinking too differently. When we first meet him, he is teaching science to middle schoolers, clearly a man running from something bigger than himself. Then the federal government comes knocking. Turns out, the sun is dying. A microscopic organism called Astrophage is eating starlight across the galaxy, and Earth has maybe thirty years before it freezes over entirely. Scientists, governments, and desperation all collide into one last plan called Project Hail Mary, and Grace, the reluctant genius who does not even want to be there, ends up on a one-way spaceship heading toward Tau Ceti, the one star in the galaxy the Astrophage has not touched. Here is the twist: Grace wakes up on that ship with no memory of any of it. His two crewmates are already dead. Alone and confused, he finds himself in the vastness of space with all life on our planet weighing heavily on him. The plot of the movie unfolds using two timelines that tell both about his earthly past and his increasing realization of being somewhere in the cosmos and what he’s doing there. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller demonstrate an impressive mastery of this stylistic approach — it never feels contrived. Each flashback lands exactly when you need it. Sandra Hüller plays Eva Stratt, the government official who recruited Grace and essentially forced him onto the mission when he tried to walk away. She is sharp, she is cold when she needs to be, and she carries the gravity of the stakes with authority. In a film where Gosling commands almost every frame, Hüller still makes her presence felt completely. But here is where the movie becomes something truly unexpected. About midway through, Grace discovers he is not alone in space. Another ship is nearby, and inside it is Rocky, an alien creature shaped like a spider made of rocks, who has also lost his crew and is also chasing the same problem from the other side of the galaxy. Rocky is voiced and physically performed by James Ortiz in a role that deserves serious recognition. Because here is the thing about Rocky: he has no face. He does not speak English. He communicates through musical tones at first, and Grace has to figure out how to build a language from scratch. And somehow, against all logic, Rocky becomes the most lovable character in the entire film.The friendship between Grace and Rocky is the soul of Project Hail Mary. What starts as two scientists trying to understand each other becomes something that feels genuinely moving. The friendship of these two ladies has developed through mathematics, collaboration, and perseverance rather than taking shortcuts; they worked together and accomplished a great deal over time, creating an authentic kinship between them through multiple achievements along the way. This isn’t just some magical story of two females being friends, it’s a story of all of their work together in partnership to achieve common goals and build a foundation of trust one step at a time. You will have invested completely in the fact that they both will get home together by the time the credits roll. The reason this relationship hits so strongly is due to both Gosling’s work and the practical choice to have Rocky be a real puppet vs. all CGI created. You can physically feel Rocky’s presence in every scene. That decision alone was the key difference; if they had used a tennis ball on a stick, it wouldn’t have been as impactful. The production design throughout is remarkable, with the ship’s interior built as an actual set rather than a green screen environment, and the result is a film that feels grounded even when it reaches its most far-out moments. Gosling, to be direct, is excellent here. Grace is awkward, funny, brilliant, and deeply human. He is not a traditional hero. He is the guy who said he wanted no part of this, who spent half the mission figuring out what was happening before he could even begin to fix it. Gosling plays that reluctance with a lightness that never lets the film feel heavy, even when the material gets deeply emotional. This is one of the best performances of his career. Greig Fraser’s cinematography is worth the price of admission alone. On an IMAX screen, the film expands into a full 1.43:1 ratio for every space sequence, and the visual scale is overwhelming in the best way. Daniel Pemberton’s score moves through the film like a living thing, full of warmth and invention and weight. It is the kind of music that you feel before you consciously register that you are hearing it. Is the film too long? Slightly. There are a couple of moments near the end where the story seems to find its conclusion, and then keeps going. That is a real note. But it does not damage what the film builds. When you are watching the final stretch, you want it to last because you do not want to say goodbye. Project Hail Mary is ultimately about one thing above all else: connection. It is about what happens when two completely different beings choose to help each other rather than fear each other. It is a message this world absolutely needs right now. The film does not shout that message. It builds it quietly, scene by scene, until it is sitting right on top of your chest. See this one on the biggest screen you can find.

OUR RATING – AN ASTRONOMICAL 8.5