Let’s keep it really simple with this review, Project Hail Mary is one of those movies that you watch and while you’re sitting in the theater, you’re hoping you can somehow go back and see it for the first time again. There are scenes, sections, moments, pieces of this film that dazzle, that charm, and some that will drive you to tears. I remember seeing the trailer for it at Cinemacon 2025 for the first time. It starts with clips of disasters striking all over the world, I could feel my eyes rolling back in my head. The last thing I want to see in 2026 is a movie about the Earth going through some sort of climate disaster that’s driven by man’s desire to endlessly rape the planet for its resources.
Oh, the movie wasn’t about that.
I wish I had a camera on myself, because not only did I sit up in my chair while the trailer was playing, but I found myself entranced by the visuals on display. So take that feeling and 10X it because that’s what Project Hail Mary feels like sitting in a theater. It starts off with Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) waking up from a hyperspace coma alone on a ship in the middle of deep space. It’s the only time that Ryan Gosling has ever looked unkempt in his entire life, and it helps set the tone.
This is a man who is drifting alone in space, and he doesn’t know why he’s there. As the film goes along, it’s unraveled through flashbacks (in normal aspect ratio for those watching in IMAX), that the Sun is slowly dying, and Ryland has been tasked by a new agency (led by Sandra Hüller’s Eva Stratt) to help find a solution.
The first half of these flashbacks show Grace and the trials and tribulations involved in trying to figure out how these space particles are eating the energy of the sun (and every other star in the galaxy, besides one). There are LOADS of energetic sequences that show off the directing style of Lord and Miller on this. If you loved the Spider-Verse films and their frenetic style of 21 Jump Street, this will be right at home. But it’s more than that.
Once we’re introduced to “Rocky”, the film really takes off, though. If you haven’t read the novel or don’t know, I really wish I could continue the review without telling you any of this, but it’s a “spoiler” that isn’t really a spoiler. I went in blind and didn’t know that there would be an alien that looks like he’s a spider made of rocks in the film that is super intelligent.
However, there is an alien that Grace names Rocky, who is hyper-intelligent, and who is out in deep space to look at the same star as Grace to figure out how to save his own race. The movie doesn’t play this for laughs, he’s not a dancing monkey to giggle at, Rocky is a fully-fledged and thought-out character. It’s the piece of Project Hail Mary that brings it from “cute, space movie” to “all-time classic” territory.
Rocky is the heart and soul of the film. Without it, we’d just be looking at Ryan Gosling being pretty, but with Rocky, we get the energy and charm of Gosling’s performance. And it’s astounding, because Rocky isn’t a human being, nor is he played by one. It really is a testament to everyone involved that the character works so well.
As the film goes on, Rocky and Grace learn to communicate with one another, Grace is a genius who doesn’t believe in himself (in the flashbacks on Earth), and he has to navigate this relationship with an alien being and also save the planet/solar system/galaxy. The film’s middle section is filled with basically what amounts to the montage portion of an 80s comedy, with Rocky and Grace figuring out how to communicate, what their plans are, it’s cute, to say the least. Then that feeling goes to straight to adrenaline when they get the plan down, they figure out what’s stopping these particles on this one specific star, and they go to collect the bacteria on the planet’s surface that kills the star-eating space stuff.
In the middle of plenty of thrilling scenes involving Grace space-walking, there are some of the most stunning visuals I’ve seen on film. Like straight up planetarium, watching Carl Sagan and sobbing beauty on screen. Greig Fraser doesn’t need an introduction with modern audiences with his cinematography, but this is the best work of his career on the visual look of this film.
The third act of Project Hail Mary and the epilogue certainly make you feel emotions, a range that goes from terror, triumph, heartbreak, solemnity, elation, and everything in between. I haven’t seen a movie that has made me want to fist-pump like Tiger Woods hitting a putt at the Masters as much as this movie has.
Every once in a long while, a movie will restore your faith and belief in humanity. Project Hail Mary is that film. Joyous, stunning, absolutely beautiful, and emotionally resonant. Truly one of my favorite movies I’ve watched in a long time.
To wrap this up, Project Hail Mary is an absolute triumph. One of the most emotionally resonant and just plain fun movies I’ve seen in a theater in a long time. I thought The Long Walk would hold the record for time spent ugly crying in a movie theater, but Project Hail Mary might have broken that record through sheer beauty, power, and the resilience of the human spirit. I’ve never written a review where thinking about the movie made me shed tears again, but here we are.
Project Hail Mary releases in theaters on March 20th, 2026.
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