“Project Hail Mary” (2026) was directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, starring Ryan Gosling. It is a high-stakes science fiction thriller based on the bestselling novel by Andy Weir. The movie starts with Ryland Grace waking up in a spaceship all alone, his mission is to find a solution to save the solar system from a threat called “Astrophage.” On this mission, he met an alien who then became his companion.
The film’s opening is a masterclass in tension, utilizing “locked-room” mystery to instantly hook the audience. Ryland Grace wakes up in a spaceship with no memory. As he pieces together his identity, the film beautifully portrays his profound sense of isolation. This feeling is best captured in one of the film’s most haunting early lines:
“I’m on a spaceship. I’m light-years away from home. And I’m the only one left.”
Throughout the movie the audience can see a vast amount of flashbacks of Grace in two different timelines. The flashbacks act as a crucial tool to explain to the audience what happened in the past before Grace got on the spaceship and why the mission existed from the start. This helps untie the knots that the audience saw at the first few minutes of the movie and deepen his character development by showing when he was on Earth and when he is all alone in the mysterious universe.
While the science is fascinating, the “heart” of the movie is the first contact between Grace and an alien lifeform named Rocky. Their attempt to communicate and build bonds becomes the emotional anchor of the entire experience.
Their friendship is defined by moments that are both humorous and deeply moving, including the iconic lines: “Fist my bump!”and “You stay, I stay. We save worlds, friend-Grace.”
The film did great at giving the same vibe like “Interstellar” and “The Martian.” It’s like a fusion of these two masterpieces by combining space travel in a big space ship just like in “Interstellar” and portraying the loneliness and despair when a human was being left alone for a long period of time like the main character Marky in “the Martian.”
Without the food problem and time paradox, “Project Hail Mary” can focus on the sacred friendship between two different individuals who came from different star systems. It shows the power of engineering and love of science that help them bridge the gap between two civilizations, solving each other’s problems.
Gosling was perfectly casted as the character Grace. Despite carrying a large portion of the whole movie on his own, the main character Grace still stands out the most. He proved that he can portray Grace flawlessly while handling Grace’s humor and despair, which are the two opposite energies. Although he spends the most time acting with Rocky’s figure model, Gosling and Rocky’s voice actor, James Ortiz, can still illustrate the chemistry between these two characters. Ortiz did an excellent job at adopting Rocky’s personality and making it become real.
The movie was directed by the same people who made “The LEGO Movie” and “Spider-man:Into the Spider-verse.” Miller and Lord bring the same kinetic and humorous energy they used in the two pieces of work into “Project Hail Mary” and balance it out with some crisis and problems to solve throughout the journey.
Even though the film itself is a thriller science fiction, it can still mirror the global context we are living in right now. The mission itself is a way of reminding everyone that we are still suffering from climate change, the planet is dying and soon everyone will. The “task force” is an example of how it would look if everyone set aside all of the conflicts and differences and worked together to save the species from the extinction that is slowly coming.
Visually, the movie is a treat, offering a vast, immersive look at the universe and distant planets. The CGI work on Rocky and his ship is particularly notable; Rocky looks biological and “heavy,” and his ship design feels like nothing else in sci-fi history.
The film excels due to emotional acting and central friendship between Grace and Rocky. At times, the movie can feel a bit too long, and the constant, rapid-fire problem-solving can sometimes lower stakes for some viewers.
“Project Hail Mary” is a unique, must-watch experience. Whether you are a fan of “The Martian” and “Interstellar” or just love a good story about aliens and space travel, this is truly “Absolute Cinema.” (Thumbs down, thumbs down)
