- Starring
- Ryan Gosling, Liz Kingsman, Lionel Boyce
- Directors
- Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
- Rating
- PG-13
- Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Release date
- March 20, 2026
Overall Score
Rating Overview
Rating Summary
In Project Hail Mary, in the silent void between stars, where Earth teeters on the brink of extinction, a lone astronaut awakens from deep sleep aboard a sleek, solitary spacecraft. With no memory of the mission, only fragments of a dying planet in his mind, he hurtles toward a distant system on humanity’s last, improbable gamble. What he finds there—amid alien wonders, impossible physics, and an encounter that defies every expectation—ignites a fragile thread of hope, and unlikely alliance against cosmic darkness that could save two worlds… or doom them both.
Project Hail Mary REVIEW
Sci-fi purists beware. Project Hail Mary, for all of its considerable charm, is not the high-concept, science-driven science fiction that you're looking for. It has all of the trappings: global stakes, alien species, spaceships, and first encounters. However, at its heart, it's a buddy adventure that only uses space as a narrative tool to foster a friendship and deliver high-stakes drama. So, if you are someone for whom science fiction is ruined by "why didn't they justs," and "relativity doesn't work that ways," etc., it may not be the one for you. If, however, you enjoy a film bursting with heart that benefits from some terrific visuals and a charismatic performance, buy a ticket right now.
In today's cinematic landscape, there have been few oases of genuinely fun, carefree entertainment. Arguably, last year's F1™ The Movie accounts for the last decent feel-good popcorn flick that Hollywood's managed to put out, and, if we're being honest, as much fun as it was, it was just ok by the standards of those of us who grew up during the time of titanic blockbusters.
Project Hail Mary is the F1 of modern sci-fi films. It's fun, thoroughly enjoyable, and will even leave you talking about it on the way home. Though I suspect many of the conversations will revolve around the endless plot holes brought about by its lip-service science, a plot driven by MacGuffins, and Rocky. However, aside from being a rare entertaining modern film, PHM isn't anything special.
Despite the aforementioned weaknesses, the always excellent Ryan Gosling, along with a winning combination of top-tier voice acting (James Ortiz) and puppetry, elevate the been-there-done-thatness of the plot. Gosling is pure charisma, spending 90% of the film talking to himself or working alongside the Rocky puppet, and, like Michael Caine before him, he understands that treating it as absolutely real is what gives the audience permission to emotionally invest. Mission accomplished. Gosling also handles the oftentimes problematic dialogue as a champ, which is important because if his comedic instincts were even a fraction less, the film would have collapsed in on itself.
The film's weakest link, much of what is spoken suffers from near-emersion-breaking Joss Whedon-esque cutsey quips and jovial smirks that walk a very narrow edge between saccharine and tolerable, too frequently dipping its toes in the former.
Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (not sure why this film needed two directors), both best known for helming children's and man-children's movies, seem unable or unwilling to embrace the inherent maturity of the plot, and their puerile proclivities nearly poison the piece. Yet, with just the right amount of vulnerability and loads of charm, Gossling is able to defuse the narrative bomb with a wink and nod, keeping the audience chuckling along until the next plot development whisks them away into a tense bit of drama.
A token attempt at a character arc for Gosling's Grace beyond accomplishing important goals is haphazardly peppered in, but it's clear the directors were far more interested in having the audience fall in love with Rocky than in developing Grace's arc. To be fair, some of Grace's arc failing to make a meaningful impact falls on Gossling himself. Without giving too much away, the same confidence that carries much of the film makes his character's flaws feel unnatural and forced for the sake of a third-act conflict, and the film isn't helped by the timing of his shortcomings' reveal, as it has the potential to completely derail the emotional buildup of his heroism.
Don't get me wrong, Project Hail Mary achieves a lot. Rocky's existence is fully realized from the beginning, and Lord and Smith never fumble that thread. Ryan delights throughout, and the relationship between the two is the heartfelt camaraderie that blockbusters are made from. Further, Project Hail Mary is a visual delight, from ship design to Rocky's puppetry, the vastness of space to project HQ, it's a completely immersive experience.
However, it's hard not to feel a small sense of loss for the ride that could have been had the emotional beats been left to breathe and resonate fully. It's the difference between generational epics like The Lord of the Rings and fun one-offs like Dragonheart (we choose to disbelieve the existence of its direct-to-video sequels/prequels).
The third act nearly goes full Armagedon with everything that can go wrong doing so, and while the most cynical of us will likely be turned off by yet another film that sacrifices maturity for easy laughs, and it may not be the next Strange Encounters of the Third Kind, as a piece of escapism and as a fun movie night for couples or even families, Project Hail Mary is totally Worth it.
PARENTAL NOTES
Important Information for Parents
Our Parental Notes flag the material parents may want to know about before pressing play, including profanity, blasphemy, adult content, extreme violence, frightening intensity, hyper-stimulating sequences, and other family-content concerns.
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James Carrick
James Carrick is a passionate film enthusiast with a degree in theater and philosophy. James approaches dramatic criticism from a philosophic foundation grounded in aesthetics and ethics, offering insight and analysis that reveals layers of cinematic narrative with a touch of irreverence and a dash of snark.
i haven’t been this exited for a movie for at least a decade, if not more. I just read the book, I’ve seen the reviews and it seems the whole thing is amazing. Can’t wait to watch it. I’m literally counting the seconds until it is released.
Come on dude… I already bought tomorrow’s tickets and I need to know if it’s a movie my 11 year old girl can watch… get it on with the review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Just being an ass… take your time… you know I love your reviews… but it would be nice if you have a parental guide before I take my daughter to watch it.)
The movie is great (I won’t spoil it) and as a sci-fi story, it has to be one of the best in the last 10 years. Grace and Rocky are great and fun together. My 11 year old daughter loved it.
With that said, I read the book last week and so, I can’t stop myself comparing the two of them. I gotta say that unlike the book, science is an afterthought in the movie. Everything moves quickly and nothing is thoroughly explain, if it is even explained. I get it’s a movie and they barely have the time and they have to squeeze the whole story in within an hour and fifty minutes, but it is what it is. Another thing I have a complain about is Rocky. In the books he is a serious, highly competent being with a tendency toward impatience and bluntness to the point that he may appear as grumpy at times. He happens to be funny from a human perspective but it is accidental because from his perspective he is serious 99% of the time. He is very intelligent, his brain is a math solving machine and he is highly capable. Many of the problems they solve are because of him. In the movie he is just comic relief, relegated to a sidekick. He never gets the chance to shine. So, as somebody that read the book, I felt there was a lot missing.
And I’m not saying the movie was bad, I loved it for what it is and my daughter and wife had a lot of fun. It is one of the best movies coming our from Hollywood in the last 10 years (if not the best). But if you read the book, be aware that although it is the same story, they are two somehow different experiences.
My wife commented that if she hadn’t read the book, she would have felt lost in the plot. Yes, the movie does race forward without letting moments breathe. But I think at least part of the problem is the editing. Sitting in a theater, and trying to enjoy it as much as possible, I still engaged the autistic part of my brain and started counting Mississippis. I’m not claiming to have done the whole movie, but the longest section I counted was the arrival of Rocky’s ship. Grace’s longest “holy moly” cut was 17 seconds long (side note — forty years ago, 17 seconds would have been an average cut length.) The second longest was the scene on Earth when (SPOILER!) blew up, and they raced toward the flames. That came in at 7 seconds. Out of nine or ten times I counted, for about a minute or two each, the average was 2-5 seconds per cut before the scene changed. In many cases, I didn’t count past three seconds for half a minute, despite there being at least 20 — yes 20! — scene cuts. “1 Mississippi 2 — 1 Mississippi — 1 Mississ — 1 Mississ — 1 Mississippi 2 Mississippi 3 Miss — 1 Mississ — 1 Miss — 1 Mississippi 2 — ” Anyone who feels like the movie is too quickly paced, part of the blame falls on the action-scene editing, which gives the eye no time to focus on any one thing before changing. Also, just as a personal note, my ex was epileptic. I would have advised her against seeing this movie, because when they flash the lights, they REALLY FLASH. I had a small migraine before I left.
I think that’s a fair point. The whole thing seemed to me as though the directors were insecure in their ability to tell a dramatic tale, and that the quips, quick cuts, and stream of cutesy emotional breaks were them retreating to their storytelling comfort zones rather than mining the drama to its fullest.
Directors like Kubrick, Tarantino, Lumet, or even someone like Sam Mendes were/are unafraid to let the camera linger, and give the actor time to inhabit the moment, drawing in the audience to empathically bond. Today’s directors have taken all of the wrong lessons from Spielberg, who forever changed the way that films, especially action films, are made. Spielberg took his B-role instincts and created a distinct style and changed cinema’s rhythm, but modern filmmakers forego rhythm and replace it with speed, hoping that an ironic eye roll will take the place of contemplativeness and nuance.
I really wanted to like it. My 13 year old son really did like it. However, it is quite long, and it dragged in spots. Despite all the sturm and drang, I found myself actually getting a bit bored once or twice. lMuch money and effort went into this film, and it had some good parts. Great CGI, obviously. But it lacked some soul. Some premises were a bit silly. And there was so much action/noise etc. in many parts of the film that I could not tell what was happening. Which sucked. Nothing much woke about it (other than the standard, mandatory worship of Diversity). But I give it a C + or maybe a B – .
I cant believe I’m saying it but I actually love a modern Hollywood film. Even as the most cynical moviewatcher on the planet I had a smile on my face the whole time gosling and rocky were interacting. I thought the shots were incredible in Imax and while it did drag at times those large exterior shots helped engross me into the film. Incredible chemistry, great special effects, and while it borders on Marvel humor at times it just barely stops from breaching it. I recommend.
I don’t think anyone expects a hero to be perfect at the beginning of a film, but by the end we’d like to see how he has risen or fallen to the challenge. In my gut Grace fails here. He never fully comes to terms with his abject cowardice or apologizes for it. I haven’t read the book but I understand he actually stays mad at Stratt for sacrificing him. And I don’t buy the notion “but by his actions he showed he was a changed person.” He helped out his alien friend and yes sent the probes back and figures out the science problems before him. But tonally he was the same person at the end, goofy, boyish and charming.
Agreed. It wasn’t the satisfying hero’s arc that I prefer and left me feeling a bit flat at the end.
My daughter and I liked the movie. It is definitely better than Super Mario Galaxy. Of you Jane to choose between the two, watch this. It’s good enough that I want to watch it again, when it comes out on disc or streaming.
About half this movie is a timid man named GRACE being led around by his stolid and wise girlboss mommy, lectured to by his diverse coworkers, enlightened by his scholar bodyguard, and belittled as to his intelligence by a walking, talking bundle of rocks. It’s a testament to Ryan Gosling’s likability that despite all that it’s still a pretty good movie.
One white lead male who is a bumbling idiot. One girl-power german woman with no humor. A whole lot of rooms that are so diverse I’m not sure any race is left out (oh – except white folk). How can anyone stand to get past the first 15 minutes of this diversity-washed casting. No story is good enough to make white hatred tolerable.
I’m surprised the woke elements were missed by a lot of based reviewers. The black girl in the classroom wearing a sweatshirt spelling “Kindness” in Pride colors was front and center during the opening scene. Grace’s NASA uniform had a logo with country flags surrounding it, but of course they had to throw in a Pride flag as well. It’s easy to miss, but to me it was pretty ridiculous to have a Pride flag among country flags. There was some cringey woke elements during the party scene where the German lady sings a song during karaoke. They/them pronoun usage for Rocky’s partner. I’m sure someone will say Rocky’s beings don’t have gender or Grace didn’t know, but it’s obvious why Amazon threw that in. Those were just a few that I can think of off the top of my head, being that it has been a few weeks since I watched it. It was still an enjoyable film, but being an Amazon production, it definitely checked off many of the intersectionality and DEI boxes.
Interstellar wannabe, delivery medium for Amazon’s propaganda. Save yourself from the insult to your time, protect children from its messaging.
Power positions:
– Top power position occupied by girlboss female
– Black security guard with decision-making and financial authority over protagonist
– White male protagonist lowest in hierarchy; not taken much seriously by a forcedly diverse cast of scientists; more or less a clown
Emasculated white male protagonist:
– Clumsy
– Unsuccessful career
– Cowardly
Gender politics:
– Grace: The white male protagonist is referred by this feminine (last-)name throughout the entire movie, despite being certainly in very friendly terms/first-name basis with the main interaction partner. The symbolism of the name (Grace, Mary) could have been conveyed without the continuously forced usage.
– They/Them pronoun usage (01:24:21)
Environmentalist messaging:
– End of the world coming in 30+ years due to climate change is the main premise of the movie
Movie was a good adaptation of the book. Couple of plot holes and they went light on science with a focus on visuals. Would recommend highly.
PHM is this generations ET. It features a very lovable/adorable alien that is very child like but instead of the human helping the alien get home its about the 2 helping each other save their respective civilizations. My only criticism is the initial introduction of the alien; it’s done with to much scare like tactics. I have a 4 year old niece who I could easily see giggling and laughing at this alien creature only so long as she’s not shown the part where Goslings character first sees any part of the alien. I understand why they did what they did I just feel it could have had even broader appeal if they had skipped the scare like reveal.
While the movie features many flashbacks that provide some back story and context, Ryan Gosling and the voice actor for the alien pretty much carry this movie. There are other very important characters like the female scientist who recruits Gosling into the project and difficult choices she has to make but its Gosling and Rocky, the alien, who do the brunt of the films work.
PHM was written by the same author behind 2016’s THE MARTIAN feat Matt Daemon and its on par in terms of writing quality. I easily see PHM being film of the year unless something unexpected comes out by years end. I haven’t seen SUPER MARIO GALAXY yet but I’m betting that PHM will nudge it out for best pic of 2026.
There’s not being a more family friendly/safe film in a long time. Support the movie so Hollywood is incentivized to stop making as much woke trash as it does and return to films like this!
I was entertained. The ending was a little silly but fun.