‘Project Hail Mary’ review: A massive, moving space epic that sticks the landing

Courtesy of Amazon/MGM Studios

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Any good book adaptation needs a few key ingredients to really fire on all cylinders and break into the zeitgeist. A massive movie star helps, sure, but it also has to satisfy fans of the source material while remaining accessible and entertaining for everyone else. That balance is harder than it sounds. Thankfully, Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s “Project Hail Mary” pulls it off with confidence. Adapted from Andy Weir’s novel, the film stays remarkably faithful to the book’s narrative DNA while delivering one of the most polished and emotionally satisfying space epics since “Interstellar.”

With stunning visuals, a thunderous, immersive score, tactile practical effects, and the one-two punch of Ryan Gosling in the cockpit, “Project Hail Mary” is a full-scale cinematic achievement. It’s the kind of film where the line between practical and digital disappears entirely. As a fan of the 2021 novel, what’s most impressive is just how much the filmmakers get right. This is a story that feels almost unfilmable on the page, constantly toggling between massive, existential stakes and intimate, character-driven moments. And yet, Lord and Miller manage to deliver both. For all its cosmic scope, this is ultimately a story about connection. Strip away the science and the spectacle, and what you have is, at its core, a surprisingly tender buddy comedy set against the end of the universe.

“Hail Mary” follows Ryland Grace (Gosling), a former molecular biologist turned middle school teacher turned reluctant astronaut. He wakes up alone on a spacecraft with no memory of how he got there. His crewmates are dead. He’s lightyears from Earth. And as fragments of his memory begin to return, the scope of the mission becomes terrifyingly clear. An alien microorganism known as Astrophage is draining energy from the sun and stars across the galaxy, threatening extinction on a cosmic scale.

Back on Earth, the mission is overseen by the no-nonsense Eva Stratt, played with razor-sharp precision by Sandra Hüller, fresh off her Oscar-nominated turn in “Anatomy of a Fall.” She assembles a global coalition of scientists and astronauts tasked with what is essentially a suicide mission to the one star system still unaffected. “It’s what you Americans call a long shot,” she says, neatly summing up why the project is dubbed a Hail Mary.

Screenwriter Drew Goddard smartly trims down the novel’s dense scientific explanations without dumbing them down. The film finds a rhythm that makes complex ideas feel digestible and, more importantly, dramatically engaging. At two hours and 36 minutes, it’s a hefty runtime, but it rarely drags. Much of that is due to Gosling, who carries the film almost entirely on his shoulders. Like Matt Damon in another Weir adaptation, “The Martian,” he’s tasked with making isolation compelling. Unlike Damon, though, Gosling has a secret weapon.

That would be Rocky, an alien from the planet Erid who is, without question, the film’s MVP. Without spoiling too much, Rocky is a marvel of design and performance, brought to life through a seamless blend of CGI and practical effects. More importantly, the filmmakers absolutely nail the character’s personality and presence. It would have been easy for this to go off the rails, something closer to the awkward misfire of the Paul Dano spider in “Spaceman.” Instead, Rocky is funny, endearing, and essential. He doesn’t just work. He elevates the entire film.

The relationship between Grace and Rocky is the beating heart of “Project Hail Mary.” If that dynamic fails, the movie collapses. Thankfully, it soars. Their unlikely bond carries genuine emotional weight and taps into something deeply universal, evoking the same sense of wonder and connection that made “E.T.” so enduring. 

That’s not to undersell the spectacle. The film is packed with breathtaking sequences, including one standout moment that absolutely belongs in the same conversation as the docking scene in “Interstellar.” Lord and Miller prove once again that they understand how to balance scale with sincerity. Whether it’s “The Lego Movie,” “21 Jump Street,” or the “Spider-Verse” films, they’ve always had a knack for finding humor and humanity in unexpected places. Here, they bring that same sensibility to a much larger canvas, without losing what makes their storytelling feel personal.

If there’s any criticism to be made, it’s that the film occasionally plays things a little too safe. For a story built on such bold, existential ideas, there are moments where it opts for emotional familiarity over true risk. Some of the Earth-bound material, while necessary, lacks the same urgency and spark as the sequences in space. You can feel the film itching to get back to Grace and Rocky whenever it cuts away from them. Still, these are minor quibbles in a film that gets so much right.

“Project Hail Mary” is the kind of big, ambitious, crowd-pleasing sci-fi that feels increasingly rare. It demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible, with an audience that’s fully locked in. I know it’s early, but if there’s one film this year that captures the magic of why we go to the movies in the first place, it’s this one.

Grade: A-

PROJECT HAIL MARY opens in theaters Friday, March 20th.