from the series Movie Corner…

By HOWARD MCQUITTER II

4.5 Stars
2026
Science Fiction/Adventure/Mystery
MGM

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller co-directed Project Hail Mary, a fabulous science fiction film starring Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace, a middle school teacher who reluctantly takes on a life-giving mission for the Earth and beyond. The film convincingly creates a real sense of urgency for Earth when microorganisms known as astrophage are capable of consuming the energy not only of our sun, but stars throughout the universe.

Ryland Grace woke up on the spaceship Project Hail Mary in space only to find his two comrades dead. When he releases his two comrades into space it also releases one of the most notable emotions in the film.

However, the backstory shows Grace perfectly happy being a middle school science teacher in spite of encouragement by Eva Stratt to have him take on the mission. Stratt is played by Sandra Huller from Anatomy of a Fall (2023) and Zone of Interest (2023). She’s presented as a constant motivator, not a rigid bureaucrat nor a hardline tactician, who believes in Grace. Grace tells his colleagues repeatedly he doesn’t want to be a hero.

While Grace is on the spaceship he meets a friendly alien who’s the only survivor from his alien clan with the same mission as Grace: to save his world. Both astronauts and the alien find a way to communicate with each other. Grace calls him Rocky. They used a puppet worked by Randy Ortiz, rather than special effects. With so much time on the spaceship, it may feel claustrophobic at times. Even at moments of anxiety and trepidation though, there are sporadic intervals of humor.

So with similar space mission movies, Matt Damon in The Martian (2015); Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar (2014); Sandra Bullock in Gravity (2013); Cillian Murphy in Sunrise (2007); Tom Hanks in Apollo 13 (1995); Bruce Dern in Silent Running (1972); Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Ryan Gosling is in another space movie where he plays Neil Armstrong in First Man (2018). Yet, Project Hail Mary is no-rip-off of any of these films. According to those people who have read the novel by Drew Goddard, the film is faithful to the book.

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