Review of 'Project Hail Mary'

School teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes to find himself in a plastic body bag alone aboard a spaceship with the other crew all dead. Over the course of a series of flashbacks we learn that with his doctorate in molecular biology Grace was recruited by the government to help save earth. An infrared line - the “Petrova Line” - appeared between the Sun to Venus which appears to be causing the sun to dim. A sampling mission determines it is a living “Astophage” whose exponential growth will quickly threaten life on earth. The phage is also causing the same issue in a number of neighbouring suns except, unusually, on Tau Ceti so a desperate mission is hatched to send a group of astronauts to the star system to find out why and hopefully come up with a way to save earth. Aboard the spaceship Grace initially feels self pity, consoling himself with drink and general moping about until he arrives at Tau Ceti where he finds an alien ship. Eventually he makes contact with the alien on board - A sentient rock-type creature he predictably names “Rocky”. The two form a friendship and work together to find a solution to the problem that, it turns out, both species are facing…

A really interesting and fun film though many will find the slow, measured pace frustrating. This is a film not afraid to take the time to fully immerse the viewer in the characters and situation, and it is all the better for it. We really buy into the relationship between Grace and Rocky which seems very real and quite emotional. I have to say it is quite far fetched that the government would pick Grace, having only a doctorate and working as a teacher, as their expert in solving the astrophage issue, particularly with not only his reluctance to do so but also his reaction to any sort of authority. He is a rebel and likes to do things his own way. Here he is welcomed by the world-wide group of researchers and, of course, ends up being the key to the problem. His fun, light attitude is reflected in the others who grow to believe in him. Of course, the real question is how he ended up on the mission and how the whole situation is resolved which I will not spoil for readers though I have to say the find sequences are a bit too Hollywood…there are many, many scenes here where the whole enterprise is threatened but somehow it all works out somewhat diminishing the sense of jeopardy by the time we get to the finale. It is, however, quite entertaining and that is the name of the game here. Gosling is the key to this with his sense of fun keeps the somewhat dark and desperate enterprise moving along, never losing hope or the sense of wonder.

There is no question that the special effects are first notch here. Rocky is real, closely interacting with Grace throughout (albeit behind often mobile glass-like structures to isolate his atmosphere from the human's). The filmmakers have endowed Rocky with enough movement to allow him to dynamically emote and eventually communicate with Grace. The space effects are similarly very believable with some attention to physical reality - The use of centrifugal (rotational) force to simulate gravity which, when not in use, causes everything to float around quite realistically, particularly to the inept, untrained astronaut Grace who quickly gets himself into trouble bumping into things. The whole thing feels very gritty, and real with particular poignancy when Grace reads through his fellow traveller's belongings and sends their bodies into space.

As an aside, the whole bit bit about Grace's ineptness is an ongoing theme, particularly how bad he is at being a pilot. Whenever he sits in the captains chair the computer starts referring to him as captain despite his protestations. This is a key part of the film - An unlikely saviour for the human race; A highly intelligent man who is forced to come up with a solution to an insolvable problem, very much like author Andy Weir's other work, The Martian. Expect to see lots of duct tape used in imaginative ways.

A really fun, if slightly long, film that shows off Rosling's talent as a comedic, yet intense, actor. An emotional and epic journey that will take you along with it.

Rating: “I have absolutely no complaints”

Review Date: 2026-03-22

Directed by: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Studio: Amazon MGM Studios

Year: 2026

Length: 156 minutes

Genre: Science Fiction

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12042730/

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