{"id":14212,"date":"2026-03-21T18:16:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T22:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=14212"},"modified":"2026-05-09T21:14:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T01:14:16","slug":"project-hail-mary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2026\/03\/21\/project-hail-mary\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Hail Mary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Project Hail Mary<\/strong> (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Amazon MGM\/Sci-Fi-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 156 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (some thematic material, suggestive references)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Drew Goddard\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Daniel Pemberton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Greig Fraser\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 20, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Huller, James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub, Priya Kansara, Liz Kingsman, Orion Lee, Aaron Neil.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0They don\u2019t make sci-fi movies like Project Hail Mary<\/strong> all that much anymore. It\u2019s either a hybrid (Predator: Badlands), a dystopian piece (The Running Man) or a franchise flick (Avatar: Fire and Ash). When is the last time we got a truly original sci-fi movie? I want to say The Martian, but that was more than 10 years ago. There must be others, I just can\u2019t think of any at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I wouldn\u2019t exactly call Project Hail Mary<\/strong> original. Based on the novel by Martian author Andy Weir, it consists of parts repurposed from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Apollo 13 (1995), Sunshine (2007), Interstellar (2014) and Arrival (2016). Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie) put them together to create a mostly cool cinematic experience. It struggles with pacing and tonal issues, but at least it\u2019s never boring.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Like the book, the film utilizes non-linear narrative to tell the story of a man sent to space to save a dying world. Dr. Ryland Grace (Gosling, Barbie), a middle school science teacher and disgraced molecular biologist, awakens in the titular spacecraft with no idea how he got there or what he\u2019s doing there. He\u2019s horrified to discover he\u2019s the only one on the ship; his two crewmates died while they were sleeping. Now it\u2019s on him, a teacher with no formal astronaut training, to save the day.<\/p>\n

\u00a0So what exactly is the big emergency? It seems that the sun is dying as a result of an alien microorganism called Astrophage. If nobody intervenes, it will lead to a catastrophic cooling event on Earth. Food will become scarce and a lot of people will die. The only solution is to travel to the only uninfected star in the universe and figure out why this is. It\u2019s a long journey and there\u2019s only enough fuel for a one-way trip making this a suicide mission.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Grace isn\u2019t the only one looking to stop the Astrophage. He encounters an alien spacecraft and establishes contact with its sole inhabitant, a five-legged being he names Rocky (voice of James Ortiz) due to his rock-like appearance. They manage to get around their language barrier and start to work together to solve the problem that\u2019s affecting both of their planets.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Project Hail Mary<\/strong> oscillates between Grace\u2019s mission and flashback scenes showing how he got involved in the first place. He\u2019s approached in his classroom by Eva Stratt (Huller, Toni Erdmann), a dour government agent with a literal mind (on the spectrum, I think). She brings Grace in to study the mysterious organism which he does. He\u2019s eventually briefed on the situation in its entirety. He was never supposed to go on the mission. Obviously, something changes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Visually, Project Hail Mary<\/strong> is dazzling. It has amazing special effects that never overwhelm the narrative. Now take a close look. Do you notice something unusual? Those are what we call practical effects. Lord and Miller say they used them as much as possible eschewing green screen in favor of actual physical sets and backgrounds. Same goes for the creature effects. That\u2019s a puppet you\u2019re looking at. Only a minimal amount of CGI is used for it. As a result, he feels like a real presence. What you\u2019re seeing in Project Hail Mary<\/strong> is the work of actual artists, not a bunch of folks sitting at computers. I admire this kind of old school craftsmanship.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In terms of plot, Project Hail Mary<\/strong> is a reasonably intelligent sci-fi adventure. It\u2019s smart without being too cerebral for mainstream audiences looking for popcorn entertainment. It\u2019s compelling enough even if it does occasionally lag a little. It also struggles to balance its heavier themes with lighter moments. It definitely feels off balance. Gosling delivers a good performance in what more or less amounts to a solo act. Huller also does fine work as the humorless government agent who always looks like she\u2019s hiding something. The alien Rocky is a great creation. He\u2019s not just a plot device; he\u2019s as much a character as any of the humans.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In short, I enjoyed Project Hail Mary<\/strong>. It\u2019s a decent movie. Sure, it\u2019s a bit on the long side, but it\u2019s never actually dull. It\u2019ll keep your interest. Is it destined to become a sci-fi classic? Only time will tell.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Project Hail Mary (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Amazon MGM\/Sci-Fi-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 156 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (some thematic material, suggestive references)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Drew Goddard\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Daniel Pemberton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Greig Fraser\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 20, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Huller, James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub, Priya Kansara, Liz Kingsman, Orion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-fi-fantasy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Project-Hail-Mary-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14215,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14212\/revisions\/14215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}