TL;DR – Project Hail Mary is everything a sci-fi film should be: bold, evocative, immersive, and wonderous.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Warning – Some scenes contain flashing lights.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

Project Hail Mary Review Introduction –

As I sit down to write this review, I feel like I am floating a touch on air, as if I had just witnessed something glorious to behold. Something I hoped would be good, but which delivered in ways not even I was expecting. It’s a rare film that not only meets expectations but exceeds them.   

So, to set the scene, a man wakes up sealed in a bag, not able to talk, and is accosted by some persistent medical device. He does not know who he is. He does not know where he is. He does not know why there are two dead bodies with him. And you better believe he does not know why he is on a spaceship, or why the star he is looking at is not Sol. There are flashes of memory, of a dying Sun, a Petrova line to Venus, and microbes called Astrophage eating it away. But the man whom the computer says is Dr Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) doesn’t have much time to think about things when the computer alerts him to Blip-A, and he realises he is not the only spaceship out here.     

Narrative

One area I was concerned about was the narrative, because the original novel lands on the hard side of the sci-fi spectrum, and there was a real chance that things would get lost in the transition. While I was concerned, thankfully, I am glad to report that they absolutely got the balance right in the film. Of course, the film was going to be for a wider audience, and some things that worked in the book are not going to translate well to a visual medium. But at no point does it become too dense to be impenetrable for people who have not read the book. Conversely, they did not remove the charm that made the book so good to market it to a wider audience.

If you have read the book, I can tell you that they hit all the major plot points of the novel. I mean all of them. To make it fit, the time between those major points has been condensed for the film, but nothing important gets lost in the shuffle. There is one or two lines from the novel that I am sad didn’t make the leap, but that is such a minor issue in the grand scheme of things. I also liked that they used match cuts, perspective shifts, and differing camera types to help shift between the two timelines. I will say that the flashbacks on Earth do get very lean once Grace meets a jet, however, I didn’t mind that because it meant more time with …

The Alien in the Room

 I want to give full credit to the entire artistic team that brought Rocky (James Ortiz) to life; they are everything that I wanted to see. Moving from a book to a film, there is always the chance that something you pictured in your mind becomes very different to what you see on the screen. Not here, it was almost like they ripped the image out of my brain and put it on the screen. I loved every moment that Rocky and Grace were on the screen; their interactions brought such delight to the cinema. Oh, how I have missed an entire theatre laughing together in joyous unison.  

I believe that Rocky is a combination of a practical puppet and digital augmentation, and I can say that they use the best of both techniques to produce a flawless alien creature. You immediately buy into them as a real character, and I know that because there was a moment where I felt the entire theatre hold its breath, and that doesn’t happen without a connection. I also liked how they brought their spaceship to life, something that felt profoundly real, yet grounded enough to make sense conceptually. I loved that little Rocky dude and his not-hamster-ball-ball, so mad respect to James Ortiz and the team that brought them to life.

We Can Build It

To say that this is a stunningly beautiful film to look at would be an understatement at times. I believe that Amazon spent in the realm of 200 million on the production, and well, I can honestly say that was money well spent. The shots in space oscillate from wondrous to whimsical and back again. Some simply glorious moments will stay with me for years to come. Tau Ceti is absolutely gorgeous, in a way that you kind of wish you could visit it yourself, but for the 66% death rate getting there.

I also want to shout out the set designers who put the Hail Mary ship together. It captures those elements of hard sci-fi in the design; everything has a place, everything has a reason, even the tables on the roof have a reason. But then there is also a real sense of design to it, a care for aesthetics that often eludes works like this. I think this will be a set that you will be watching the film multiple times and still find new details that you missed. It also allows you to film the crew from multiple different angles, so you are always bringing a new perspective to the Hail Mary throughout the film.         

The Ryan Factor

So much about the film is entirely wrapped up in the character of Dr Ryland Grace. Hence, you need to cast someone who is generally likable, can have a believable performance with a puppet, and most importantly, can hit those moments when things get dark. Ryan Gosling nails it. Given that amnesia is a quite overused plot device, you need someone who can really sell the confusion and disorientation that would come from it. Ryan Gosling nails it. Acting with a puppet in such a way that you imbue it with life, because you take it seriously. Ryan Gosling nails it. This might be my favourite performance of his at the time of writing.  

Everything Else

Before I wrap up, a quick lightning round up of everything else I liked. Sandra Hüller is perfectly cast because you must believe that she would do what she ends up doing without malice, but also without a second thought. Daniel Pemberton’s score sometimes leaps out of the screen and slaps you across the face and I am thankful for every moment. The action all feels grounded in the reality of gravity that they are using at the time which keeps that hard sci-fi edge to it all. Finally, I have already said this was a beautiful film, however, there is one scene that was so captivating that I found myself in tears.   

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Project Hail Mary? Yes, yes, we do. You know how much I can recommend it, when I walked out of the cinema late at night after watching all the credits, I found at least half the audience still outside in the foyer discussing the film and what parts they loved. It has been a long time since I felt that feeling, that feeling cinema can bring. Or to quote the young lady walking down the stairs next to me, because I agree with her implicitly, “…my heart was filled with joy …”

Have you watched Project Hail Mary? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked Project Hail Mary, we would recommend The Martian to you because it is another stellar adaptation of an Andy Weir novel that captivates you from start to finish.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Project Hail Mary
Directed by – Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Screenplay by – Drew Goddard
Based on – Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Music by – Daniel Pemberton
Cinematography by – Greig Fraser
Edited by – Joel Negron
Production/Distribution Companies – Pascal Pictures, Open Invite Films, Waypoint Entertainment, Lord Miller Productions Amazon MGM Studios & Sony Pictures
Starring – Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, & James Ortiz
With – Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub, Liz Kingsman, Priya Kansara, Orion Lee, & Amira Ghazalla
And – Meryl Streep
Rating – Australia: M; Canada: PG; Germany: 12; New Zealand: M; United Kingdom: 12A; United States: PG-13