Review of PROJECT HAIL MARY: Gosling's Gravity

March 18, 2026

 

One day, Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) woke up from a medically-induced coma on board a space ship, totally disoriented. When he got his bearings straight, he realized that he was the sole survivor of their three-man crew. Based on his calculations, it would take more than 100 years to get back to Earth. Grace soon recalled that their mission was a veritable suicide mission to go a planet called Tau Ceti to gather specimens for a crisis back on Earth.

Ever since he gained notoriety because of a controversial paper he published, molecular biologist Grace taught science at a local middle school. One day, Grace was invited by a government official Eva Stratt (Sandra Huller) to join a team of scientists studying an infrared line from the Sun to Venus, apparently caused by alien microorganism called "astrophage" which was eating up the Sun. Tau Ceti was the only star spared by these organisms.

This is the latest film produced and directed by the team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, noted for "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," "The Lego Movie" and "Spider-Verse" movie franchises. Their work is marked by a humorous approach to various nerdy sci-fi subject matter, which make them ideal storytellers for outer space adventures like this. This is their return to directorial work after "22 Jump Street" 12 years ago.

Like the 2015 Ridley Scott film "The Martian," the story of "Project Hail Mary" was based on a novel by Andy Weir, and adapted for the screen by Drew Goddard. The basic plots of the two films are practically similar -- about the extreme challenges faced by one scientist to survive in outer space after being left behind by his teammates. Goddard's script also had the same style of telling the backstory in flashbacks, with a mix of humor and sentimentality.

Unlike "The Martian" where botanist Mark Watney had only himself to rely on, Grace met an unexpected alien friend along the way, his own "E.T." This new friend, whom he called Rocky because of its bodily form, proved to be a vital partner in Grace's sanity, health, as well as his mission. Of course, Grace was able to develop a program to turn Rocky's echolocation signals into English, with the calming voice of its lead puppeteer James Ortiz. 

Ryan Gosling's likeable, charming personality made the 156 minutes of the film fly by in a most entertaining manner. We rooted for him to accomplish his difficult mission even if Gosling's Grace did not exactly project the gravitas of a serious scientist like Damon's Watney convincingly did before. However, Grace was presented here as an unwilling member of the team, which gave his dedication to the accomplishment of his mission more substance.

Acclaimed German actress Sandra Huller is back after her major international breakthrough in 2023 for her two Oscar-cited films "Anatomy of a Fall" and "The Zone of Interest." As her Stratt was the team leader of a mission to save the Earth from another Ice Age, Huller had to play it cold and distant most of the time. However, she also revealed her humanity in conversations with Grace, and that surprising karaoke scene with Harry Styles" "Sign of the Times."

Aside from that song, there were more popular songs in the soundtrack, like "Champagne Supernova" by Oasis, "Winds of Change" by Scorpions, and "Two of Us" by the Beatles among others, also not unlike "The Martian." The visual effects, sound, film editing, and musical score all seem to be bound for awards consideration next year, with Ryan Gosling's winsome performance not a long shot for Best Actor. 9/10.