PROJECT HAIL MARY (2026)

Andy Weir wrote The Martian in 2011, which Ridley Scott turned into a successful film, but Hollywood bypassed his 2017 follow-up, Artemis, fast-tracking the higher-stakes Project Hail Mary instead. Like his first bestseller, this film focuses on an American scientist overcoming various challenges — but the stakes are higher now, and the situation is far more expansive in its ambition.

Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) awakens with amnesia aboard a spacecraft, seemingly sent from Earth to a star eight light years away. His two crewmates died in medically induced comas during the journey, leaving Grace to make sense of his surroundings and his history. The story is told through flashbacks, explaining how a schoolteacher was chosen to save the world from catastrophic global cooling caused by the mysterious dimming of the Sun.

Project Hail Mary is an idea with a multitude of influences. The Martian is the obvious touchstone, with a handsome scientist using his intellect to solve life-and-death problems. Only here, Grace must investigate why a distant star isn’t succumbing to the same affliction as our own Sun; the fate of billions rests on his shoulders. However, the broader premise feels indebted to Danny Boyle’s Sunshine (2007), written by Alex Garland, about a crew similarly trying to save Earth from a cooling Sun. Sunshine is fantastic, but even its defenders admit the final act falls apart as it lurches into sci-fi horror — a tonal shift at odds with the quieter drama of its opening.

As a sci-fi author, Weir offers an intriguing explanation for the Sun’s difficulties, which anchors the movie and ensures it doesn’t drift. But unlike The Martian, which was celebrated for its robust concepts by real-life astronauts, Project Hail Mary is looser and has more fun with the premise. As the trailers revealed, Grace meets an extraterrestrial on his journey. If you thought this was a glimpse of the climax, you’re wrong; Grace’s meeting with “Rocky” (James Ortiz) — a small, crab-like being with stony skin — occurs early on, upending expectations of the film’s focus.

Grace isn’t merely an astronaut adrift and doomed; he’s making first contact and building a friendship to resolve a mutual threat. There’s a seam of Enemy Mine (1985) in the story’s DNA, though sci-fi fans will likely giggle at how quickly the language barrier is overcome. We’ve all seen Arrival (2016), where linguistic barriers were more plausibly navigated over the entire movie’s runtime; here, a laptop is translating alien dialogue within days. Andy Weir has a reputation for “hard” science, so that’s a bit of a stretch!

It’s clear that despite its pedigree, Project Hail Mary isn’t as burdened by believability as its predecessor. Screenwriter Drew Goddard (Cloverfield) ensures the lead is more down-to-earth than the source material suggests, largely through Ryan Gosling’s comedic zeal. It’s a curious trend in modern cinema: geniuses are no longer socially awkward geeks but Marvel-style quip machines with fast-talking repartee and amazing hair. Gosling is affable to a fault; even as humanity faces a countdown to extinction, he carries the energy of a man who’s just found a great parking space. Remember when Sphere (1998) cast Dustin Hoffman as a scientist? We’re light years from that.

I must admit, Gosling’s performance slightly irked me at times. He’s so fun that the horrifying reality of the situation doesn’t land. The Sun is dying, yet there’s always time for a joke. Apparently, we can’t have our scientists be “math bores” in 2026. Gosling can play a dimwit plastic doll one summer and a hunky teacher with better theories than elite minds the next. The man has range, but that’s Hollywood thinking: it should be Benedict Cumberbatch doing this nerdy space stuff, but now it’s the likes of Brad Pitt in Ad Astra (2019).

The best part of the film is the growing friendship between Grace and Rocky. I was reminded of Bruce Dern talking to his cute service robots in Silent Running (1972), but we can now do justice to the reality of speaking to an alien being. Rocky feels truly “otherworldly” due to his lack of a face, and watching him bond with Grace to save their respective planets is remarkably endearing.

The worst part of the film is the ongoing flashbacks. They make sense early on while Grace has amnesia, but once that early exposition is dealt with and everyone’s up to speed, they start to feel tired and redundant. It’s often just a way to provide a “break” from the main story. But we continue returning to the project’s development, headed up by Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller), for little reason. She doesn’t even become a romantic interest to provide Grace with a clearer motivation to return home, despite a moment of karaoke that could have been a vestige of a previous draft with that intention. On the upside, considering the glamorised casting elsewhere, it’s refreshing to see German actress Hüller in this role rather than Anya Taylor-Joy in glasses.

It’s also worth mentioning that Project Hail Mary is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who are best-known for comedies and animation like 21 Jump Street (2012) and The Lego Movie (2014), or producing hits like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). Amazingly, this is their first time in the director’s chairs for a film in over a decade, having been infamously fired from Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) mid-production. And it’s a successful comeback, even if a more skilled filmmaker could have made the seriousness of the dilemma hit harder. Denis Villeneuve (Dune) or Christopher Nolan (Interstellar) would have made audiences feel sick over the slow apocalypse Earth is facing, but then would the “fist my bump” jokes have landed as well in their hands?

USA | 2026 | 156 MINUTES | 1.43:1 (IMAX) • 2.00:1 • 2.39:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

directors: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller.
writer: Drew Goddard (based on the novel by Andy Weir).
starring: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub, Priya Kansara & James Ortiz (voice).