ENTERTAINMENT

There are so many things I want to say about Project Hail Mary, but if I had to sum up this movie in just a few words, I’d call it warm, funny, thought provoking, and incredibly kind.

Starring Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace, Project Hail Mary follows a former scientist who has stepped away from his research career and settled into a quieter life teaching science. That ordinary life changes when Eva Stratt, played by Sandra Hüller, tracks him down and recruits him for a top secret international mission to investigate a mysterious organism known as astrophage.

At first, astrophage sounds like the kind of scientific discovery that might excite researchers and fill a few textbooks. Then the scientists discover what it is actually doing. The organism is feeding on the energy of stars, including our Sun. If they can’t figure out how to stop it, Earth faces an extinction level crisis.

The solution is anything but simple.

Stratt assembles an international team of scientists and astronauts and sends them on an extraordinary mission to the Tau Ceti star system, where they believe they might find the key to saving Earth.

And that’s where the story really takes off.

Grace eventually wakes up aboard the Hail Mary, millions of miles from Earth. He has no memory of who he is, why he’s there, or what happened to the rest of his crew. As his memories slowly return, he discovers that he is the only surviving member of the mission.

From there, Project Hail Mary becomes an engaging mix of science, survival, mystery, discovery, and humor. Grace is faced with an almost impossible problem that could determine the fate of humanity, while simultaneously trying to piece together what happened to him and figure out how he is ever going to make it home.

And then he meets Rocky.

That’s all I’m going to say about Rocky because I really don’t want to spoil that experience for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie. But the friendship that develops between Ryland and Rocky is, without question, one of my favorite parts of the entire film.

It’s funny. It’s unexpected. It’s awkward. It’s beautiful. And surprisingly emotional.

Two completely different beings from two completely different worlds somehow find a way to communicate, trust one another, and work together toward something bigger than either one of them.

And honestly, that’s what stayed with me the most.

There is so much more I could tell you about this movie, but I’m intentionally leaving a lot out because I genuinely believe Project Hail Mary is a film you need to experience for yourself. There are discoveries and surprises, moments that made me laugh, moments that genuinely touched me, and plenty of times when I found myself thinking, Okay… how in the world are they going to figure this one out?

And I’m definitely not giving you the ending.

You need to watch it.

What makes Project Hail Mary work so well is that underneath all the science fiction, space travel, scientific theories, and enormous stakes, there is a surprisingly human story.

At its heart, this is a movie about friendship, sacrifice, hope, problem solving, trust, and what can happen when two very different beings choose to help one another.

It’s a big science fiction adventure with a surprisingly big heart.

It made me laugh. It made me think. And yes, it even made me a little emotional.

For me, Project Hail Mary is definitely one of my favorite movies of 2026.