Overview
“Project Hail Mary” (PG-13) opened in cinemas on Friday, March 20, 2026, quickly becoming one of the top-grossing premieres of the year thus far. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Andy Weir. During the opening weekend, the film grossed $80.5 million domestically. It was directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, known for “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and “The Lego Movie”, and had a budget of $200 million.
Ryan Gosling stars as the main character, Ryland Grace, a seemingly normal middle school science teacher. Grace gets sent on a mission to save the sun from dying due to a mystery substance called astrophage. The movie begins when Grace wakes up from a coma on a spaceship, with no memory of what has happened or who he is. On his journey to save Earth, he befriends a spider-like alien, Rocky, with whom he tries to solve this mystery and save their planets. “Project Hail Mary” has themes of self-discovery and the importance of friendship, and the movie shows the impact of stepping out of your comfort zone.
As of late March, “Project Hail Mary” is Ryan Gosling’s highest-rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 95%. This movie is also rated 8.5/10 on IMDb, with 74,000 reviews.
My opinion
When I first decided to watch this film, I didn’t have high expectations for it and I definitely wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did.
I wouldn’t say I have one particular favorite scene from this movie, but what stood out to me the most were the special effects. I am usually not interested in sci-fi movies; however, this movie really caught my attention because of the visuals and special effects that made the movie feel very supernatural and unreal. For example, in one climactic scene near the end of the film, Grace is outside the spaceship and astrophage (the substance harming the sun) is all around him. The red colors and images of outer space and the spaceship were creative and engaging. Also, Rocky, the alien Grace befriends, is just so darn cute you want to take him home with you.
I liked how there was humor included in the film as well as scenes that could be viewed as emotional, especially between Grace and Rocky. Everything from the plot to the sound effects were well put together and fit the film. The scenes were creative and unlike any other I’ve seen before in films. Many sci-fi movies only focus on the science component, but “Project Hail Mary” conveys the power of friendship between Grace and Rocky in addition to the power of science.
Space is a popular topic, especially recently, with NASA’s Artemis II mission flying by the unseen side of the moon having lifted off April 1 and set to return to Earth April 10. Both the Artemis II mission and “Project Hail Mary” show bravery and the importance of space exploration in today’s world. “Project Hail Mary” is a science fiction movie, but also a movie about what it means to be a brave human being. So if you are into science fiction, but also deeper, heartfelt movies, I would recommend giving this film a watch!
