This review will not contain any spoilers for the plot of the film.
Project Hail Mary (PHM) is a 2026 science fiction film based on the 2021 book by the same name from Andrew Wier, who is also the author behind the 2011 book The Martian, which was also adapted into a film.
The first thing that struck me when I began to watch PHM was the atmosphere. No other movie I have ever seen has portrayed a near-future science fiction environment in such attention to detail and flavor.
The characters of the film, while not what I came to the movie for, were very charming and had well-developed motivations as we cut between Ryan Gosling’s character, Dr. Grace, on earth in the past and in space in the present.
The plot of the film was what reeled me in, and I found myself wrapped up in it from start to finish, assisted by the attention to detail, especially with regards to language and communication.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has a 93% critic rating and a 96% audience rating.
My overall rating is 4.8 Ryan Goslings (equivalent to stars) out of 5. As someone who did not read the book, I still enjoyed this movie as much as someone who had: our Co-Editor-in-Chief. The world-building and atmosphere truly make this movie something special for me, while the characters lower the score a little for me, although they definitely aren’t bad. As well, I don’t mind (and in fact somewhat enjoy) the parallel structure of the film, but I can see it reducing the enjoyment of the film for someone else significantly.
