Project Hail Mary sticks close to the spirit of the book and delivers an excellent speculative fiction tale with an interesting premise that will appeal to a wide audience without dumbing down its science.
What Is It?
This movie follows middle school science teacher Ryland Grace, who awakens alone aboard a spacecraft with no memory of who he is or why he is there. As his memories gradually return, he discovers that he is humanity’s last hope on a desperate mission to save Earth from an extinction-level threat.
Release: May 29, 2026, In Theaters
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce
Crew: Phil Lord (Director), Christopher Miller (Director), Drew Goddard (Screenplay), Andy Weir (Original Story), Daniel Pemberton (Music)
Johnny Jay’s Thoughts:
Before proceeding with this review, I have to say that I am a big fan of Andy Weir’s novel The Martian as well as the movie based on it, and I am also a big fan of the Project Hail Mary novel (I haven’t read Artemis yet, but it is on my list). These are speculative fiction tales that may not be as hard sci-fi as some might prefer, but they at least take their science seriously, even if they do make it more palatable to the average reader/viewer. And Weir knows how to craft a good tale and create characters that engage the audience, and his prose delivers a breezy style that incorporates humor as well. (Indie authors such as myself also look at him as a hero for what he accomplished with his first book.)
I recall listening to the audiobook version of The Martian (watch for an upcoming post on that) and knowing that a movie was in the works while thinking that it would be difficult to adapt visually. But Ridley Scott did a heck of a good job with that, sticking very close to the spirit of the book even if he took some liberties, and I believe the film should be counted among the classics of sci fi cinema. For Project Hail Mary, I thought they would have even more trouble adapting it, but once again, the Andy Weir story transferred quite well to the cinema, this time with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) at the helm. They did condense some of the story to speed things along, and they also cut out or glossed over some things that were covered in the book, but none of it was to the detriment of the story.
It is hard to get too far into a review of this one without too many spoilers, so I will give some of the early ones and some that viewers will have gleaned from the trailers, but if you want to go into the movie as spoiler-free as possible, tread lightly over the next few paragraphs. Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship not knowing why he is there and not even remembering who he is, but slowly that comes back to him through flashbacks. He also finds that he is the only living member of the crew left, and he is tasked with completing a mission that is crucial to the survival of humans back on Earth. He then encounters another ship that is on pretty much the same mission, but from an alien planet and with only one surviving crewmember as well (yeah, pretty big set of coincidences, but just go with it).
I am typically not a big stickler for a film following a book to the letter, generally just asking that it adhere to the spirit of the source material. And that is definitely the case with this movie. Many of the important parts that make the book so good are retained here, and the Ryland Grace character is very similar to the one encountered in Weir’s story. As for the alien Rocky, they brought that character to life pretty much exactly as I envisioned when listening to the audiobook. So I didn’t feel cheated by the adaptation, despite some shortcuts taken.
Vital to the success of this movie is the performance of Ryan Gosling (probably best known to genre fans for Blade Runner 2049) as Ryland Grace because he is tasked with carrying the story, seeing as he has the majority of the screen time. And he is certainly up to the challenge, just like Matt Damon was in The Martian. It helps that Gosling easily fits the everyman-type character he plays, making him quite relatable to the audience. Grace is basically a good person who has no ambition to be a hero but is caught in circumstances beyond his control. Rocky is brought to life totally with CGI, which is done quite well and merges seamlessly with Gosling’s performance. Sandra Hüller as Eva Stratt gets the second most screen time among the human actors and does a good job of bringing the character to life, even if much of her story is cut from the movie version.
Another thing I appreciate about Project Hail Mary is that it does not get into the CGI overload that is so common among the big-dollar films these days. The approach to space travel is rather realistic (no, I am not going to get into the nitpicks from those who call this hard sci-fi lite), which means we rarely get Star Wars-style space antics, and that is perfectly fine. The CGI that is used is quite good for both the space travel and the rendition of Rocky, and the film uses its budget to good effect without going overboard or assaulting us with in-your-face SFX.
The Bottom Line is that Project Hail Mary delivers an enjoyable speculative fiction film that still has respect for science but tries to make its concepts palatable to the average moviegoer. And that is fine because it does so without dumbing things down too much, without throwing science out the window, and without going too heavy on the action. That, along with the excellent performances, delivers yet another success from an Andy Weir book, and it is definitely worth getting this one on your to-watch list.
What’s Next?
Project Hail Mary counts as one of the few successes among the big-budget sci-fi and fantasy films this year (not including family films like Toy Story 5 and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie), and I am sure Hollywood would be interested in a sequel. This one doesn’t quite have the franchise potential of other properties out there, but I could definitely see at least one more film to follow up on some of the questions it (and the book) left unanswered. Author Andy Weir has said that he has thought about continuing the story, but he doesn’t believe he has an idea strong enough yet, so he is focusing on other projects currently. But if Hollywood waves enough money in front of him, expect to see Project Hail Mary 2: The Immaculate Reception or The Miracle on Mars or something like that on the way.
Where Can You Watch It?
This movie has finished its run in the theaters, and it is now available of streaming on MGM+. You can also purchase it on Blu-ray, DVD, 4K UHD, and VOD.
Did you watch Project Hail Mary and do you think it delivered a good genre film, or did it stray too far from the book or hard sci fi or both? Chime in with your thoughts in the comments below.
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