PROJECT HAIL MARY hits all the right notes

“It’s what you Americans would call a ‘long shot.’”

That line echoes throughout Project Hail Mary, a film that has taken the world by storm with a near-$200 million global debut, an impressive showing for Amazon MGM Studios and a welcome win for original, non-franchise storytelling.

Based on Andy Weir’s 2021 bestselling novel, the film is directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, a duo best known for blending humor and heart in films like The LEGO Movie, the Spider-Verse series, and 21 Jump Street. With Project Hail Mary, they step into more ambitious blockbuster territory and prove they belong there.

Ryan Gosling stars as Ryland Grace, a reluctant scientist sent on a one-way mission into deep space to find a cure for Earth’s dying sun. Along the way, he encounters a peculiar alien he names Rocky, a being on a similar mission to save his own people. What unfolds beyond the stars is an unlikely, deeply heartfelt friendship as the two work together to save everything they’ve ever known.

It’s a testament to the film’s quality that, only weeks removed from this year’s Oscars, early chatter is already placing Gosling in the conversation for next year’s awards. And it’s easy to see why. 

Drawing from every phase of his career- from indie oddball to rom-com lead to brooding dramatic presence- Gosling delivers what may be his strongest performance to date. Even more impressive is that much of it is carried solo, opposite a CGI character.

That character, Rocky (voiced by James Ortiz), brings both humor and surprising emotional depth. But the film’s biggest scene-stealer may be Oscar nominee Sandra Hüller as mission leader Eva.

One of the film’s most resonant sequences arrives midway through, far from the spectacle of space. Set aboard an aircraft carrier as the Hail Mary team prepares for launch, Eva leads a karaoke performance of Harry Styles' "Sign of the Times". 

What could have been a throwaway moment becomes something deeply moving. As Gosling’s Grace questions how anyone could willingly walk toward certain death, Hüller’s performance reframes the song into a haunting meditation on accepting the end, and choosing to live anyway. 

It’s a tear-jerking moment, and one Lord and Miller capture with striking intimacy.

Visually, the film is stunning. Working alongside cinematographer Greig Fraser (DUNE 2), the directors deliver breathtaking sci-fi imagery. But what’s more impressive is their ability to balance that spectacle with grounded, emotional storytelling. Even in its grandest moments, the film never loses sight of its characters.

There’s also a clear thematic through-line that connects Project Hail Mary to the rest of Lord and Miller’s work, even extending to their troubled stint on Solo: A Star Wars Story. Their films often explore the idea that people are not defined by their failures, and that redemption is always within reach.

Grace embodies that idea. He’s not a natural hero: he’s a disgraced scientist, now a middle school teacher, single and largely alone. 

When he’s thrust into this mission at the last possible moment, he’s terrified not just of dying, but of leaving behind what little life he feels he has. His reluctance feels honest, even relatable.

That internal struggle speaks to a broader question: what if you were given the chance to be more than you ever thought possible? To step outside the comfort of a life that feels like it’s merely idling along? Grace resists Rocky’s insistence that he’s a hero, seeing himself instead as a secondary character in his own story.

Lord and Miller’s work has always carried a theme of second chances, and that continues here. Grace resists being called a hero, seeing himself as a background character in his own life. But the film suggests otherwise- that breaking free from fear and embracing the unknown is, in itself, an act of heroism.

But that’s where the film makes its point. Sometimes breaking free of that mindset, escaping the gravity we place on ourselves, is the real act of heroism.

Project Hail Mary is, ultimately, a triumph. It’s thrilling, funny, heartfelt, and philosophical all at once: a true crowd-pleaser that still has something meaningful to say.

Now playing everywhere.