MOVIE OF THE WEEK (3/20/26): PROJECT HAIL MARY

"I should have asked Matt Damon how he felt without gravity ... Maybe I can text in space!" Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) ponders his next move – and the fate of life as he knows it – in a scene from Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's PROJECT HAIL MARY. Credit: Jonathan Holley © Amazon MGM Studios. All Rights Reserved.

CAST: Ryan Gosling | Sandra Hüller | Ken Leung | Milana Vayntrub | Lionel Boyce | James Ortiz 

WRITER: Drew Goddard (story by) | Andy Weir (based on the novel by)

DIRECTOR: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

TRAILER:

THE STORY: Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) is a elementary school science teacher. So, when he wakes up on a spaceship scores of light years away from home with no recollection of why, he has to begin to piece together how he got there. As it turns out, he's there for a very specific, life-changing reason: The sun is dying due to a mysterious substance that is eating it. Ryland – or Grace as he prefers – has been tasked with finding out why and putting a theory of his to the test to see if he can save humanity.

What Grace isn't prepared for, however, is what – or, rather, whom – awaits him once he begins a mission from which he won't return home. For what he discovers might not just save the world as he knows it, but open him up to an entire universe he never knew existed ...

THE REVIEW: While there are plenty of obvious and easy ways to tie PROJECT HAIL MARY to 2015's The Martian (same novelist and screenwriter, the same technical attention to detail central to the story, same man in solo peril situation). What makes MARY stand out, however, is the visually stunning, cautiously paced-to-enable-and-encourage-deeper-engagement storytelling coupled against Gosling's seemingly simple but incredibly nuanced performance. 

As opposed to trying to create a paint-by-numbers science fiction adventure that is more based on thrills than substance, directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Enter the Spider-Verse, the Jump Street films) have, with MARY, found a wait to craft a film that merges science and the human experience into an engaging, entertaining package. Whereas novelist Andy Weir's source material provides the textbook, Lord and Miller turn it into an engaging exploration of science, the best of humanity (at a time when we are seemingly at our worst) and the wonders of life itself. As Gosling learns from an unexpected source – you can check other reviews or read the book for spoilers! – he, under the eye of Lord and Miller – makes you do the most important thing a character can do on screen: Care. You care about the (obvious) inherent fate of the earth, you care about Grace and his survival and you care about the spoiler alert even more because of what Miller, Lord and Gosling are able to deliver on screen. 

While it's far too early to make Academy Award predictions for 2027, I am willing to say that there is no universe in which PROJECT HAIL MARY doesn't deserve nominations in several categories. As One Battle After Another proved most recently, adapting a screenplay from a book can produce Academy Award-winning material – and PROJECT HAIL MARY is a great one that anyone who claims to like movies should catch.

RATING (OUT OF FOUR BUCKETS OF POPCORN):