Review: Lord & Miller’s ‘Project Hail Mary’ is Modern Sci-Fi Perfection

by Alex Billington
March 20, 2026

“Grace Rocky Save Stars!!” It’s finally here. Rocky and Ryland, space buddies, in a story about saving our worlds. Project Hail Mary is a cinematic adaptation of the bestselling book written by Andy Weir. A full 11 years after we got to experience The Martian with Matt Damon, another Andy Weir adaptation, his words are back on the big screen in this interstellar story about using science and ingenuity and creativity to solve existential problems. Acclaimed directors Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, best known as just “Lord & Miller”, are the directors behind this big screen adaptation and they’ve knocked it out of the park. Project Hail Mary is an intellectual space movie with built-in levity that is design to be more of a character study about what it takes to solve great problems. It’s a sci-fi spectacle, for sure, but it’s not an epic space action movie. Most of it takes place inside a spaceship, a set they built for real on sound stages, with limited green screen. And the best part about it is Rocky, an alien friend he meets on his mission, who is brought to life by puppetry as a practical character performed for real on set and not something created with CGI later on. I couldn’t be happier with Project Hail Mary – it’s everything anyone could want from a space movie & more.

Project Hail Mary is adapted by screenwriter Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods, Bad Times at the El Royale, “The Good Place” series) directly from Andy Weir’s book of the same name. Directed by filmmakers and producers Phil Lord & Chris Miller, this space movie follows one astronaut on his mission to save planet Earth, and save humanity, from a mysterious intergalactic force known as the “Petrova Line”. Discovered by Dr. Irina Petrova, it represents a stream of “Astrophage” – alien microorganisms breeding by consuming solar energy – threatening Earth with a new ice age. In a last ditch attempt to do anything, humanity sends a crew of astronauts & scientists into space on a voyage to a nearby star called Tau Ceti (which really exists out there) – one of the only nearby suns that has not been consumed by this astrophage. Upon arrival light years later, scientist Ryland Grace (played by Ryan Gosling) wakes up on the Hail Mary spacecraft to discover he’s the only one left alive. But his memory is shot, he doesn’t know why he’s even there. Eventually he puts the pieces together and figures out he needs to find out why the Petrova Line hasn’t the consumed the Tau Ceti sun and send the data back to Earth so they can stop it from dimming our sun. The next thing he knows an alien spacecraft arrives & comes to meet him – the being on it also has the exact same mission. Together they must figure out how to communicate, work with their tools, and solve this astrophage issue.

As a lifelong sci-fi geek I was getting chills every 20 minutes during all 2 & 1/2 hours of this – I haven’t felt this particular spine-tingling, space journey bliss since Arrival in 2016. Project Hail Mary unquestionably instantly joins the ranks of Interstellar, Contact, Apollo 13, Gravity, and The Martian as an all-timer space cinema masterpiece. Amaze amaze amaze!! That’s not only one of Rocky’s funny lines in the movie, but also an accurate description of how most are feeling after watching this in theaters – myself included. Much like these great sci-fi movies before, I cannot wait to rewatch it because it feels so easily rewatchable, thanks to its lightness and humor and hopefulness. It feels like every time you engage with it, every time you hang out with Rocky & Ryland, you’ll learn more about each of them and come away even more inspired about the possibility of what we can do if we actually put our mind(s) to it and overcome any differences. It’s vsually magnificent in every way – Lord & Miller know how to make movies look stunning and this is especially gorgeous. Bright, colorful, enticing – even if space is a vast amount of darkness, here they’ve found the light within that darkness and shine it upon Rocky & Ryland. It’s shot by cinematographer Greig Fraser who is one of the best in movies right now and he makes every single shot count. Even the moments down on Earth feel distinct and engaging, but it’s the majesty of his love for space that is leaving every single viewer in awe.

More than anything – it’s about the hope of it all. And the buddy story between Grace & Rocky. And how superbly inspiring it is we get a movie that is built on SCIENCE and reminds us that we can save the world actually using real mind-blowing science to figure things out. These two show us the way… It’s earnest, it’s sincere, it’s compelling, it’s fascinating. While there is more actual science & details within the book, I don’t mind that Lord & Miller cut back on explaining every single detail and/or answer every scientific question that comes up. But all that science is still in it. They don’t change it or cut it out of the movie, it’s within every decision, with every scene, within every interaction between Rocky & Ryland, every choice they make. Not to mention Lord & Miller’s choice to make this movie feel more real by making so much of it practical is as inspired as the story itself. They’ve given us a chance to believe in the unbelievable again. There’s no need to “switch your mind off” while watching this movie. And that’s rare these days. It’s so vividly invigorating & encouraging. Then someone cracks a joke or two and you laugh while realizing they’re out there actually trying to do the impossible. What could be more hopeful than that? This is what truly great science fiction is about. Even if there isn’t an astronaut at Tau Ceti right now, I am even more exhilarated by the possibility that there’s no great existential issue we can’t solve. We just need a buddy like Rocky to help us figure it out.

Alex’s Rating: 9.9 out of 10
Follow Alex on Twitter – @firstshowing / Or Letterboxd – @firstshowing

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