Warning: Spoilers ahead for Project Hail Mary. Go see the film if you haven’t already!
Within weeks of its debut, Project Hail Mary has emerged as a breakout success—surpassing expectations with a $141 million global opening for Amazon MGM Studios and earning stellar reviews.
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the film is an adaptation of Andy Weir’s best-selling novel of the same name. The story centers around Ryland Grace (played by Ryan Gosling), a science teacher turned astronaut who wakes up from a coma on a spaceship. As he recovers his memories, he realizes that he is humanity’s last hope to save the sun from an alien microorganism, the astrophage.
Between Grace’s present-day coma recovery aboard the spaceship and flashbacks to his past on Earth, the audience learns the science behind the threat: astrophages (or “star eaters”) are microbes that feed on the Sun’s stellar energy to reproduce and travel, reducing the solar output reaching Earth and threatening to trigger a prolonged, fatal ice age. At the same time, however, they also serve as an incredibly efficient, high-density energy storage medium, releasing this energy on demand as Petrova-frequency infrared light—allowing our characters to use them as fuel for an otherwise impossible mission.
While the film revolves around solving the mystery of the astrophage through trial-and-error experimentation, it succeeds because it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Its warmth and cheer sets it apart in a sci-fi scene often dominated by dystopian narratives, offering stubborn optimism through the unique partnership between Grace and Rocky, an alien engineer (voiced by lead puppeteer James Ortiz).
In fact, Rocky, the faceless, rock-like alien from the planet Erid, easily becomes a friend and favorite character. It’s impressive how powerful his relationship with Grace feels, perhaps aided by the on-set decision to make him a physical puppeteered creature, allowing Gosling to act against a real, in-camera character—and helping the audience fully feel the emotional connection between Grace and this “inhuman” being. Indeed, despite his alien design, Rocky’s personality is consistently empathetic, exhibiting loyalty, emotional vulnerability, and self-sacrifice, especially when compared to the pragmatic human leaders on Earth.
The film’s many cinematically beautiful moments—from Rocky and Grace’s intimate first meeting, to the intense fishing sequence in Planet Adrian’s atmosphere, to the breathtaking and ethereal red Petrova line of astrophages—are poignant, enthralling, and mesmerizing.
Project Hail Mary is a winning blend of science fiction, action, heart, and humor. It’s a high-stakes spectacle and a genuinely uplifting feel-good story that resonates across book lovers, families, and sci-fi fans alike, and it’s well worth seeing in IMAX, too.
Article By Lily Yao