Steven Benedict blasts off with his review of Project Hail Mary.
After having his scenes cut from Barbie, "Astronaut" Ken finally gets his shot at stardom with Project Hail Mary. This sci-fi adventure film may have the energy of a TikTok post, but is actually based on a book from the same author, Andy Weir, who self-published The Martian. Screenwriter Drew Goddard also adapted that novel into the Matt Damon movie, and Project Hail Mary was then directed by the duo who gave us The Lego Movie, Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
Just as Lord and Miller centred that toy-themed blockbuster around a superhero, here too we have an action figure performing the most heroic thing any superhero could ever be tasked with, saving the entire universe. The premise involves some icky stuff, a microorganism called Astrophage, that travels along frequencies in outer space and consumes radiation from the stars. This is not good for sustaining life across the planets. The only person in the solar system who can solve this conundrum is a middle-school science teacher named Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), who has just woken up alone on a spaceship with no memory of who he is or why he’s there. Ryland reluctantly undertakes the mission to fly light-years across the universe and figure out how to stop the aforementioned icky stuff.
This might have you thinking that Ryland has to spend the entire film on his own, with only a vlog to articulate his thoughts on going where no man has gone before. But no, this is not a Beckett-like reflection on the nature of existence. Instead, Ryland teams up with an alien being who has been sent from his own planet with the very same mission. This means that for most of the movie, Gosling's co-star is an animated rock, voiced by James Ortiz.
Gosling is a laconic actor whose temperature runs all the way from super-cool to super-Steve McQueen, but with laughs. This is ideal for capturing the deadpan humour Lord and Miller are known for - and ensures audiences are well aware they’re not watching Interstellar Part II. As hinted at already, Project Hail Mary mirrors The Martian in so many ways that I'll save you the laundry list. Rather, I mention it to indicate how derivative certain elements are. Often I thought I was watching a mash-up of Gravity, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Dark Star, Wall-E, Silent Running, Apollo 13, Contact and Arrival...amongst others.
The main difference, though, between this film and The Martian is that Project Hail Mary has a fractured, elliptical structure. While this narrative format can withhold information and therefore create suspense, it can also hinder the emotional continuity. In Project Hail Mary, there are key beats that, if played in sequence, could be laden with tension. However, because we know those moments happened via flashback, and Astronaut Ken is still very much alive, the urgency is noticeably absent.
Plus this all plays out late in the story, at a point where other storytellers might be jettisoning excess baggage to propel the viewer ever faster towards the denouement. Yet the stakes never fully materialise, and because the tone remains so jocular, nothing ever seems especially problematic nor important for our protagonist. On the upside, many of the key scenes are laden with irony, cultural touchstones, and, of course, Astronaut Ken. Project Hail Mary has all the essential ingredients to be a success with Gen Zs and Alphas. But if not, Amazon is well able to take the hit.
Project Hail Mary is in cinemas 20th March 2026, with previews 14th - 17th March.
