Project Hail Mary (2026) is heartfelt and fun

Hello readers! A few days ago I went to see Project Hail Mary, the new science fiction block-buster starring Ryan Gosling. To sum up my verdict in a single sentence: I loved this film, and I think everyone should see it when they get the chance. I can easily see it becoming a comfort film, one that I watch whenever I need a dazzling, other-worldly distraction to lift my spirits – and I have already reserved a space for it in the Blu-ray collection.

This review will be entirely spoiler-free!

It isn’t often that I review a film that is still in the cinema, so I’m writing a spoiler-free review for a change. I’m sure that my enjoyment was enhanced because I went in knowing virtually nothing about it (I only knew that it included Ryan Gosling in space thanks to advertising on the sides of buses). I won’t mention the plot or the premise at all – and I’ll save my nit-pick criticisms for another time.

Project Hail Mary surpassed all my expectations. I have significant reservations about high-budget, high-concept films these days, resulting from years of bland, corporate, made-by-committee instalments from the Marvel and Star Wars franchises. These two cinematic behemoths dominate the family-friendly sci-fi space with their quippy dialogue, fantasy tech and humanoid aliens, while gritty, thoughtful sci-fi has been restricted to adult audiences. But Project Hail Mary, like The Martian (2015) before it, does a fantastic job of engaging a broad audience without overly dumbing-down its science or story.

Despite its 12A rating (PG-13 in the US), Project Hail Mary is easily the most ambitious, funny and heartfelt blockbuster I have seen in a long time. It isn’t afraid to be clever, and it manages to be hilarious without the use of crude humour or foul language. Better still, it handles themes such as loneliness and loss with care and sensitivity, making this film genuinely moving at times. It is a worthy successor to The Martian, which, in my view, hasn’t been surpassed by any other broad-appeal sci-fi blockbuster since it released in 2015 (so long ago…). For those that don’t know, both films are based on best-selling books by Andy Weir – so it’s unsurprising that they feel like cinematic cousins.

Like The Martian, Project Hail Mary is carried by the performance of its lead. Ryan Gosling excels in this role, getting the audience to root for him at all times, while also keeping them thoroughly entertained. He is a fantastic comedy actor – but while the film has funny moments, it certainly isn’t a comedy. The film handles loneliness, loyalty and determination excellently.

Finally, the visuals in this film are also something truly special. There are some mind-blowing, really beautiful scenes that burst with colour, so this is far from the drab, grey-tinged science fiction you might have been expecting. Every shot leaps out of the screen. Even if this film hadn’t had such an engaging plot, I would have recommended it just for the visuals.

In summary…

Go and see Project Hail Mary when you can! It’s a really solid, enjoyable film. Any issues I have are so minor that they aren’t worth mentioning here, as they relate to very specific parts of the plot, science or characterisation. I may well write future posts on some of these points, especially the science… However, I suspect that these issues might be handled better in the book, which has the space to explore more complex topics – safe to say that Project Hail Mary has now been pushed to the top of my reading list.

Happy reading, and have a lovely week!