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 (041226)
Project Hail Mary is a smart, humanistic sci-fi film that’s a hit with both
audiences and critics. It’s the accessible, family-friendly big-budget movie we
needed to revive theater attendance after the Oscars lull. This year’s “popcorn
film”, it has already earned over $420 million.
The film captures the sense of wonder found in Spielberg's Close Encounters of
the Third Kind (1977) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), blending this awe
with sweeping visuals and a serious tone reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey,
though not as deeply into existential themes. Like Silent Running (1972), it
tackles the urgent subject of preventing ecological collapse, but does so with a
contemporary, accessible style. Operation Hail Mary leads a wave of high-budget
sci-fi films arriving in theaters this year, a group that includes: The
Mandalorian, The Great Beyond, Klara and the Sun, In the Blink of an Eye, and
Anima, with Spielberg’s Disclosure Day and Dune Part 3 being especially
anticipated for their visionary scope.
The film was directed by the talented duo, Philip Anderson Lord and Christopher
Robert Miller, known for working in traditional genres while breaking the common
rules that govern them. Some of their projects include Cloudy with a Chance of
Meatballs (2009),
Lego Movie
(2014), and, most impressively, all of the
Spider-Verse films. But the film’s secret weapon is one of the best current
genre film and TV writers, Drew Goddard. He wrote scripts for the Buffy the
Vampire Series (1997-2003), Angel (1999-2004), and Lost (2004-2005). In
addition, he wrote the critically successful and clever films
Cloverfield
(2008)
and
Cabin in the Woods
(2011), as well as
World War Z
(2013), which is the only
one of his projects that I mostly disliked. Plus, in 2015, he co-created the
terrific
Daredevil
(2015-2018) TV series for Netflix.
Project Hail Mary stars Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace, who is perfect and
imminently likable in the lead role. Gosling proved he has acting chops in fine
Indy films such as Half Nelson (2006), Lars and the Real Girl (2007), and Blue
Valentine (2007). He blew up in the mainstream and became an A-list star with La
La Land (2016). His stature and popularity grew in films like
Barbie
(2023) and
The Fall Guy
(2024), and he is currently working on Star Wars: Starfighter.
Gosling’s Ryland Grace is a modest, underachieving middle-aged high school
teacher who is something of a loser. Before that, he had been kicked out of the
scientific community for unconventional thinking. He had authored a paper that
gained the attention of a government agent, Eva Stratt (Sandra Huller). She
recruits him into an important mission. The sun and other suns are dimming
because microorganisms called Astrophages are consuming them, which is making
the weather cool everywhere. If this continues, Earth and other Earth-like
planets will become uninhabitable. He is tasked with traveling aboard the
spaceship “Hail Mary” and traveling to the star Tau Ceti, which is the only sun
seemingly not dying. His mission is to find out why that is. The catch is that
he only has enough fuel to go there, so he is not expected to return. The
project was called Operation Hail Mary because the mission was so high-risk that
the astronauts hardly had a prayer in pulling it off.
Grace has some similarities to Luke Skywalker, Odysseus, and some other
protagonists of myths and tales of heroic fiction. For one thing, he is very
hesitant to take on the mission and thinks he is not worthy. This is often
called the hero’s denial or “refusal of the call” by mythology experts like
Joseph Campbell in his The Hero With a Thousand Faces.
The film is not presented chronologically, and Grace wakes up at the start of
the film from a coma, with no idea where he is or what he is doing. Gradually,
he regains his memories, and to his horror, he discovers that all his fellow
passengers are dead.
The film also features popular German art-film star Sandra Huller, who
previously starred in the Oscar-nominated Toni Erdmann (2016), as well as
Zone of Interest
and
Anatomy
of a Fall
(both 2023). Sandra Huller stars here as Eva Stratt, a perfect foil who provides a wonderful contrast to Grace. Whereas he is
childish and playful, she is mature, droll, and ultra-serious. Although their
screen time together is limited, their chemistry is delicious. There is a
charming scene in which Eva performs a song in a karaoke club that is
thematically linked in the film in which she sings, We gotta get away from
here,” expressing her desire to escape the probable worldwide cataclysm. This
was intentionally placed in the film to make viewers recall the same actress
playing a different character, performing a high-energy version of Harry Styles’
Sign of the Times in Toni Erdmann.
Grace’s relationship with the alien, whom he names Rocky, shifts the film into
unique territory—rather than just echoing classic sci-fi, it deliberately
channels the unlikely camaraderie and cross-species friendship of Enemy Mine
(1985), focusing on their communication and personal growth. The humor, like
Grace’s remark, “He’s growing on me—at least he is not growing in me,” paired
with Rocky’s simple response, “Rocky happy he not alone,” roots the film’s alien
encounter in emotional realism, differentiating it from more conventional
portrayals.
I don’t know how well this film will age, but I enjoyed almost every minute of
Operation Hail Mary. This is a playful, life-affirming film perfect for the
whole family. This optimistic piece of thoughtful eye candy is sure to uplift
you as much as it did me, and it is one of the better films of 2026 so far. And
because of its scope and its frequent use of long shots, the film demands to be
seen on a big screen.
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