“Project Hail Mary” starring Ryan Gosling / Z-View

Project Hail Mary (2026)

Director:  Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

Screenplay: Drew Goddard; based on PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir

Stars:  Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce and Milana Vayntrub .

Tagline: Believe in the Hail Mary

The Plot…

2032.  Scientists discover that every star in our solar system, except one is dimming.  In approximately thirty years our planet will cool to an apocalyptic level. Plants will die.  Nations will face food shortages.  Countries will go to war over dwindling resources.  In no time the majority of the human population will perish.

Unless.

A crew of three scientists have been sent to the orbit of the one star that is not dimming.  The trio will awaken from suspended animation and hopefully determine why this star is uneffected.  They will then send a message to Earth with the answer to save our planet.  This mission is Earth’s only chance. It’s a longshot.  That’s why the mission is named Hail Mary.

That was the plan.

The biggest problem is only one of the scientists, Ryland Grace, survives suspended animation.  The other two died in transit. Four years ago Grace was a middle school teacher.  Before that he was a molecular biologist.  When Grace wrote a paper that went against traditional scientific thought, he was ridiculed. Grace left science behind for a career in teaching.

Ironically, it was the Grace’s paper that brought him to the attention of the “multi-national” task force brought together for the “save the world” project. Grace’s out of the box thinking solved initial problems.  That and some unexpected challenges got Grace the job as the third to make the trip.

The plan was the other two scientists would do the bulk of the “heavy lifting” since Grace had zero experience on a space craft.  With the other two dead, Grace thinks his chances of success can’t get much worse.

Then he sees an alien spacecraft slowly approaching…

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Project Hail Mary is based on Andy Weir’s award-winning New York Times best-seller.  It is the second film based on a Weir novel.  The first was THE MARTIAN.   Weir is famous for a number of reasons — one of my favorite is Weir makes sure the science he uses is on point.

I was surprised at how good Project Hail Mary turned out.  Kudos to all invovled.

Very little CGI was used for “Rocky” — he and his movements were all done through practical effects and puppetry.

Project Hail Mary rightfully has earned box office and critical success.

Project Hail Mary (2026) rates 5 of 5 stars.