#REVIEW: “PROJECT HAIL MARY”

Review by Nicholas Porteous for Mr. Will Wong

The shaggiest Ryan Gosling of all time, wakes up on a giant spaceship, light years from home. The rest of his small crew is dead and he has amnesia, but it’s not long before he remembers the premise of his mission–save all of humanity from a seemingly unstoppable alien bacteria that is gradually dimming the sun, and dooming Earth. How does one stop it exactly? No idea! But perhaps his new alien friend Rocky will have some suggestions. This is the insane hook of Project Hail Mary, Phil Lord and Chris Miller‘s first movie since 22 Jump Street, and the second big screen adaptation of novelist Andy Weir after 2015’s genre-bending Sci-Fi Comedy Thriller Drama Matt Damon vlog, The Martian. There’s a lot of shared DNA between Mary and The Martian. Both stories involve hilarious scientists in life-threatening circumstances who have no other option but to “science the shit out of this”. But Mary is a decidedly bigger swing, factoring in multiple forms of alien life, much further distances across space, and the fate of mankind hanging in the balance.

Let’s start with the good–and there’s lots of it. Gosling‘s fantastic, and Hail Mary rests squarely on his shoulders. Most of the 2.5+ hour runtime is The Gosling and Rocky Show–Rocky being a faceless, rock-like alien. Rocky‘s adorable and super funny and gleefully animated/puppeteered–arguably the best ‘nice guy’ alien since ET–but, yeah, Rocky doesn’t have a face. Gosling is the rocket fuel for this engine, and his inexhaustible charm and buoyancy propels Mary through an extremely dense narrative. Lord and Miller are also no slouches when it comes to crafting brilliant space sequences, infusing them with a pluck and specific, Lord-Miller-type joy that feels completely fresh in these science lab settings. The needle drops are consistently unexpected and invigorating too. The first couple of acts of Hail Mary–as Gosling recalls the circumstances that brought him into space, alongside his burgeoning bromance with Rocky–are absolutely top-notch moviemaking.

The latter stretch of Hail Mary shows the limits of Lord and Miller‘s fun-at-every-turn approach. Yes, Andy Weir‘s Buddy Comedy in space is indeed fun, but it’s also steeped in the darkness of a dying Earth, and built on a foundation of meticulous research and grounded speculation. The Martian deftly captured his unique range, almost making it look easy. Hail Mary, on the other hand, has a tougher time shifting gears from silly to scientific. Some sequences fly past the potentially fascinating exposition as though it’s a homework assignment that only bears a quick mention, at the expense of the payoff several scenes later. I was scratching my head occasionally, piecing together the plot after the fact. There are also plenty of objectively dismal moments played with an unjustified level of optimism that rings false, as though the audience can’t be trusted to sit with the sadness for more than a few moments. And in spite of its breakneck pace, Hail Mary can’t help but feel its length, serving up multiple endings and extended sections that contribute to the bloat.

It’s too bad Hail Mary doesn’t live up to the promise of its phenomenal first chapters. Big picture (and I do mean BIG)–it’s an undeniably good time in space. In spite of some questionable narrative choices and an inflated runtime, I say ‘hop in!’

Amazon MGM Studios Canada release PROJECT HAIL MARY Friday, March 20, 2026.