By Olyver LaGabed, Staff Writer
“Grace Rocky save stars!”
It’s not often that a movie comes out and collectively wows an audience into extending its run time in theaters. It’s not often that a movie is so good it has people buying tickets to see it once, twice, maybe even three times in theaters – and it’s definitely not often a film tricks an audience into shedding a tear or two over what is, essentially, an anthropomorphic rock.
Project Hail Mary is a movie that hit theaters on March 20, 2026, and since then, it’s become a critically acclaimed record breaker, hitting the box office at nearly 140 million dollars on its opening weekend. With incredible direction, an amazing score, and some of the most heartfelt writing to come out of a sci-fi movie in a couple of years, Project Hail Mary isn’t a movie any audience member is bound to forget any time soon. But is it worth all the hype? Is this really a good movie, or are people just hyping it up because ooooh, Ryan Gosling eye-candy? That, dear reader, does seem to be the question that begs answering.
“Stratt, Carl and I made a baby.”
To understand why Project Hail Mary, one has to understand how Project Hail Mary… or something like that. In any case, Project Hail Mary isn’t a new story – it’s a book that was written and published way back in 2021, under the name of popular sci-fi author Andy Weir, who is also well known for his book and feature film The Martian. However, directly following its release, that ‘Ryan Gosling eye-candy’ from earlier actually bought the creative rights to the story, intending to make a film out of the book.
Apparently, he had fallen in love with the manuscript long before the release of the novel, seeing it as an incredibly optimistic spin on dystopian sci-fi. Ryan Gosling, in an interview with Scientific American, describes it as such: “I think there was a kind of radical notion on Andy’s part to say that maybe the future isn’t something to fear. Rather, it’s something to just be figured out.” Gosling has also described this film as somewhat of a ‘passion project’ for him, as he got engrossed in a story that was both a brilliant reminder of the good we’re all capable of doing, and somehow not escapist.
“Amaze, amaze, amaze!”
And audiences loved it. As stated prior, there was an incredibly high demand for this movie – so much so that IMAX theaters actually lengthened the amount of time Project Hail Mary would be showing – and who can blame ‘em? Project Hail Mary is a movie that has it all: charm, wit, and one of the most hopeful narratives audiences have seen in the past decade. The movie asks questions many sci-fi stories haven’t bothered asking themselves: what if the aliens are just as desperate as we are? What if they’re just as compassionate, just as smart? What if, instead of them trying to destroy Earth, they wanted to work with us to save both their planet and ours? In a world where things are so desperate – in a world where the stars are literally dying – Project Hail Mary takes an incredibly triumphant stance that says what the world needs isn’t the smartest people or the best technology; what the world needs is partnership.
“I’m wrong about everything, and everything is wrong.”
However, not every fan was as pleased with the film’s more humanitarian approach. In fact, many individuals who had gone into the movie having read the book first were pretty disappointed with the film’s lack of focus on the real science of it all. This isn’t to say that there was a lack of science or reality in the film itself at all; it just wasn’t as emphasized as it was in the book. Still, fans of the original book felt that there just wasn’t enough scientific detail in the movie, many even feeling that the main character (Dr. Ryland Grace) was dumbed down for viewing purposes.
While yes, there were several things changed in order to adapt the sixteen-hour long book into a two and a half-hour long movie, these changes were made to keep the story coherent and (let’s face it) interesting to the average viewer who can’t care less about whether or not a centrifuge is balanced. Yes, Dr. Grace doesn’t do as much math in the movie, but he does have some brilliant character moments that show viewers just how capable and interesting he is – and arguably, that’s more important than the science will ever be.
Project Hail Mary (both book and film) isn’t just a story about a really smart guy who goes to space and saves the world; it’s a story about overcoming self-doubt. It’s a story about how, in times of crisis, what our world needs is connection, for someone to have faith in humanity’s own capability to do the right thing, even if it’s hard.
“Save Earth. Save Erid.”
And that is what sets Project Hail Mary apart from any other movie of its genre. There has been such a massive focus on cynicism in films as of late – not just in sci-fi, but in genres across the board. It’s as if there’s this collective agreement from creative teams everywhere that humanity has given up its hope, that we’re dooming ourselves, and don’t seem to care in the slightest. Sure, this makes for kick-ass anti-heroes and some cool, edgy humor, but beneath the surface, it’s discouraging to hear over and over again how little anything seems to matter. Frankly, it’s exhausting. Which is why Project Hail Mary seems to be such a hit with audiences.
Project Hail Mary is a movie that takes a stand and challenges viewers to look closer, to look at all of the good, to pay attention to why it’s worth it to care; why it’s worth it to risk it all and just believe in the good of those people. It’s a movie that challenges the viewer by saying, “You don’t have to be the smartest, strongest person in the room in order to make the difference; you just have to be the one who’s willing to do the hard thing. You just have to believe that you are capable.”
“Believe in the Hail Mary.”
Project Hail Mary is now in IMAX for extended showings of the film, and there is a rumor of an extended version of the movie coming out sometime in the future. They’re going the Lord of the Rings route. Smart.
Ultimately, Project Hail Mary won’t be a film that everyone loves. It’s just a fact of life that some people just don’t want to think that hard about a movie… But for those of us who do, Project Hail Mary is a movie that will leave you awestruck, hopeful, and really wishing you had your own pet rock.
