Project Hail Mary (2026)

Grief Interruptus - Project Hail Mary review by griggs

I wanted to be floored by this. A science teacher waking from a coma, alone on a spaceship with two dead colleagues beside him, is a properly grim setup. But Phil Lord and Christopher Miller keep reaching for the pressure-release valve. Every time Project Hail Mary gets near real sorrow, a gag barges in and lets the air out. Grace’s eulogies should sting; instead they just sit there.

Gosling sells the bewilderment well, but the film won’t let a feeling land before the next bit crashes through — “at least he’s not growing in me” and so on. Rocky brings real warmth, though even that relationship gets laid on too thick. It’s also a good 45 minutes too long, forever serving up ending after ending, with fake-outs that should sting but just fizzle.

Sandra Hüller, meanwhile, does more with one dry look and a karaoke performance than most of the cast manage with pages of business. Two and a half hours of forced buoyancy, and the biggest laugh belongs to the one person refusing to play the game. That feels about right.

Terrible - Project Hail Mary review by KB

A snoozefest. I found this film so tedious that i abandoned it after after about 2 hours. There was some product placement early on in the film and the background music which was playing throughout didn't really fit with the film and was distracting. It would have been better without much. The film didn't seem to know what it was , whether it was serious or amusing and it definitely wasn't amusing. A definite candidate for worst film of the year.

Good fun - Project Hail Mary review by JR

For fans of Andy Weir's books, the conversion to the big screen is not as good as The Martian but still good fun.

If you haven't read the book it probably feels a bit long, if you have, it misses out detail, a typical problem with book conversions to film. The comedy can come across as a bit slapstick, and was hit-and-miss. The story is faithful to the book, but it doesn't quite manage to convey the emotional parts. Generally I think it's not the easiest book to convert, but the film does a decent job and Ryan Gosling plays the part well.