Project Hail Mary – Movie Review

Amazon MGM Studios presents

a Pascal Pictures, Open Invite Films/Waypoint Entertainment, Lord Miller Production

Directed by: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Screenplay by: Drew Goddard
Based on the novel by: Andy Weir
Produced by: Amy Pascal, p.g.a., Ryan Gosling, p.g.a., Phil Lord, p.g.a., Christopher Miller, p.g.a., Aditya Sood, p.g.a., Rachel O’Connor, p.g.a., Andy Weir
Executive Producers: Patricia Whitcher, Lucy Winn Kitada, Nikki Baida, Ken Kao, Drew Goddard, Sarah Esberg
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub, Priya Kansara
Rating: PG-13 for some thematic material and suggestive references

Science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up on a spaceship light-years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction… but an unexpected friendship means he may not have to do it alone.

Before I head out to a screener, I always check the runtime. With the long drive, the late-night note‑taking, the shower, and whatever sleep I can salvage before work, I like to know exactly what kind of night I’m signing up for. So when I peeked at the runtime for Project Hail Mary and saw 2 hours and 36 minutes, my enthusiasm took a hit. That’s a commitment. And as readers here know, I don’t watch trailers anymore—they spoil too much. I stick to the synopsis and the poster, decide if I’ll bite, and factor in how busy life already is. This time, I wish I hadn’t taken the bait.

Ryan Gosling is a hit-or-miss actor for me. Blade Runner 2049, Drive, The Notebook—those hit. Others… we’ll leave unnamed. Unfortunately, Project Hail Mary lands firmly in the miss column…..for me.

Gosling (as Ryland Grace) spends a huge chunk of this movie acting opposite himself and a prop, which I’ll give him credit for—it’s not an easy task. His emotional beats were sparingly there at times, but not enough for me to fully invest. And then there’s the alien. My goodness. The alien. A walking rock creature speaking its own language, which Ryland deciphers in about twenty minutes. From there, it’s nonstop back‑and‑forth with this thing he names Rocky. It’s a lot. And not in a good way.

The PG‑13 rating is felt throughout. At times, it felt childish, like I was watching an extended episode of Fraggle Rock—and not one of the good ones. The movie drags, and I kept mentally trimming scenes: “Cut ten minutes here… cut that whole sequence… we get it, we get it.”

Rocky never clicked for me. No face, no expression, nothing to latch onto emotionally. I felt the same way I did when C‑3PO’s memory got wiped or when R2‑D2 got blasted in the original Star Wars—zero attachment. Compare that to Old Yeller, The Iron Giant, WALL‑E—non-human characters with faces, expressions, or something to connect with. Rocky looked like a puppet leaning against glass during emotional moments…. with a face they forgot to put on it. It was hard not to chuckle.

Kids under 13 might enjoy parts of this, but even then, the length is a mountain. I can easily see younger viewers checking out halfway through.
It’s as though the film tried so hard to be “deep” with a message that never hit its mark.

As for the rest of the cast… nothing stood out. No performances worth spotlighting. Just more background noise orbiting around a story I couldn’t get invested in.

Watching this film on IMAX did not help its cause either. Space truly is a quiet, lonely place. A few wide-open shots of the empty vastness of space did not impress me the way they used to. That ship has sailed a long time ago, just like Ryland’s ship did.
For a movie set in space, with all the visual spectacle that implies, it’s shockingly forgettable. Even the big “spaceships meeting for the first time” moment takes forever to develop. The whole thing is a slog, and I can’t recommend it.

It’s a predictable sci-fi that will have you yearning for the 2-hour and 36-minute mark to hit because it’s fleecing your time that you’ll never get back. You know how things will eventually pan out, yet I was stuck there. Waiting.
A long runtime doesn’t automatically make a film “epic.” Too many reviewers walk into a theater already convinced it does. Epic is E.T.—because the audience, correction, I, genuinely cared whether E.T. made it home. I didn’t feel that for Rocky at all. This movie wants to be a modern‑day E.T., but without the heart, without the emotional pull, without an Elliot to anchor it. It’s E.T. on steroids—bigger, louder, longer—but missing the soul that made the original unforgettable.

If this lands on Amazon Prime in a month or two, block out 2 hours and 36 minutes and ask yourself afterward: Was that really worth it?

-Jay Katz