On March 20, “Project Hail Mary” hit theaters, engaging audiences with its remarkable cinematography, exhilarating story and painfully endearing characters.
The movie follows science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) as he wakes up on a spaceship with no recollection of how he got there. Coping with the fact that his crew is dead and his spaceship is orbiting a sun 12 light-years from Earth, Grace needs to find out how to save Earth from sun-eating amoeba named Astrophage all while slowly gaining his memories back.
The task is too big for one man and too crushing to do alone. Fortunately, that’s when Rocky arrives, an intelligent rock-like alien from a planet named Erid, to help Grace on his mission and to save his own planet from the amoeba. Finding help and companionship, Grace and Rocky work together, complete their mission and and ultimately save each other in the process.
Based on the book of the same title by Andy Weir, "Project Hail Mary" is the culmination of his research and experience as a sci-fi writer. The book is his most recent and most critically acclaimed, making it an obvious choice for a movie adaptation.
Gosling’s performance is phenomenal as his acting always is in his movies. He manages to have you crying laughing in one minute, to actually crying in the next seamlessly. Something that some sci-fi adventures like this suffer from is being entirely too serious and brooding, but this movie manages to have the perfect balance of silliness and serious moments.
A major theme that Grace grapples with throughout this story is bravery. Is Grace brave for saving Earth despite his original cowardice, or does his bravery come later in the story? What does it take for someone to sacrifice themselves?
These are questions that I find interesting, especially considering Grace’s nonexistent home life and the mysterious end game reason for why he was even on the ship in the first place.
Grace’s answer ends up being Rocky. He has no one to be brave for, not even a dog back home, until Rocky parks his ship next to the Hail Mary. Their friendship, built on the loneliness of space, allows for Grace to be brave.
In contrast to Weir’s debut novel “The Martian,” this movie isn’t just about surviving the harsh conditions of space or finding ways to adapt, but instead it focuses on the hope that emerges from companionship in the most dire circumstances.
Rocky and Grace’s friendship is one that will stick with me for a long time. Rocky is so unintentionally funny and heartwarming that its very easy to get attached, and Gosling did an amazing job showing the impact of this charm on Grace. Gosling's on-screen chemistry with Rocky makes it easy to forget that he isn't an actual alien, but a rock shaped puppet.
The cinematography for this movie is also exemplary. Every scene is curated perfectly, making the audience feel like they’re really in space with Grace and Rocky. Some scenes are so mind-blowingly grand and beautiful that all you can do is stare with a big goofy smile on your face, amazed by what you're looking at. To add to the "wow" factor, most of the scenes avoided using CGI and instead used real space-ship sets made by production designer Charlie Wood.
When paired with the movie’s frankly astonishing soundtrack with songs composed by Daniel Pemberton, this movie can make you cry with a single vignette. In fact, if this soundtrack doesn't get nominated for an Oscar, I believe that someone needs to be fired.
Rating 5/5
Though I am pretty easy to please, I really thought that there could be no improvements towards this film. Even the run time of 156 minutes wasn’t so bad, as a lot of these Sci-Fi movies can be, and the pacing never felt too rushed or too slow. It scratched an itch I didn't even know existed, and I left the movie theater with a gigantic smile on my face.
The human experience revolves around our relationships with other people and the hope that can emerge when we allow ourselves these experiences. This movie highlights this through a wacky little rock and a disgruntled science teacher who manage to save the stars.
“Grace Rocky Save Stars.” - Rocky
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Emily Edgy, a freshman majoring in social science and history education, is from Centreville, Alabama. She has been with The Auburn Plainsman since the spring of 2026.
