Movie Review: Project Hail Mary
Is it slop? Is it propaganda? Is it art?
For the first time since Oppenheimer I went to the movie theatre to watch Project Hail Mary. Ryan Gosling is fun, I just rewatched Blade Runner, and this movie is from the same author as the Martian so it deserved a shot.
I really enjoyed this movie. It was fun, and heartfelt and felt beautiful in its own way and I can confidently say I enjoyed this movie more than any movie from the past 4 years. It tried as hard as it could to be meaningful and genuine as a modern 2026 blockbuster can be. This movie really wants to be a great movie and begins to venture to really say something, sadly it remains very much of 2026 and never fully commits to that deeper something we can feel it grasping at.
The core of this movie revolves dances around meaningful and profound existential questions of grace, hope and especially sacrifice. This movie does this from a very secular position but borrows religious imagery, patterns, and even music. The protagonist is named Grace and his arc is about redemption, the movie is about hope and so the project is named Hail Mary, etc. Sadly, this movie raises questions too religious for its secular scope to answer and bites off more than it can chew morally.
A huge theme of this movie is its half executed rebellion against individualist secularism. we begin with the main character; a forcefully individualistic, lonely, and secular man doing his best at the fringe of academic society.
According to trope; in the time of crisis it is only this one fringe individual who was outcast that now can save the world. He is brought into society in order to save it and then seems to do so with the knowledge of the outsider.
Then, after a tragic accident he is needed not just as an outcast but as an insider; to sacrifice himself in order to save everyone else. This is the question underpinning the movie, the existential question of modern secular humanism; What is modern man willing to die for?
At one point our protagonist remarks to the pilot about his commitment to die for the world saying “You must have sacrifice in your DNA” to which the pilot responds “you just need to have something to sacrifice for.” —>But our hero doesn’t have anyone to sacrifice for…
Contrary to our hopes and expectations, our beloved protagonist chooses not to save the world and in so refusing is willing to forfeit millions of lives. Vague humanitarianisms, as it turns out, is worthless when it really counts. His love of “Humanity” is simply not enough to give his own life.
The great failure of this movie is that instead of dealing with this beautifully raised question of faith, the greater good and responsibility, they just kidnap Grace. Instead of character growth Grace is kidnapped and sacrificed forcefully by the world for its salvation.
In typical modern Hollywood fashion, they play this for laughs and diminish the world’s forced sacrificing of a man. We of course aren’t mad at this because we always expect our heroes to sacrifice.… though we, the writers and the characters in this movie may have forgotten why they must.
The true meaning if there was one to this movie can be summarized by the dialogue between Grace and Stratt.
Grace: Do you really believe we can pull this off?
Stratt: God willing.
Grace: You believe in God?
Stratt: It’s better than the alternative.
This is to say the message of the movie is merely: pretend you’re a Christian and things will be better off. (And whether you do or don’t we’re still going to make you die like one)
And while this film is immensely charming, and vaguely heart warming it never connects the dots. This film or any other can never be truly great until they fully commit to taking an idea to its end. Its modern movies like this that drive me crazy the more I watch them.
Like what does this movie suggest: That we should pretend to be Christians because it makes us feel good? That the men in our society don’t really care about it because they’ve been screwed over, but if we make them die for this society that doesn’t care about them then they’ll just change their minds? That the real happy ending for lonely competent white guys is teaching aliens on a planet with no humans to serve, love, or live with? That if you are rejected wrongfully by society you can always find the love and community you really always wanted light years away with cute little crabs?
—I know this movie isn’t designed to really mean anything or be overanalyzed for its true message. It’s designed to make people feel good and laugh and forget life for 2 hours-and it worked, I laughed and cried and enjoyed every second of this movie but it tricked me with the feeling, sounds and images of something actually beautiful.
I am being harsh here at the end because this movie was so close to being a real work of art. It will win awards and make loads of money and sell lots of merch, but it won’t change lives, it can’t, because it doesn’t say anything. This movie has beautiful cinematography, good dialogue, an immersive score, charming characters, and yet it will ultimately be forgotten for this reason.
I wish I could tell you what this movie should have done but I really don’t even know.
Idiots on the right will call this a win because it has a good looking white guy as the main character, and because it is named “Project Hail Mary,” and because it doesn’t aggressively force transgenderism or homosexuality down their throats. If the appearance of goodness is the win they want then sure they can take this one. I wish they would aim higher than that…
That said this movie was superficially pretty good…
4/5