Project Hail Mary Review

Written: 20-04-2026

A film that can make you both laugh and cry is usually very powerful, but this film really got me thinking too. The concept is, a man wakes up on a spaceship having lost his memory. He is on a mission to save earth, but he is the only surviving member of his crew. His mission is to discover how to stop a microorganism from destroying the sun. That is all I knew going in and I thought it was going to be a kind of dry sci-fi film some interesting scientific ideas like The Martian, which was based on a book written by the same author. Now if your already sold, I would go and watch it before you continue reading because I managed to not be spoiled on this next bit and it had me beaming in the cinema when it happened. Literally the first thing that happens after Grace, the protagonist, gets over his hibernation sickness is he encounters an alien ship.

This is done incredibly well, because the only star that isn't affected by the microorganisms is the one they have both gone to investigate. This makes this encounter far more probable in such a vast universe. There is also only one occupant of the other ship. There is then a series of pretty funny encounters where the alien, called Rocky (by Grace), and Grace learn to communicate before they can work together. I laughed out loud many times in the cinema and was surprised by how quiet it was in there; there were only about 10 people in that showing though. Then after that the rest of the film is these two unlikely friends working together to save their planets.

The film made me realise how insignificant many things are and brought to the forefront how fragile our world is. Diseases, wars, meteors, we could be wiped out so easily. From that I want to do more things that I am proud of. For the past couple of years, since I moved house, I haven't really been pursuing the projects and ideas I have had. It has been almost three years since I published Life is Better this Way and I think I want to get back into writing, maybe do some of those other ideas that have been in the back of my mind too.

Anyway, this is a great film and you should watch it.