My Thoughts on the Film Project Hail Mary (2026), 5/16/2026…

The problem with transcribing hard science fiction to film is that much of the science therein—which is illustrated via lots and lots of narrative—is glossed over, skipped, or even cut. It’s the same problem with Shakespeare’s plays: recall that the Kenneth Branagh version of Hamlet (1996) was over four hours long, yet it still did not use the entire script of the famous Elizabethan play. Both are cases of just too much narrative to fit within the framework of a two-and-a-half-hour movie. 

Or within the framework of humanity’s attention span.

Project Hail Mary is such an example of hard science fiction that’s almost too cerebral for film. The premise is pure hard sci-fi, with a protagonist who is both a brilliant scientist and an eager-to-retreat coward. Microbial life forms are eating away at our solar system’s sun, and, as a result, humanity has an upcoming expiration date. Dr. Ryland Grace, portrayed with the right balance of comic timing and emotional urgency by Ryan Gosling (La La Land), is forced on a mission to travel light-years away to find the solution to the star-eating microbe problem. 

Grace wakes up at his destination alone, with coma-induced amnesia, to find himself searching for reasons why he is where he is. He does. He also makes first contact with an alien whose species is experiencing a situation similar to that of humanity. After solving the communication problem, Grace and Rocky the Alien (James Ortiz, The Woodsman) get to work on the solution. 

The storyline of the film, like the novel, is dotted with ever-revealing flashbacks that illustrate the herculean steps humans working together can actually achieve. Grace is “recruited” by Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall), the right kind of goal-oriented bureaucrat who possesses the necessary lack of human qualities. Carl (Lionel Boyce, The Bear), a character written for the film, acts as both inspiration and foil for Grace’s early discoveries. 

Having read the novel before I watched the film, and oh-so glad for doing so, I understand the narrative cuts necessary for making a smooth-running movie despite my initial knee-jerk reaction. And a smooth-running movie this is. I must admit, although, that the film version of this tale is a little more bright and sunshiny than the original source material. But isn’t it always? 

I recommend this film to fans of hard science fiction. But, if I know hard sci-fi fans as well as I think I do, they would have read the novel before they even consider the film version.