At a time where there is so much uneasiness and hate around the world, “Project Hail Mary” delivers a heart-warming story that leaves viewers enthralled during its duration. 

Based on the 2021 Andy Weir novel, the sci-fi film was directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and written by Drew Goddard.

The film follows a science teacher who wakes up alone on a spaceship and is tasked to save the world, according to IMDb.

The epic space story gives you everything you need in a sci-fi movie, from beautiful action shots to impactful relationships that hammers home true friendship and sacrifice between characters.

In its opening weekend at the box office it made $80 million and has since reached $512 million globally as of April 14, according to Box Office Mojo.

The movie is based on the 2021 sci-fi book “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir, which is a recipient of Goodreads Readers’ Favorite Science Fiction in 2021.

Ryan Gosling delivers a very versatile performance as the introverted awkward Ryland Grace.

The story starts with Grace waking up from a coma on a spaceship with amnesia, setting up an epic space survival story. 

Earth is in danger from an alien microbe called Astrophage that eats sunlight, putting humans at risk due to drops in temperature on the planet. 

Throughout the galaxy, Astrophage has infected all but one star that has the ability to block the Astrophage from eating its sunlight.

Grace is sent on a one-way trip to observe and learn how the planet blocks the Astrophage and send back his findings to Earth to hopefully save the planet. 

After his two-man crew dies, Grace is left alone until he bumps into an unlikely alien companion.

Rocky, who, like his name insinuates, is a rocky alien life form from the planet of Erid who absolutely steals the show.

The design of Rocky was fantastically manned by a team of puppeteers who did an amazing job of bringing him to life. 

The relationship between Grace and Rocky carries the movie as they work together to save their own planets from certain doom. 

Every interaction between the two makes you feel emotional through love, happiness or laughter. 

Rocky and Grace’s willingness to sacrifice and help each other tugs at your heartstrings throughout the film while mixing in comedy to break up the heavy emotions.

I am not a big crier, but there were multiple moments where I felt my eyes well up from the character’s bond. 

The visuals excel in vibrant colors and amazing depth, something modern sci-fi is expected to have. 

The color of the Astrophage and planets light up the theater. 

Though the movie is relatively viewed as book accurate on social media, it did have a couple minor changes in the film. 

In the book a gene allowed Grace to survive the long coma that killed his other two crewmates, which the movie does not explain, according to a March 24 BookishMedia substack article. 

The movie ends up showing that Earth survives while the book only implies it without bringing the reader back to the planet, according to the same article.

The only negative about the movie is its runtime of 2 hours, 37 minutes dragging the story in the middle.

I had to go pee twice during the movie and looked up the movie runtime during one of my bathroom breaks because I couldn’t believe that it wasn’t over yet. 

The same message could’ve been delivered with a short runtime, but I will never complain about extra screen time of Rocky and Grace together. 

This sci-fi epic should absolutely be an addition for movies to watch with friends and family.