I would like to start this review by saying that I have always been a fan of Ryan Gosling. I defended him when he was cast as Ken in “Barbie” (2023), since people were in an uproar about it before the movie even came out, and he showed everyone that he was the perfect choice for the role.

Once again, he was the perfect choice to play the main character, Ryland Grace, in “Project Hail Mary,” which was adapted from the book of the same name. I had no idea that the movie was based on a book, but after watching it, I would love to read the source material since I had such an amazing time watching the story on the big screen.

The premise of the movie follows Grace, a middle school science teacher recruited by the government in order to help study a microorganism that seems to be eating away at the sun. He is soon promoted and becomes one of the astronauts on a suicide mission to space. His understanding of the organism makes him one of the only people who can save Earth from extinction.

The movie is long, around two and a half hours, but it didn’t feel like it whatsoever. Every scene had me captivated and at the edge of my seat waiting to see what was coming next. Gosling is on screen for the majority of the time since he is stranded in space on a small spaceship, but I never got tired of watching him. He is so moving in this role and I would even go as far as to say he deserves an Oscar nomination for it.

What made him so touching to watch is that, for more than half of the movie, his only scene partner was an intergalactic alien that he names “Rocky” due to his rock-like appearance. Behind the scenes, Rocky is operated by a team of puppeteers instead of relying solely on computer-generated imagery (CGI), which allowed for a more emotional connection between Gosling’s character and the alien. This approach was definitely the best decision — almost every beautiful and wholesome interaction between Grace and Rocky left tears in my eyes.

Throughout the movie, you get to see how the past and present play out, and it only makes you more attached to Grace and Rocky’s relationship as it develops over the course of the story. I never thought I would feel so connected to a human-alien relationship — I’m usually not a fan of space-centered movies — but Grace and Rocky truly blew me away and have easily become one of my favorite on-screen pairings.

Moving away from the characters and plotline and toward the cinematography, this is definitely one of the most gorgeous movies I have seen in 2026 so far. Philip Lord and Christopher Miller, the directors of the film, avoided using green screens so that they could have the most realistic lighting on Gosling possible. Instead, they used practical sets, practical lighting and visual effects (VFX)/CGI to create the realistic setting of being stranded in space.

Many movies and TV shows nowadays make the mistake of relying too heavily on green screens, which creates unrealistic lighting on the actors and makes the background stand out more than it should. Lord and Miller definitely made the right decision on avoiding green screens altogether since it didn’t even feel like Gosling was on a movie set; it felt real. 

I could feel the stakes of this movie and I experienced real fear whenever the characters were in any type of danger. It actually felt like I knew these people personally, and I love it when movies are able to invoke that feeling in me, because it shows how the filmmakers and actors took their time to develop the storyline and these characters. It probably helped that they had a book to base things on, but there have been many instances where book adaptations have been very subpar; this movie was not one of them.

With that all being said, I recommend going to see this film as soon as possible. I could definitely see it being nominated for many awards, and even if it is not — which would be a huge snub — the emotions it’ll make you feel are worth it. I can’t remember the last time I cried at a movie and I definitely cried over five times during this one. Go see “Project Hail Mary” as soon as you can!