"Project Hail Mary" (2026)

I went to see this in the theater during... I think its last week in theaters. And I really, really liked it, despite my general dislike for seeing movies with more than like two other people around me.

Despite not being Roman Catholic, I do know what the Hail Mary is, and I also know that the title isn't referring to the prayer; it's referring to what's called a "Hail Mary pass". Basically "this probably won't work, but there's a chance that it might, and we're going to lose anyway, so we may as well try." Which pretty well summarizes the plot of this movie. As Cave Johnson from Portal 2 said, they're throwing science at the wall to see what sticks.

(If you don't know the plot, I shall direct you to my mom's review.)

I really liked that they kept the technobabble to a minimum. It helps that we don't know how the astrophage works, and we're trying to find out. But thanks to that, the movie's science seems like something we could realistically do. (Well, the Earth science, at least. How does |the alien Rocky| make |solid xenon|? I don't know, and neither does the protagonist. But |it's aliens|, so it doesn't have to make sense.)

Incidentally, the protagonist's name is a pun. His name is Dr. Ryland Grace. Now think about the text of the Catholic prayer.

I actually cried multiple times while watching this. And this is me; I don't often cry from fiction.

This is a movie, and it's rated PG-13.

5 stars. This has probably earned a spot in my top three favorite movies.

(Endnote: Spaceship!)