Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, but better options are on the horizon. (Note: Anything in bold blue below [or near purple] is a link to something in the above title or the review.)
My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)
However, if you’d like to know more about rationale of my ratings visit this explanatory site.
5/27/2026—Some non-film review tasks are piling up on me again, so I can’t guarantee a new posting into the first week of June, but Two Guys reviews should be back soon after that.
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size;
activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
WHAT HAPPENS: (This film employs a lot of flashbacks to explain what’s happening in the present events, but I’ll just recount it all in chronological fashion for written clarity; what you’d see on screen makes it much more interesting, though.) In 2032 Earth’s sun is weakening with the end of our planetary life in a few decades the inevitable result. An international group of noted scientists led by Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller), recruits middle-school science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling)—he previously had a loftier academic career, yet made the mistake of publicly dismissing a noted figure in his field—to help understand what’s happening and can it be reversed. They discover there’s now a laser “bridge” between Venus and Sol (our sun) containing an enormous flow of tiny extraterrestrial organisms (Astrophage) that are somehow consuming the sus’s existence (what’s worse, this is also happening to many other stars in our galaxy except for one, Tau Ceti, 11.9 light-years from Earth). The plan is to send a spaceship (the Hail Mary) with a crew of 3 to the vicinity of that exceptional star to see if we can deduce its situation to save our sun. Grace does some experiments, learns the Astrophage accelerate replication in environments heavy in CO2, which is why they‘re in Venus’ toxic atmosphere; (we never learn where they came from); he also finds they give off large amounts of energy so they’re to be used to power the spaceship. However, a tragic explosion occurs, killing some of the intended astronauts so Eva demands Grace join the remaining crew; he refuses as he’s not trained for such a mission, so she responds by putting him into a coma.
Much later when Grace awakens he finds the other 2 crew mysteriously dead, then by trial and error learns enough to be functional in the ship. When he arrives at Tau Ceti he finds another ship there, manages to make contact with its sole inhabitant (his crew died also), a sort-of-rock-covered creature with no discernable head (voiced by James Ortiz) whose sun is also being eaten by Astrophage. Grace’s computer manages to translate their speech for them, but they need devices to enter each other’s vehicle: Grace with a spacesuit, Rocky (so named by Grace; he also calls Tau Ceti’s planet “Adrian” [you get the reference I hope]) in a device built of xenonite that contains some of his atmosphere. Together they discover another laser bridge from Adrian to Tau Ceti which contains an organism (taumoeba) that eats the Astrophage, protecting the star, so they set a plan to gather up some of it to take back to their home planets and revive their suns. ⇒The gathering is difficult though, with Rocky injured, but he heals with each of them departing until Grace finds the taumoeba can eat through Rocky’s xenonite container; he solves this problem but realizes taumoeba on the loose will destroy Rocky’s fuel and much of his ship, leaving him to die. Grace resets his trajectory to rendezvous with Rocky (after sending his taumoeba in a device back to Earth) to undo this latest crisis, then they both go to Rocky’s planet. Rocky’s engineers prepare Grace’s ship for his return voyage, but for now he’s happy to be where he’s now safe in a biodome by an ocean, teaching science (via Zoom?) to the alien children.⇐ More plot details are found here if you want.
SO WHAT? I’ve been on a 4 stars-roll for the previous 5 weeks starting with Apex, but I was concerned that streak would be broken with Project Hail Mary because it seemed to be too damn long to accomplish what it set out to do. When I finally finished it, I had to admit my running-time concern was likely impacted by having to stretch the screening out over 3 nights (an advantage of streaming, if you can get your viewing done within the rental window without having to pay twice) because of some unavoidable distractions including garage door problems, a sick cat, etc. By the time I’d completed my unintended marathon session (where I could further relate to the title’s implications when a desperation event is attempted as there’s no other but a ”Hail Mary” choice [like in a football game where an extremely long pass is used in hopes of a winning touchdown as the clock’s expiring] as I felt I needed a 48-hour resolution to problems that had begun on Friday night), I had a better sense of how this story likely has much better continuity when you see it in one sitting, plus I’d had an emotional connection to Rocky’s physical problems as I was looking at my withdrawn kitty hoping she’d be OK by the next day. (Blessedly, she was! Thank you, feline guardian angels.)
Others (some approvingly, some in a huff) note various allusions here to other cinematic work, including 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968), Interstellar (Christopher Nolan, 2014), and even Rocky (John Avildsen, 1976), but I don’t know how much is attributed to screenwriter Drew Goddard or original novelist Andy Weir (2021)—Weir also wrote The Martian (2015) which was adapted to a film starring Matt Damon (Ridley Scott, 2015); in looking over a detailed summary of Weir's Project Hail Mary novel (You don't expect me to actually read the book, do you?) I find nothing that indicates filmic references so praise/blame (depending on how you see it) seems to rest with Lord, Miller, and/or Goddard. Certainly there are aspects you could quibble about: Do we really need so many flashbacks breaking up the backstory into abundant pieces interrupting the flow of the present actions (as we must remember Grace’s conscious present on the Hail Mary ship are about 4 years after his 3032 recruitment scenes)?; What was the cause of death of Grace’s crew members?; Why do later conversations between Grace and Rocky not seem to need computer translation? But, remember—or dispute as you will—successful fiction doesn’t always follow strict logic, even in a 2½-hour film that has a lot of explaining to do as it focuses on crisis, mystery, friendship, and ultimately posing a question of do you really want to return to a planet that shanghaied you into a situation that originally should have ended ln certain death? (Grace’s ship left Earth with only enough Astrophage to make the outbound trip, not enough for a return voyage.) As I put all of this into retrospect I was able to overlook unanswered aspects of the story, fully appreciate a gripping—if lengthy—narrative.
BOTTOM LINE FINAL COMMENTS: Project Hail Mary debuted in domestic (U.S.-Canada) theaters on March 20, 2026 (4,007 of them; still playing in 1,321), has grossed $340.3 million so far ($675.7 million worldwide), can be found on streaming for $19.99 rental at Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV with solid CCAL support as Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews are 94%, the usually lower Metacritic average score is 77%. For examples from these reviews I wanted to show how critics can shift gears completely for any given object of evaluation so I’ve returned to 2 guys I used in my comments last week on The Drama (Kristoffer Borgli); I gave that film 4 stars while Owen Gleiberman of Variety offered an MC 70%, but this week he’s down to MC 50% for ... Hail Mary (while I’m still at 4 stars for this new one): “ ‘Project Hail Mary’s a cosmic adventure that feels diagrammed, if not programmed, to be The Movie We Need Right Now. [… It] feels padded, whether it’s stopping in its tracks for Eva to do a full-blown karaoke version of Harry Styles’ “Sign of the Times” or spilling over into a finale that doesn’t know where to end. […] ‘Project Hail Mary’ will likely be a hit, but the movie we need right now — or, really, anytime — is one whose drama extends beyond its ability to push our buttons.” Well, at least I found so many of the images are spectacular.
On the other hand, Odie Henderson of The Boston Globe completely dismissed The Drama with an MC 0 yet went all the way up to MC 100% for ... Hail Mary: “ ‘Project Hail Mary’ unfolds like a very satisfying beach read, leisurely pacing itself as our protagonist figures out what on Earth — or rather, off Earth — is happening to him. […] There’s an old school feeling to the proceedings; “Project Hail Mary” plays like a movie from an era when filmmakers trusted our intelligence and our attention spans. […] This one’s filled with all the perks you expect in a space movie, from gravity issues to suspenseful space walks to explosions. The special effects are first rate and the film looks great on a big screen (and even better if you catch it in 70mm). But for all its bells and whistles, ‘Project Hail Mary’ is also a lovely, bittersweet character study, a pas de deux between man and alien that elicits a surprising amount of emotions by the time the credits roll.” All of which goes to show, of course, that if you want consistency (of opinionated-brilliance) you should just stick with me (I guarantee I don't give 4 stars to everything, despite my recent results). Also with me—but no one else I’m aware of—you get a review-ending Musical Metaphor, which this time comes easily as it’s in the soundtrack when Grace and Rocky have solidified their connection, The Beatles’ "Two of Us" (1970 Let It Be album), written by Paul McCartney for soon-to-be-wife Linda Eastman although John Lennon saw himself in it with Paul also. As for our film, the lines “You and I have memories / Longer than the road that stretches out ahead” and “We’re on our way home” certainly apply to Grace and Rocky even if the rest of the song must stay, I say, in full not-so-obvious metaphor mode.
SHORT TAKES
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