Is Project Hail Mary the return of family cinema? 

Project Hail Mary starring Ryan Gosling was released this weekend to major blockbuster success and critical acclaim. The movie is based on the popular novel of the same name by Andy Weir who audiences might be familiar with from The Martian. 

The internet is abuzz with the success of Project Hail Mary with many people calling it the best movie in 30 years and those tough to please like Matt Walsh (creator and star of Am I Racist) saying its the return of family cinema.

Is it worth all that hype? The Conservative Critic asks: Is it entertaining? Does it have artistic/intellectual value? And is it liberal propaganda? 

Meter Check: Project Hail Mary 

Overall Rating: This is the best movie in a really long time

It’s not certain that Project Hail Mary is the best movie in thirty years but it’s definitely the most widely appealing in that long. Its closest rivals in recent years are Top Gun: Maverick and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning and both of those films deal with more material unsuitable for children than Project Hail Mary thereby making them less perfect for all audiences. Perhaps its only true challenge for the most perfect film of 30 years is Pirates of the Caribbean.  

Project Hail Mary manages to be a serious and thoughtful exploration of the fragility of human life, an allegory for salvation, a science heavy nerd fiction and a buddy comedy featuring an alien. It does all of these things seamlessly and with extraordinary success. 

Project Hail Mary is a perfect film. It is my greatest hope that Hollywood sees the success of this movie and does everything it can to replicate the elements which make it so likable: no politics, no social agenda, good story telling, strong acting, heavy practical movie magic and light, well-done VFX integration. It can be done, Hollywood. IT CAN BE DONE.

Is it entertaining? 

Rating: Enrapturing

The movie has a lot going for it. It’s not a roller coaster ride. It’s paced well allowing the story to unfold as almost a mystery novel in its early stages including the first encounter between the lead character, Ryland Grace played by Ryan Gosling and ‘Rocky’ the proverbial alien voiced and puppeteered by James Ortiz. The audience is immediately enamored with the unusual and unfortunate situation of Grace alone on a space ship trying to figure out what he’s doing there and what to do next. Because its space and the stakes are high, the tension works and keeps the audience invested despite the slower pace.

The character of Rocky adds tremendous heart and comedy and between him and Grace, the movie is the kind of buddy comedy that warms  every heart and captures all imaginations. The pace picks up in the second act with adventurous missions undertaken by the duo which are executed with mixed success making for thrilling segments full of absolutely stunning visuals.

By the end of it, audiences are completely invested in Grace and Rocky and their respective missions and on the edge of their seat, holding their breath for the conclusion. The film (and underlying novel) defies common tropes and cheap emotional tricks to deliver a high payoff. 

Note on the family friendliness: Children about 10 and up will be entertained by the movie as will men and women of all ages, interests and beliefs. Children under 10 may be bored or a little scared just from the high intensity of the story and the stakes if they understand them. 

Does it have intellectual/artistic value? 

Rating: Masterpiece in every element

Project Hail Mary is so high quality its hard to know where to begin. Amazon (the studio for this film) really knew what they were doing, who to trust and where to invest dollars. 

The visuals, the cinematography and the craftsmanship are as otherworldly as the story. The film relies on practical set work and puppetry and did not use any green screen in its making. They added absolutely seamless and beautiful VFX (CGI) to round out the look and fill in the impossible outer space images. This means that while acting and traversing the space craft, Gosling was doing so in practical reality with a built space ship and a puppeted Rocky with him the whole way. Created by Jim Hensen’s creature shop and live puppeted through the film, there was no guessing what Rocky may look like or sound like or where he might physically exist while making the movie. When Gosling was supposed to be in zero gravity, he was hooked to wires and in an elaborate rotating practical spaceship. The effort and care in this practical filmwork pays off. It comes off much more authentic and tangible than any greenscreen could ever do (let alone artificial intelligence). And of course, it’s costly. But the film’s budget was about $200 million which is the standard for an expected blockbuster in Hollywood. By comparison, 2026’s Conservative Critic Fail Award winner for worst picture Snow White had a budget of $350 million and relied heavily on green screen and heavy handed, overly animated CGI which looked terrible and everyone hated. Estimates from that movie was that it was about 80% green screen. So with less money and no green screen and carefully made CGI, Project Hail Mary made a beautiful work of art that is one of the best looking space movies out there period. 

The performances were awards caliber and they will almost certainly be nominated barring a major coup. Gosling carries the bulk majority of the movie on his shoulders and he does so with a lot of emotional resonance as well as comedy. He manages to cut tension with jokes without ruining emotionally drenched moments but instead actually adding to them. Many are calling it his best performance to date and he has so many strong performances (Barbie, Place Beyond the Pines, Blade Runner: 2045, Blue Valentine)  it’s hard to say if that’s true but it is clear that it is a sensational showing. 

James Ortiz as Rocky (both the voice and puppeteer) will go entirely unsung and unawarded but achieved a true lifelike quality for Rocky who is a spider based rock creature with no face. What he did is unmatched in puppet work since Jurassic Park and arguably the best puppet work of all time for a single character. 

Sandra Huller as Eva Stratt, the earth bound scientist involved in the Project Hail Mary literally and figuratively grounds the movie. Her performance is so credible and so emotional in all its coldness, pragmatism and humor that it moves audiences to tears. With a different interpretation of Stratt, the film doesn’t work half as well as it did. Hers is the best female performance of 2026 so far and will be very hard to eclipse. 

The story is beautifully adapted from the beloved novel. The novel is lengthy and gets deep into the weeds of the science while balancing the relationships and broader spiritual journey. The film favors the relationships, and rightly so, but keeps enough of the science to world build in an interesting and satisfying way.

Overall, there are not many movies this critic would rank as highly on caliber and quality as Project Hail Mary. 

Is it liberal propaganda? 

Rating: This movie is not political AT ALL but it is full of shared values that conservatives like

Project Hail Mary the novel and the film defy expectations by managing to be void of politics despite grappling with an issue which would almost certainly be rife with political gamesmanship in real life. Truly an inherently political issue considering many nations collaborate in the film. There is no social agenda. There is no shoe horned expression of needless sexuality. The movie confidently exists in its story and doesn’t need the bells and whistles of progressivism to be accepted by critics and audiences together. Its contrast to the films considered by the Academy for best picture this year, including the winner, is stark.

In order to describe why despite being a-political it is so conservative friendly, there will be some light spoilers. Not full story spoilers but some exploration of concepts which reveal the stakes of the film. Skip and go see the movie if you don’t want any details revealed.

Light spoilers start here: 

The movie more so than the novel plays into his religious metaphor. The project at hand in the story is called the “Hail Mary” as is the space ship that Ryland Grace travels on. It is literally the “Hail Mary, full of Grace.” and even more pointed is that the character doesn’t go by Ryland at all in the story he only goes by Grace. Ultimately, the only thing that can save the world is Grace. Obviously, this is a pointed metaphor for salvation that truly the only thing that can save any of us is grace from God. 

Mid-film, an exchange occurs between Grace and Stratt where Grace asks Stratt outright if she believes in God and Stratt answers essentially: “it beats the alternative.” The characters are dealing with life and death on the largest scale. When pressed for a solution, they use human ingenuity and science to find one. But at their core they know that in that moment of peril, in contemplating the vastness of the cosmos and the perfection of life, there is only one explanation for it all and it’s divine. 

Obviously, the respect and celebration of faith and the use of a Christian metaphor is something that will appeal to conservative audiences. 

Additionally, the movie is pretty pro-American and kind of pro-conspiracy theory. Despite the entire world gathering their top scientists to tackle the ‘big problem,’ the only person who can make headway on it is the American, Dr. Ryland Grace who is a middle school teacher because he published a controversial paper suggesting there could be alien life in unexpected places. So not only did an American outsmart the world’s most elite scientists, he also did it as someone with a background of being a rogue alternative thinker. 

Conclusion

Project Hail Mary is a perfect film and you should go see it on the largest screen you can.