{"id":250453,"date":"2026-04-03T19:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T19:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/250453\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T19:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T19:30:10","slug":"movie-review-of-project-hail-mary-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/250453\/","title":{"rendered":"Movie review of Project Hail Mary \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you only see one movie in a theater in the next year, you absolutely must see \u201cProject Hail Mary,\u201d starring Ryan Gosling and introducing the Rocky character. The critics love this movie, as so they should. It is so good that I\u2019ve seen it twice (so far), bought the book and even some movie theater popcorn buckets swag (Grace\u2019s space helmet and Rocky in his multi-sided, clear, environmental habitat bubble). The book was highly recommended to me. Now I somehow need to make time to read it!<\/p>\n

\"ProjectProject Hail Mary collectable popcorn buckets & book
\n(Jan Wagner)<\/p>\n

Some spoilers, which you will probably also deduce from the trailers, follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cProject Hail Mary,\u201d which is based on the novel by Andy Weir, tells the story of school science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) who unexpectedly wakes up from a coma, alone on a spaceship that is far, far away from home, with no recollection of how he got there. Eventually he realizes that he has been sent on a mission that is vital to the survival of life on earth: to figure out why a mysterious substance is causing the sun to die out. If he is to succeed at doing that, he must call upon his knowledge of science, his unorthodox ideas and an unexpected ally (Rocky) to try to save all life on Earth \u2014 and on his new ally\u2019s planet \u2014 from extinction. This effort will be the Hail Mary.<\/p>\n

Much more than just a great science fiction adventure, \u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d explores cooperation, selflessness, determination and more \u2014 essential human characteristics that transcend this genre. As we learn in the movie\u2019s Production Notes, Andy Weir, the novel\u2019s author, \u201chad already developed a reputation for marrying rigorous science with emotional clarity in stories anchored in near futures. His 2011 best-seller \u201cThe Martian\u201d had proven that audiences would follow complex problem-solving if they cared about the person doing the solving.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ProjectProject Hail Mary teaser poster
\n(Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios)<\/p>\n

Much attention has been given to the science. \u201cOne of the things we learned on \u201cThe Martian\u201d was that we don\u2019t have to simplify the science,\u201d Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Drew Goddard said. \u201cWe were terrified we would have to simplify it for a general audience but what we found was the opposite. The audience loved that the science was complicated and challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller \u201cdidn\u2019t want to reduce the science, they wanted to stage it. That meant restructuring certain passages from the novel so that ideas emerged through action rather than explanation. It would really become an exercise in cinema\u2019s purest and most singular function: visual storytelling. If Grace is figuring something out, the audience would have to watch him figure it out. They would watch him fail, watch him test. Discovery had to be active.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ProjectProject Hail Mary 4DX poster
\n(Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios)<\/p>\n

Early on Gosling had considered this role an opportunity to make the most epic theatrical experience of his life. \u201cIt\u2019s such an epic journey,\u201d Gosling says, \u201cAnd Ryland Grace is not stoic in any way. He\u2019s not brave in any traditional sense and he doesn\u2019t have any illusions about being a hero. But he keeps trying.\u201d We care about Ryan Gosling\u2019s character (Grace) and Rocky, and we want them to succeed.<\/p>\n

I saw \u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d in IMAX 2D, but a Google search revealed that this movie has been released in 12 distinct movie formats: IMAX 70mm Film and IMAX Dual-Laser (1.43:1 Aspect Ratio), Dolby Cinema (Dolby Vision\/Atmos), ScreenX (extends the projected movie onto the side walls of the theater), 4DX\/MX4D (adds environmental effects such as wind, scents and moving seats), HDR by Barco (ultra bright, with high dynamic range), Cinemark XD (4K laser projection, immersive audio and shifting aspect ratios for an enhanced visual experience), 5-perf 70mm (superior to standard digital projection but not as large as IMAX), Digital IMAX (larger, brighter and crisper than standard projection), D-Box (seats shake and move with the film\u2019s action), Premium Large Format (several branded formats, including Regal RPX and AMC Prime, with larger screens and improved sound over standard) and Standard 2D Digital.<\/p>\n

\"JanJan Wagner in Project Hail Mary display
\n(Jan Wagner)<\/p>\n

To see the official trailer, get tickets and even download a printable 3D model of Rocky (requires a 3D printer. Click on the link, open your Downloads folder and find the folder within, titled \u201cGrace Keychain 3D model\u201d), visit: https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/salp\/projecthailmary?hhf.<\/p>\n

To explore a wide variety of content dating back to 2002, with the most photos and the latest text, visit \u201cAutoMatters & More\u201d at https:\/\/automatters.net. Search by title or topic in the Search Bar in the middle of the Home Page or click on the blue \u2018years\u2019 boxes and browse.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 by Jan Wagner \u2013 AutoMatters & More #922r1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you only see one movie in a theater in the next year, you absolutely must see \u201cProject…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[310,1002,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-250453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-del-mar-times","tag-del-mar-times-opinion","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}