“The Last Mission: Project Hail Mary” is the film for you, if you are looking for a science fiction story that can unite the different souls of the genre, its different facets, and together talk to you about friendship, existence, survival and empathy. There are many, many irons in the fire in Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s film, perhaps too much, but it is impossible not to be won over by this adventure among the stars.

“The Last Mission: Project Hail Mary” – The plot

“The Last Mission: Project Hail Mary” tells us about a future in which the Earth still has very little left to live, since the sun is dying. A mysterious space substance has essentially almost stopped its engine, and to search for an answer, a salvation, an international space mission is prepared, but when our story begins, there is only one survivor on board: Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) who awakens from cryogenic sleep. But how did he become part of the mission? What is his task? He doesn’t remember it or much else from his past. Based on the novel of the same name by Andy Weir, “The Last Mission: Project Hail Mary” however hits the turbo when Grace and her gigantic ship, lost in the depths of space, cross paths with another ship, from a mysterious alien civilization, which arrived there with the same purpose and is in the grip of the same dramatic problem. There is an alien alter ego of hers on board, and from this moment on, the film becomes something completely different, as Grace will find in that “colleague” an ally and a friend.

“The last mission: Project Hail Mary” becomes the story of two beings completely divided and different from everything, not only by light years, but united by intelligence, by their profession and also by loneliness, as well as by the desire to also find meaning in their existence. All this comes to us through a process that is typical of the dramedy genre, where fear, drama, uncertainty, even anguish, go hand in hand with funny jokes, slapstick comedy, a story of friendship that winks at the buddy movie. Inevitable pearl quotes like this WALL.Eas well as ET- The Extraterrestrial, The Martian, Arrival, Interstellar, 2001: A Space Odyssey and so on and so forth. The real miracle, however, is how genuine all this is, it never risks being excessively derivative. The final result is a brilliant film, full of heart, which however also becomes incredibly current due to the multiplicity of themes and analyses, which start from the protagonist, arrive through his alien alter ego and then reach us in this 2026.

A metaphor for the unfortunate times we live in

“The Last Mission: Project Hail Mary” has an absolutely magnificent aesthetic construction, where the realism of what a space station launched towards infinity could be is also accompanied by the creativity of imagining what another civilization would be like. The World Building, the very conception of Rocky (this is the nickname that Grace gives to that creature), reflects not so much what an alien could be like, but how a man should be spiritually, from a theoretical but above all ideal point of view, in a situation of this type. Ryan Gosling lends himself very well to the part of this nerd, shy, perhaps even a little misanthropic, with poor social skills, an eternal adolescent with very little self-esteem, as well as multiple skills and talents. He will discover, also thanks to that strange new traveling companion, that he has qualities and resources whose existence he was completely unaware of. All in a narrative structure that gradually reveals the protagonist’s past, with frequent flashbacks that are sometimes very touching.

The inclusion of Sandra Huller in the cast is interesting, also thanks to her “The Last Mission: Project Hail Mary” turns out to be a film capable of exciting us for the development of the characters, with a tone that is never excessively light nor blatantly heavy or pessimistic. Ultimately, the general impression is that of having seen a film which, rather than telling us about the difficult relationship between humanity, technology and the environment that surrounds us, about our troubled relationship with this Earth, is above all an analysis of empathy and opening up towards others. This goes beyond all their differences, singularities, looking at their ability to give us something and above all allow ourselves to give something. In short, there is also a strong existentialist component, which however never leads to a lecture or moralism. The 2026 Oscars are upon us, who knows, I can’t say this film will have its say next season, despite a slightly overlong ending, because it is a truly emotional, well-made story, the kind we really need today.

Rating: 8.5