After dominating theaters since its March 20 release, even earning an extended theatrical window and a return to IMAX screens, Project Hail Mary has finally arrived on digital platforms. And this is a movie that absolutely deserves multiple viewings.
Now that we can watch it from our couches with the power of pause and rewind at our fingertips, it's time to catch all the beautiful moments we loved the very first time. Project Hail Mary is full of details easy to miss on first watch. Some are visual Easter eggs like Eva Stratt's prison tattoo in the final Earth scene, a subtle "V" with a line through it on her neck that signifies she was sentenced to life without parole in a French prison. But the moments that really demand rewatching are the emotional beats between Ryland Grace and Rocky.
Here are the 13 Rocky and Grace moments we'll be pausing and rewinding from our couch, probably while crying into a blanket.
All the soulmate three taps
This is the moment that starts everything. After Rocky builds the xenonite tunnel connecting their ships, Grace cautiously enters his side for the first time. Then he hears it. Three deliberate knocks on the wall separating them. He knocks back.
Once you've seen the entire film, coming back to this scene feels so special. Because those three knocks become their language, their "I'm here," and "are you okay?" Their proof of life.
We'll be rewatching this to catch every detail of that first exchange and every three knocks after, knowing it's the beginning of everything between them.
"Hi Grace" - Rocky moves in unannounced
This is the scene where Rocky builds his xenonite ball suit so he can actually enter the Hail Mary's oxygen atmosphere. He appears unannounced and just rolls in like it shouldn't be surprising that he's moving in with Grace with no prior notice whatsoever.
Grace tries to establish boundaries but Rocky's already looking for the bedrooms. The sequence is hilarious with Grace attempting to explain personal space to Rocky who doesn't understand why this is even a conversation. But what makes it rewatch-worthy is knowing this is the moment their dynamic really gets there for the rest of the adventure. Rocky’s going to be bossy and completely dismiss Grace's complaints, and Grace is going to let him because he loves this friendship more than he loves privacy.
"Out pointy" - the bedroom takeover scene
Not long after Rocky's moved in, he decides he needs more than just his travel ball. This is the sequence where Rocky asks Grace to build him a proper sleeping chamber in one of the Hail Mary's bedrooms and Grace has to follow Rocky's very specific (and very bossy) instructions about where the xenonite tunnel needs to go.
Rocky's gesturing upward and outward, directing the construction: "Not on Earth. More high."
Grace: "It goes this way? All the way out to here?"
Rocky: "Yes. Out pointy."
Then comes one of my favorite moments of Grace recording a video log where he vents about his new roommate situation: "He tells me what to do, he tells me why to do it, he tells me how to do it, he tells me when to do it. And then when I do it, he's like, 'What are you doing?'"
There's also Grace's Superman joke during this sequence dealing with the heavy triangular xenonite pieces and saying it makes him look like the villains from Superman, trapped in the Phantom Zone.
We'll be rewatching this for the pure domestic comedy of it. Grace complaining like Rocky is a difficult roommate, when really he's just thrilled to not be alone. And for that Superman reference that somehow makes the whole thing even more endearing.
Rocky offers to lend Grace his own fuel and the first hug
This moment comes much later, after they've been working together for a while and their bond has deepened. It's the scene where Rocky discovers the truth about Grace's mission that it's one-way. Grace is supposed to die out here. And Rocky absolutely cannot accept that.
This is one continuous emotional beat and it destroys us every time. Rocky insists on giving Grace his spare astrophage fuel, enough to get him home. When Grace pushes back that its too much, Rocky explains his reasoning, and it's heartbreaking: "Rocky watch crew die. Could not fix. Grace say Grace will die. Rocky fix. Grace go home."
Grace steps out from behind the bulkhead, tears streaming down his face. He asks Rocky to come close, then hugs Rocky's ball. Rocky's utterly confused and Grace explains it's a hug and that you do it together. Rocky presses against the barrier, trying to participate.
The whole sequence, the sacrifice, the tears, the awkward hug, the comedy—it's perfect. We'll be rewatching this to see Gosling go from devastation to joy to laughter in about two minutes. And to see Rocky trying so earnestly to understand what a hug even is.
"What think Earth?" - Rocky the accidental vlogger
As they prepare for their mission to collect samples from Adrian's atmosphere, we get this wonderful sequence where Rocky starts participating in Grace's video logs. Grace has been recording mission updates to send back to Earth and Rocky decides he wants to explain their plan too.
Rocky addresses the camera directly: "Hello, Earth. Plan is like fishing. We get very close to Adrian atmosphere and lower collector into clouds with chain. Then Grace go on hull to reel it in. If ship not at precise angle and speed, we die. Example: We must fly backwards to keep proper velocity, even though Grace still have no pilot experience!"
Then there's this montage of Grace absolutely failing at piloting while Rocky yells increasingly frantic instructions. Rocky continues his recording: "Rocky chain spooled and ready. Grace pilot training not as good."
Then at the end of his explanation, Rocky asks to the camera, "What think, Earth?" Grace has to gently explain that they can't hear him and it's not actually a live feed.
I'll be rewatching this for Rocky's enthusiasm as he explains everything to Earth like he's hosting a vlog.
The goodbye scene
This scene comes toward the last quarter of the movie after they've successfully done what they came here to do, and now it's time to part ways. Each of them needs to return to their own solar system with the cure. It's one of the most emotional scenes in the film.
Rocky delivers what he's clearly very proud of, his first joke: "You are bravest human I have ever met." Grace smiles, catching on: "Hey." Rocky: "Is joke!" Grace: "I know." Rocky: "I only meet one human, and is you!"
Rocky explains the joke like he's just invented comedy, and Grace is trying not to laugh at how pleased Rocky is with himself. Then they perform their mirroring dance, the same awkward movements they did during first contact in the tunnel. Grace gives a simple wave. And then "Po Atarau" by the Turakina Maori Girls Choir fills the soundtrack as Grace slowly, carefully cuts the tunnel connection between their ships.
The Hail Mary and the Blip-A drift apart. There's no dialogue in this part. Just that haunting choral music and the image of two ships separating, each heading to their own solar system to save billions of lives.
The whole sequence makes me cry every single time and knowing Grace is going to turn around doesn't make it easier. But in that moment, they both genuinely think it's forever.
We'll be rewatching this for Rocky's joke delivery (he's so pleased with himself), for the dance that calls back to their beginning and for that “Pō Atarau” sequence that's just... cinematically perfect.
When Grace can't get Rocky to knock back
This is the aftermath of the disaster at Adrian. During their sample collection, a fuel leak causes the ship to spin violently out of control. Grace gets knocked unconscious, and Rocky has to make a terrible choice to break out into Grace's deadly oxygen atmosphere to save him.
Rocky chooses Grace.
When Grace finally wakes up days later, he immediately knows something went horribly wrong. He sees black stains everywhere of the mercury blood from Rocky's body. Burns from the oxygen exposure and the trail leading through the ship. Grace follows that trail and finds Rocky collapsed in his tunnel section.
This is when Grace does the three knocks on the wall but Rocky can't answer. Grace's voice breaks as he promises through the wall that he'll watch Rocky sleep, "but you gotta wake up."
This moment is probably the moment it hits you what the three knocks have meant all along. They're proof of life. And now one of them can't knock back.
Rocky takes Grace to see his ship - pure visual spectacle
After Rocky finally wakes up and recovers, which takes days of Grace anxiously waiting and working on breeding the Taumoeba, they have this beautiful celebration scene. Grace has succeeded in creating enough Taumoeba to save both their worlds. They party together in the Hail Mary's screen room and Grace presents Rocky with some meaningful gifts.
Rocky asks what he can give Grace in return and Grace makes a request that leads to one of the film's most visually stunning sequences: he wants to see inside the Blip-A. Rocky crafts a special xenonite suit that will protect Grace from the ammonia atmosphere, and brings him aboard his ship. We finally get to see the interior of an alien spacecraft designed by a civilization that experiences reality through sound, not sight.
The carvings on the walls that represent Eridian history and culture. The patterns built for echolocation and a glimpse of what appears to be the Eridian equivalent of the Voyager Golden Record.
This sequence doesn't exist in Andy Weir's book. It's pure movie addition, a gift from directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller to everyone who spent the entire novel wondering what Rocky's world actually looked like. The directors have said that audiences should pause and study this sequence on rewatches and there's so much to discover.
We'll be rewatching this to catch every single detail we missed. To see what Rocky's world looks like. To understand what it means that he's letting Grace into this space, sharing his culture, his history, his home.
"Take long time think"
The final sequence of the movie jumps forward in time. We see Grace living on Erid in a beautiful biodome that the Eridian scientists have built for him. This is the scene where Rocky visits Grace with important news that the Eridian scientists have found a way to send Grace back to Earth if he wants to go home.
They walk together to Grace's simulated beach and sit together by the water. Finally Grace says: "Can I think about it?" And Rocky tells him to "take long time think" so Grace stays longer.
Well be rewatching this for the beauty of the moment and the tenderness of the emotional beat.
Rocky rescues Grace
During that Adrian sample collection sequence, a fuel leak causes the Hail Mary to spin violently out of control. The centrifugal force crushes Grace against the control panel. He can't breathe. He's losing consciousness and he's going to die.
Then Rocky breaks out of his ball into Grace's oxygen atmosphere that causes Rocky's internal furnace to combust and mercury starts leaking from his crevices as the burns spread across his body. But he hits the right controls, ejects the damaged fuel tank and drags Grace's unconscious body to the medbay where the automated systems can help him, all while burning himself.
Finally Rocky drags himself back to his tunnel section before collapsing. The whole sequence is mostly silent. Just the sounds of Rocky's movements, his crashes, the damage being done to his body. It's terrifying and heartbreaking. I've already cried through this scene multiple times in theaters. I know I'll be crying again on every rewatch.
Rocky and Grace's second hug
This moment comes days after the rescue. Grace has been working nonstop on breeding the Taumoeba while Rocky recovers, terrified the entire time that his friend won't wake up. He's been checking on Rocky constantly, knocking on the wall, getting no response.
Then finally, Rocky wakes up when Grace has fallen asleep beside one of his glass tunnels.
Grace, when he realizes this as he wakes, just wordlessly hugs Rocky's ball, crying with relief. And this time, Rocky knows what a hug is and immediately presses himself against the xenonite barrier as hard as he can, pushing up, trying to get as close to Grace as possible through the wall. It's one of my absolute favorite scenes in the movie.
Finding Rocky alive on the Blip A
This is the final act. After Grace is supposedly heading back to Earth, he wakes up to discover that the Taumoeba have adapted and eaten through their xenonite containers. If they can do that on Rocky's ship too which is entirely made of xenonite, they'll consume all his fuel and Rocky will be stranded in space and will die a slow, painful death. Alone.
Grace faces an impossible choice. He can continue to Earth and save himself, or he can turn around to save Rocky, knowing it means giving up any chance of going home.
We all know what he chooses. Grace turns his ship around. He uses his remaining fuel to find Rocky's last known coordinates instead of returning to Earth. He sends the Taumoeba samples back to Earth in four probes named John, Paul, George and Ringo, his gift to humanity from across the stars.
When he reaches the Blip-A's location after days of counting down, the ship is exactly as he feared, dead in space. But Grace doesn't know if Rocky survived. There are no signals from the ship. No sounds and no lights.
He has to board the Blip-A tunnel himself and he bangs on the wall that originally separated them. This sequence is almost completely silent. And finally we, see as Grace does, the fragment of movement when Rocky appears at the other end of the tunnel approaching toward the xenonite panel and we feel, just as Grace does, the feeling of relief, triumph, joy at seeing his friend alive and that it had not all been for nothing. This is, by all means, the most beautiful reconciliation in the most beautiful story.
I'll be pausing and rewinding all of these moments, probably crying into my couch cushions because that's what this movie does. There are so many reasons to rewatch Project Hail Mary and we know we'll keep coming back to it, time and time again.
Project Hail Mary is available to buy on Prime Video, Fandango at Home, YouTube, Apple TV, and Google Play Movies.
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