With ‘Project Hail Mary,’ Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller Blast Off

“Project Hail Mary” is such an accomplishment, such an overwhelming, often dazzling thriller full of emotion and heart and some really good jokes, that it’s easy to forget that this is the first feature Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have directed since 2014 — when “The LEGO Movie” and “22 Jump Street” were both released in the same calendar year and smashed audience expectations for entirely different reasons.

They were attached to the “Star Wars” movie “Solo” but after reaching a creative logjam during production...