Project Hail Mary

Drew Goddard, who previously adapted Andy Weir's The Martian to the big screen, adapts Weir's novel Project Hail Mary which stars Ryan Gosling as an outspoken, but reluctant, scientist who is Earth's last hope for survival. The film plays on many of the same themes of The Martian with our protagonist working out seemingly impossible problems lightyears from home while delving further out of hard science and into science fiction as Ryland Grace (Gosling) finds help in the most unexpected place.

As the film opens, a confused Grace emerges from suspended animation to have no clue who he is or where he's going. The short-term amnesia, which we later learn is a possible byproduct of the suspended animation, works as a framing device where we are given increasingly large glimpses into his past filling in his story. It's a bit unclear whether we learn at the same rate Grace remembers, but at some point he knows enough to attempt to complete his mission.

Unlike The Martian where we see a team at NASA working together to help bring the astronaut home, here we only get other humans in the flashback sequences. In the present, Grace is alone in the vastness of space to solve the problem of microbes slowly destroying the Earth's sun. Looking at the wider galaxy, scientists can see the same effect on other stars... except one. And that's where Grace is sent to solve the mystery of how to save Earth. And, it turns out, he's not the only one.

Grace's first contact relationship with the alien he dubs Rocky (voiced by James Ortiz) is central to the plot as the pair working together perform tasks neither could manage separately. In many ways, Grace begins to care as much about saving "Rocky" and his people as those on Earth. Of the human cast, Sandra Hüller is key to get Grace involved in the project, and there's a fun, if short, relationship with Lionel Boyce as the security guard sent to watch over him.

While I prefer The Martian, which has become one of my most rewatched movies in recent years, Project Hail Mary hits all the right notes. Gosling is well-cast to carry a film where he's the only actor on screen for long stretches of time (although I don't buy that none of the women would have hit on him at the training facility). Rocky is an intriguing alien both smarter that Grace but with less understanding in key aspects of the problem that provides the need for the collaboration. And the journey is a rousing one, even if it doesn't quite reach the emotional highs of The Martian.

• Title: Project Hail Mary
• IMDb: link