When Ridley Scott’s adaptation of Andy Weir’s The Martian came out in 2015, it proved that sci-fi movies about survival in space could be both thrilling and humane.
Cut to 2026, Weir teamed up with Phil Lord and Chris Miller for Project Hail Mary — an out-of-this-world tale that holds on to that same beating heart, with Ryan Gosling steering an intimate journey through space, which hits all the right notes.
Gosling plays Ryland Grace, a middle-school science teacher who wakes up alone aboard a spacecraft with no memory of how he got there or why. As fragments of his past begin to return, the film shifts between timelines, gradually revealing the crisis at hand: The sun is dying due to a spacefaring alien that feeds on stellar energy, posing a threat of extinction to Earth. And Grace might be humanity's last, albeit desperate chance at survival.
Leading a planet-saving mission is Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller), a reticent, often pragmatic government official putting together a team of astronauts and scientists to save humanity. Although unplanned, Gosling’s Grace is one of them.
If this premise sounds like one of those movies that will throw a bunch of science-heavy terms on you, then you're wrong.
Despite having scientific jargon, Project Hail Mary ensures that each concept is explained lucidly. Kind of like Gosling in his teaching days on Earth when he would break down terms for his students with a glimmer in his eyes.
Whether it's decoding the components in the alien microorganism called Astrophage, running high-risk experiments or going to lengths to stay alive in space, the narrative relies on a lay-man approach to science rather than overtly technical.
What anchors the story is not the science but the beauty behind the unlikely friendship between Grace and Rocky — an alien from a distant planet named Erid, who, like Grace, is also on a mission to save his planet.
With their crewmates dead, the duo is left to fend for each other, surprisingly finding aid, solace and companionship in the middle of the void.
Grace and Rocky’s unexpected friendship becomes the light at the end of the tunnel. Or in this case, the end of the universe. Having no friends or immediate family, Grace was considered as the perfect subject for this mission that lacked sufficient fuel to make a round trip back to earth. Hailing from such a life where he would otherwise be termed a “failure”, Grace finds his greatest achievement in the middle of nowhere in space — an ally who calls him the “bravest” human ever after going through thick and thin together.
Gosling is pitch-perfect here. He brings his signature charm to Grace, imbued with a raw vulnerability that depicts the character not as a conventional hero who saves the world but as an ordinary man thrust into an extraordinary situation. Whether it's the shine in his eyes in moments of recovering hope, the ear-to-ear grin while teaching Rocky to fist-bump and hug, or the quick wit in times of extreme danger, Gosling ensures that the film never loses its emotional grounding.
Not just Gosling, Sandra Hüller, who broke audiences with her riveting performance in Anatomy of a Fall, plays her part of a lone woman trying to save the earth with a vulnerability that cracks through her pragmatism. .
In one key moment, Hüller grabs the mic and belts out a rendition of Harry Styles’ Sign of the Times in front of her peers to unwind ahead of the stressful time. She just never misses the mark.
Project Hail Mary maintains a fine line between wonder and desperation.
Lord and Miller have infused the narrative with ample moments of levity to let it breathe. Be it Grace re-living a slice of Earth with Rocky through LED screens inside his spaceship or the duo trying to learn about each other's planets, it's a delight to watch the optimism unfold even in such dire circumstances.
More than saving the world, Project Hail Mary is about saving the part that makes us human. Even in space where it brims with nothingness, a human craves connection in a being that isn’t human at all.
Gosling’s existential dread finds a hopeful translation in the film that proves friendship knows no boundaries. Unlike the bleakness that usually comes with this genre, it offers a beautiful reminder that there is hope if one has the right heart.