Starring and co-produced by Ryan Gosling, Project Hail Mary follows Dr Ryland Grace, a school science teacher who wakes up on a spaceship with no memory of who he is or why he’s there. While deducing his mission and uncovering his path to space, Grace discovers something truly unusual—he’s not alone in outer space.

To Grace’s surprise, another lonely sojourner is on the same mission as him. Slowly and carefully, Grace and the alien, who Grace names Rocky (puppeteered and voiced by James Ortiz) due to its appearance, learn to communicate and hatch a plan to solve their mutual conundrum.

As Grace and Rocky work the problem, Grace slowly begins to recall his time on Earth and the circumstances that led him to being in space.

Project Hail Mary felt like a mix of Interstellar and Sunshine without the family dynamics of the former or the horror of the latter. In fact, the score by Daniel Pemberton—who reunited with Lord/Miller from their collaborations on the Spider-Verse films—often echoed Hans Zimmer’s score for Nolan’s space film, down to the drowning out of dialogue that is so reminiscent of Zimmer-Nolan collabs.

I was not prepared for the amount of dry and wry humour in this film. There were so many laugh-out-loud moments and it was great to experience it in a large theatre full of people. The humour definitely clicked and I found it incredibly fun to laugh with everyone around me.

Gosling brings a combination of physical and facial comedy that I quite enjoyed. Except for one needlessly gross scene where I had to close my eyes, the film was largely PG. I was surprised by how much fun Gosling brought to his role. He also emits the most hilarious high-pitched scream known to humankind, and I could have definitely done with more of that.

It helps that Gosling had plenty of chemistry with Sandra Hüller (Oscar nominee for Anatomy of a Fall) and Lionel Boyce (everyone’s favourite pastry chef, Marcus, on The Bear). Both Hüller and Boyce are delightfully deadpan when delivering their humour and that caused many hearty guffaws from the audience.

Considering Project Hail Mary is set in space, we have to talk about the special effects. I love space and I’m more than happy to watch even the silliest film if it has a space setting. Fortunately, this film isn’t silly but it certainly has beautiful space shots. 

There’s a majesty and horror to the space walk scenes that I found riveting. Surrounded by the stars, Grace is barely a speck in a vast universe that is ready to swallow him up. Yet, the grandeur of being a tiny morsel amongst infinite stars wasn’t lost on Grace, nor on me.

But there’s one scene later in the film that had me truly marveling at the beauty of VFX and the infinite galaxy we have yet to explore. I love that the film takes the time to stop and bask in the grandeur. It’s a feat of computer engineering to make such scenes work; why not glory in that triumph?

This film works because of some excellent acting by Ryan Gosling. He really has become a strong presence on screen since appearing in Barbie. I wasn’t at all impressed with his earlier work, where I felt he was often wooden and monotone. But here he plays a kind and funny character; an everyday guy happy to meet someone in such unusual circumstances. Kudos to him for conjuring chemistry with a puppet because it was surprisingly believable. His reactions to Rocky and their interactions felt real and organic. Great work by Gosling and Ortiz to create that believable dynamic; without it, this film would have fallen flat. 

Speaking of, the creature effects and puppetry by Neal Scanlan and James Ortiz were excellent. I straight up forgot that Rocky wasn’t real. He was as real as Gosling almost immediately after he was revealed to the audience. And Ortiz does an excellent job with his voice; he sounds natural and cocky, and he matches the dry humour of the film to perfection. The perfect partner to Gosling, tonally and physically.

I enjoyed so much of Project Hail Mary but I did find it slow at times. Considering the film was nearly two and a half hours long, some sections could have been sped up. We didn’t need to spend quite as much time in the lead up to Grace meeting Rocky. We get plenty of Grace’s personality following the meeting.

I also found the story beats to be predictable. Now, I understand that the film couldn’t have changed much from the book so I can’t really blame it (I haven’t read that book), but the ending could be seen a mile away. Not that it wasn’t fun, but I was hoping for a surprise. 

On the other hand, the ‘All is lost’ moment—the turning point between Acts 2 and 3 where the protagonist is at their lowest—was extremely tense and well-paced. I found myself straining in my seat and clenching my fists. Only when things calmed down did I physically relax. Tension and drama? Check and check!

Having said that, I do wish there had been a strobe light warning because it’s quite a prolonged scene and people with sensitivity to strobe lights will find it uncomfortable to watch.

Alongside the pacing issues in Project Hail Mary, I would have liked to learn more about Grace’s feelings towards his fellow humans. He says he’s not brave; but where is that coming from? He marvels at his colleagues’ courage but precisely what does he think courage is?

I would have also liked to delve more into Grace’s feelings around isolation. He’s all alone on this spaceship in the middle of space, so far away from Earth. Yet he doesn’t seem as perturbed about this situation as one would expect him to be. Yes, he freaks out a bit but he calms down surprisingly quickly. Is this a man who prefers his own company? It would have been interesting to examine human isolation with a bit more nuance. 

If you love space, Project Hail Mary is not to be missed. It’s beautiful and majestic, but it’s also got a central character you can’t stop watching. 

Beyond the sights and sounds, what I loved about this film was the friendship between Grace and Rocky. Because that is what this film is really about–it isn’t just about space exploration or solving an alien mystery. It’s about two beings entrenched in loneliness finding each other and transcending barriers of culture and language to become friends. That is what I’m going to take away from Project Hail Mary more than anything else.