‘Project Hail Mary’ review: Ryan Gosling is a wise-cracking hero in Lord and Miller’s irreverent sci-fi

Dirs: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller. US. 2026. 156mins

Earth’s fate is in the hands of a sarcastic science teacher in Project Hail Mary, an entertaining sci-fi adventure with a cosmic scope and an impish sense of humour. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who previously helmed the action-comedies The Lego Movie and the 21 Jump Street franchise, marry their irreverent spirit to a dire story in which a lone astronaut light years from home teams up with an extra-terrestrial to investigate the reasons their respective suns are dying. The tonal balance between life-and-death stakes and buddy-comedy bonding is sometimes wobbly, but Ryan Gosling gives an open-hearted performance as our planet’s unlikely saviour.

 A cosmic scope and an impish sense of humour

Project Hail Mary opens in the UK and US on March 20, representing Lord and Miller’s first feature since their dismissal from 2018’s commercial and critical disappointment Solo: A Star Wars Story ($393 million worldwide). The new film is based on a novel by Andy Weir, whose book The Martian was turned into the 2015 Oscar-nominated hit starring Matt Damon ($631 million). Expect Gosling’s marquee value and buzzy word-of-mouth to propel this crowd-pleasing spectacle.

Grace (Gosling) wakes up in a daze, discovering that he’s alone on a spaceship somewhere in the universe – although he’s not sure why. Slowly, he realises he’s emerged from a medically-induced coma to assist in a mission dubbed ’Project Hail Mary’, which has traveled to a distant planet to determine the origins of a mysterious lifeform that is killing suns across the galaxy. With the other two crew members dead, Grace finds an unexpected companion in Rocky (voiced by puppeteer James Ortiz), an alien who is similarly alone on his own ship trying to save his solar system’s sun.

The film follows in the footsteps of Lord and Miller’s previous projects, which brought fresh approaches to familiar genres. Project Hail Mary boasts the grandeur and hard-science-fiction authenticity of 2001: A Space Odyssey or Sunshine – except with far more jokes. Gosling embodies that smart-aleck spirit, playing Grace as a shrewd mind who hides behind one-liners to deflect from the fact that his personal life is a mess and that, back on Earth, his controversial scientific opinions had turned him into a professional laughing stock.

In flashbacks that pop up throughout the film, we watch Grace being recruited by project manager Eva (an excellent Sandra Huller), who explains that Earth’s population will be reduced by a fourth in 30 years unless he deduces why the sun is dying. Certainly, that’s a serious matter, but Grace responds to the grim scenario with a perpetual smirk, creating a humorous contrast with the unsmiling Eva.

In the picture’s early stretches, however, Gosling overdoes his character’s flippancy. The flashbacks find him being a bit too jokey, while in the present-day sequences Grace comes across as far too frivolous considering the gravity of the situation. Project Hail Mary initially establishes Grace as a screw-up so we will be more taken by his maturation during this harrowing adventure, and Gosling acquits himself nicely once the reluctant astronaut rises to the occasion.

The screenplay by Drew Goddard (who also adapted The Martian) hits its stride after Grace makes contact with a strange extra-terrestrial made of rock — hence, Grace’s nicknaming him Rocky. Developing a friendship while also fashioning a shared language, Grace and Rocky are the latest example of Lord and Miller bringing together two very different individuals who eventually become close. (Think of 21 Jump Street’s jock and nerd, and Solo’s meet-cute between Han Solo and Chewbacca.)

Creature effects supervisor Neil Scanlan incorporates both puppetry and animatronics to bring Rocky to life, and the result is the finest special effect in a film filled with ace digital trickery. Rocky is occasionally portrayed a little too adorably — he’s like a cute talking pet who has trouble with human slang — but the characters’ growing affection is touchingly and amusingly rendered, leading to some of the script’s most emotional moments.

Also screening in IMAX, the film is beautifully photographed by Oscar-winning Dune cinematographer Greig Fraser, who emphasises the wonder and terror of space along with the clattering emptiness of Grace’s ship. Composer Daniel Pemberton utilises soaring orchestras and heavenly choral groups, although he switches gears later during a masterfully tense sequence in which Grace and Rocky execute a daring plan to save their home worlds. Lord and Miller confidently pay homage to the solemnity of sci-fi cinema’s towering achievements but they insist that, even in such a dramatic setting, humans and aliens alike need to feel joy to truly be alive.