This is a newer form of SF which seems to be emerging entirely under the pen of Andy Weir, who wrote the orginal novel. SF moves between trends, hard, inaccessible, softer, people based, space based etc. Now the trend is human led stories which happen in space. Project Hail Mary does that very well, taking something enormous and filtering it through someone who is, at least at the start, completely out of his depth, very human.

Ryland Grace, played by Ryan Gosling, wakes up alone on a spacecraft with no memory of how he got there. As things begin to return to him, so does the reality of the situation. Earth is in serious trouble, and this mission is already underway. He’s not preparing for it, he’s in it.

What could have tipped into something heavy is handled with a lighter touch. There’s humour throughout, and it’s great, lightly done and entirely appropriate, just enough to keep things moving and to keep you with him, relatable and fun. It feels closer in tone to The Martian at times, but without the same level of severity. There’s more uncertainty here, more visible strain.

Gosling is well cast. He plays Grace as intelligent but not instinctively heroic. There’s hesitation, a bit of panic, moments where the character is clearly scrambling to keep up with what’s expected of him. That’s what makes it believable, he shows true human failure.

And then the film shifts and the strange looking being you will have seen in the trailers appears, it moves from isolation into something more relational. That change is where it really finds its strength. It’s unexpected, slightly odd and genuinely engaging, exactly as it was in the book. What begins as a survival story becomes something more layered, built around connection rather than endurance alone. It’s a genuine pleasure to watch it unfold.

Visually, it does what you want it to do. Space feels expansive and remote, the ship feels contained and real and despite the high science involved, everything is clear enough that you’re not working to understand what’s happening. The science is present and important, but it never becomes inaccessible.

What stays with you isn’t just the scale of the threat, but the sense that it can be approached, worked through, even when it feels impossible. There’s a steadiness to that idea that runs through the film without pushing too hard it’s nicely paced.

It does run quite long, be prepared for that. There are moments where it leans into emotion and it brings greater weight to the whole film.

It’s a genuinely enjoyable film. Smart, engaging and carried by a performance which worked incredibly well. I took my 13 year-old who really enjoyed it too, so it’s appropriate for most over 12 in my opinion.