Project Hail Mary

Let me be clear: Project Hail Mary has no business being this good. The premise is ridiculous. A middle school science teacher wakes up alone on a spaceship, can't remember why he's there, and has to save humanity from an alien microorganism eating the sun. That's the kind of elevator pitch that gets you laughed out of a studio meeting. But Andy Weir wrote it, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller directed it, and Ryan Gosling decided this was the role where he'd actually try. The result is a two-hour masterclass in making nerds cry.

Gosling carries this movie on his back, and he makes it look effortless. The amnesia structure could have been gimmicky, but it works because Gosling plays Ryland Grace as a man rediscovering his own competence, and every eureka moment lands with genuine emotion. The real magic is the relationship with Rocky, the alien from 40 Eridani. An extraterrestrial that communicates through musical chords, built entirely with practical effects and puppetry, and you will care about this space spider more than most human characters in cinema this decade. That's either a testament to brilliant filmmaking or an indictment of every other movie. Probably both.

The science is mostly real, the pacing is near-perfect, and the emotional payoff in the final act is devastating in the best possible way. Where it stumbles is the Earth flashback sequences, which feel like a different, less interesting movie compared to the space stuff. Sandra Huller does what she can with the mission commander role, but the script doesn't give her enough to work with. Still, when a movie's biggest flaw is that some scenes are merely good instead of extraordinary, you're splitting hairs. This is the best sci-fi film since Arrival, and I don't say that lightly.