Ryan Gosling stars as Dr Ryland Grace, a brilliant molecular biologist turned high school science teacher, who wakes up from a coma on a spacecraft with no memory of his mission. The rest of the crew are dead, and Grace must figure out how to save Earth from alien microbes that are dimming the sun. Gosling’s seductive, unruffled humour keeps the film watchable, despite its moments of dullness and puppyish silliness.
Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, known for their comedy track record, the film adapts Andy Weir’s sci-fi bestseller. Weir also wrote The Martian, and this film shares its cheerful, breezy tone and commitment to unseriousness. The plot centres on Grace’s bromance with a friendly spider-shaped alien named Rocky, who communicates in simple phrases like “Rocky fix” and “Rocky help”.
Flashbacks show Grace being recruited by German technocrat Eva Stratt, played by Sandra Hüller, for the last-ditch Project Hail Mary mission. However, these memory sequences feel disconnected from the main action. The film avoids the awe of Interstellar but includes classic sci-fi tropes like vast spacecraft tunnels and legacy pop music.
The ending, before the credits, feels like a kids’ TV show, undermining any seriousness. Overall, Gosling’s charisma makes this a watchable but silly space adventure.
