Ryan Gosling stars as Ryland Grace, a middle-school science teacher and brilliant molecular biologist recruited by Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller), the head of an international task force. Their mission: stop a mysterious organism called Astrophage — literally, a ‘star eater’ — from consuming the Sun and plunging Earth into catastrophe.

Ryland awakens from stasis aboard the spaceship Hail Mary, the sole survivor of a desperate deep-space expedition to find a solution to the Astrophage problem. He has no memory of who he is or why he’s there. As his memories gradually return, so too does the sobering truth: he may be humanity’s last hope. Fortunately, he’s not alone. Deep in space, Ryland encounters an alien traveller he dubs Rocky (James Ortiz) — so named for his rock-like appearance — and strikes up an unlikely friendship with him.

Early in his career, Gosling was famous for playing psychologically tortured souls, but he has intentionally steered away from — or at least, become more selective about — darker roles since having children with his wife, Eva Mendes.

“I don’t really take roles that are going to put me in some kind of dark place,” he told Rolling Stone. True to form, Ryland is an instantly likeable hero, a guy whose quick-witted problem-solving saves the day, and who never loses his sense of humour, even in the direst straits.

Gosling, who pulls double duty here as a producer, is undeniably charming, but Rocky is the movie’s secret weapon. The alien, who is also on a mission to save his home planet, Erid, from the Astrophage, does not resemble anything like the menacing predators from Alien or the adorable extraterrestrial from Lilo & Stitch. With five spider-like limbs and no discernible face, he’s strange to look at — but it doesn’t take long for the audience to completely fall in love with him and root for his partnership with Ryland.

“It’s the way he moves, [puppeteer and voice actor] James Ortiz’s personality, all of that stuff that makes him so appealing,” co-director Christopher Miller told Rolling Stone. “He doesn’t look conventionally cute, but he worms his way into your heart.”

Part of what makes Rocky feel so alive is that Ortiz performed the character live on set. Rather than acting opposite a tennis ball on a stick, Gosling was able to interact with an actual performer. The technique recalls iconic screen creations like ET and Yoda, proving that old-school movie magic still works.

That hands-on approach extends throughout the production. “There is no green screen in the movie whatsoever,” Miller told ComicBook.com. The Hail Mary spacecraft was built as a practical set, while sections of its exterior were physically constructed as well. While Project Hail Mary certainly uses CGI, the digital effects feel grounded because the physical foundation is so real. In an age when many big-budget effects-heavy blockbusters can seem weightless and synthetic, Project Hail Mary’s tactility sets it apart.

The film’s warmth also shines through in Daniel Pemberton’s dynamic, rousing score. Wanting to emphasise Ryland’s ties to the people back on Earth, the composer incorporated human voices throughout the soundtrack, including a children’s choir that echoes the teacher’s bond with his students. Even some of the percussion was created using the choir’s stomps and claps.

Project Hail Mary is thrilling, emotional, funny, and, most of all, hopeful. At its core, it is a story about friendship and the belief that people (and even aliens!) can achieve remarkable things when they work together. It’s a movie that will make you feel that maybe Earth, and our collective future on this planet, is worth fighting for after all.