First-contact movies can be hit or miss; for every Close Encounters of the Third Kind, you have a Life. How do you balance wonder and awe with the realistic relationship one may have with an alien? If there is anyone I would like to be our representative to meet aliens for the first time, Ryan Gosling would certainly be up there – what interstellar being would be able to resist his good looks and keen sense of humour?

Rest assured, then, that Project Hail Mary does not just get the tone, narrative, and visuals right, it knocks them out of this world. It is a thrilling sci-fi adventure that takes you on a journey and has you in the palm of its hand through a brilliant script, confident lead performance, and the cutest rock alien you could ever imagine.

Based on the best-selling novel by Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary opens with our reluctant hero, Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling, of Barbie), coming out of an induced coma, unsure of his surroundings and lacking memory. He is on a spaceship, hurtling toward another star system, with two dead crewmates on board. Through a non-linear narrative, Grace learns more about the predicament the Earth is in (tiny microbes are dimming the sun), and the project to solve this issue, led by Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller, of Anatomy of a Fall).

When arriving at a different solar system where the microbes (named ‘Astrophage’) do not seem to be dimming the star, Grace encounters a ship that looks very different from his. Upon meeting for the first time, Grace finds that the alien is a curious rock-like creature, and the two of them hit it off instantly. As communication grows, we discover that the alien (nicknamed Rocky) has a homeworld being dimmed by Astrophage too. Now together on a joint mission, the two of them search for the cure that will save both of their worlds for good.

Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who spent the 2010s revitalising dusty IPs such as Jump Street and The Lego Movie to great success and co-wrote & produced the outstanding Spiderverse movies, were surely the obvious choice to create a proper tongue-in-cheek crowdpleaser like this. It’s a story that plays to the sensibilities perfectly and a very smart career choice as they continue their skyrocketing career since they arrived on the scene with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The direction here is exquisite, with the pacing of the first act moving incredibly fast to make space for the second act relationship build between Grace and Rocky, which pays off with an emotional climax.

The choice to hire Greig Fraser as cinematographer, easily the most in-demand person in his role at the moment after shooting both Dune movies gorgeously, was a fantastic decision. The colours in Project Hail Mary are out of this world, especially when they reach the planet they name ‘Adrian’, with this unbelievable green colour that just pops on the IMAX screen. Daniel Pemberton as composer is another outstanding decision; the score he brings in is gorgeous, it really plays at your heartstrings in some scenes, whilst in others it heightens the comedy between Grace and Rocky.

The screenplay is adapted by Drew Goddard, who also adapted Andy Weir’s The Martian to great success. He manages to adapt a book that feels very science-y, but Goddard never feels like he’s dumbing the science down too much. It is a difficult narrative to get right, with the constant back and forth between the past and the present, building up Grace’s history throughout the story, making the climax even more impactful. Goddard also manages to make Eva Stratt more three-dimensional and human than she comes across in the book, which is also achieved through Hüller’s restrained performance.

Ryland Grace is a role that Gosling was born to play. It mirrors his own on-screen personality well, coming across as both smart and relatable, a coward but a hero, a curious cat and an adorable puppy. He hits all of the right notes and delivers every joke perfectly. It might be up there with one of his best-ever characters, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a fourth Oscar nomination come 2027. It is a role that doesn’t work unless he has someone to bounce it off, which is why the creative decision to make Rocky a puppet instead of CGI will go down as one of the smartest ideas of the year. It makes Rocky feel real, like he is right there in front of you, and the puppet master and voice actor James Ortiz does an unbelievable job of giving Rocky the perfect amount of personality for you to immediately fall in love with him.

Lord & Miller have created their best film of their career so far, a tour-de-force in crowd-pleasing cinema and one that will stand the test of time as one of the best first-contact films ever made. I am so excited to see what Lord & Miller decide to do next because they have a very good eye for action comedy that feels very Spielbergian.