Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary is basically Ryan Gosling, a giant alien rock and a whole lot of science, and somehow it's one of the most enjoyable sci fi films I've seen this year.

The biggest surprise for me was Rocky. I genuinely wasn't expecting him to be the standout character, but he absolutely is. When he first turns up, you're just thinking, what is this? He's basically a massive alien rock monster, and yet within about five minutes you're completely invested in him.

The relationship between Rocky and Ryland Grace is easily the best part of the film. It starts with them trying to figure out how they're going to communicate with each other, and gradually turns into this brilliant friendship between two completely different species.

Ryan Gosling is also ridiculously likeable in this. He's got that ability to make a character funny without trying too hard, which works perfectly here because there's a lot of humour throughout the film.

The science could have been a massive problem for me as well because I'm not exactly sitting there wanting a two and a half hour physics lesson. But the film handles it really well. There's enough science behind everything that it feels like the characters are actually following rules, rather than just doing whatever the story needs them to do and if you don't care about any of that, it still works. You can completely ignore the science and just watch a bloke and his alien rock mate trying to save the world.

I also really liked how original it felt. It doesn't feel like it's trying to be another massive superhero franchise or another Star Wars type film. It's just its own thing.

There isn't loads more I can say without getting into spoilers, but Project Hail Mary genuinely surprised me with how much I enjoyed it. It's funny, it's exciting, it's got great characters, the science actually works without becoming unbearable and, most importantly, it never feels like a two and a half hour film.

Rocky is brilliant. Ryan Gosling is brilliant. The two of them together are even better.

Project Hail Mary is one of those films where you finish it and immediately think "I could watch that again"