Ryan Gosling Rocks in Project Hail Mary

Gosling and an Unlikely Alley Try to Save the Galaxy

Author Andy Weir certainly knows how to write "unlucky man trapped in space" novels. Following the success of The Martian, Weir penned Project Hail Mary, which is so close in concept to The Martian, it could almost be considered a sequel. Instead of Matt Damon being trapped on the planet Mars, Project Hail Mary sends Ryan Gosling hurtling toward the deepest reaches of the universe. Even if the premise sounds familiar, Project Hail Mary has enough going for it that it stands toe-to-toe with its forebearer, even beating it in some ways.

Ryland Grace wakes up from a coma on an unknown spaceship. Having suffered amnesia from the lengthily flight, he has no idea where he is or how he's gotten there. The only thing he can surmise is that he is the only living person aboard this ship and he must find a way to survive. Through a series of flashbacks (presumably what Grace is remembering), he was previously a middle school science teacher and a former molecular biologist. He once wrote a study that was dismissed by his peers, but has caught the attention of government agent Eva Stratt (Sandra Huller).

Stratt needs all the best minds she can find because our Sun is dying. There's an infrared line from the Sun to Venus that's known as the Petrova line. That line is actually a microorganism known as Astrophage, and this organism is eating our star. Even in a short period of time, Earth will start a catastrophic global cooling that could destroy the entire planet.