Project Hail Mary (2026) directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Middle school science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up on board a space ship with no recollection of why he is there. His memories slowly come back as he explores the ship and discovers its mission. Three astronauts have been sent to a star eleven light years away to see why it is not being devoured by Astrophage, a strange biological substance that is slowly destroying all the stars in Earth's immediate (so to speak) vicinity. The other two astronauts have died in cryosleep, leaving him alone. By the time he gets to the destination, he's recovered a lot, but not all, of his memories. He also discovers another ship from another planet with another sentient being on it. They make contact and work out a way to communicate, which lets them work together on the problem that may save both their home systems.
The movie is based on a book by the author of The Martian, so it has enough scientific street cred to be plausible. Even so, the science is the least interesting part of the story. Gosling's solid performance holds things together. His character's human interest story is more compelling than the science disaster back home. The script injects a lot of humor to balance out the drama which often threatens to get excruciatingly sad and bleak. The slow reveal of Grace's backstory benefits from this too.
Recommended.
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