Hollywood’s prayers have been answered by Project Hail Mary – a tale of interstellar high jinks and alien friendship starring a never-more-charming Ryan Gosling and which has become the biggest box office debut of the year so far. It is a reminder that few genres are more awe-inducing than science fiction that focuses on the literal nuts and bolts of putting people in space and which sets out to deliver zero-G thrills with at least a degree of realism.
These films lean into the scientific aspects of space exploration, while the more fantastical likes of Star Wars or Star Trek handwave them away and reach for their lightsabers and transporter beams. That commitment to authenticity makes for riveting viewing, as the following countdown of the best space movies ever demonstrates.
12. Ad Astra (2019)
Brad Pitt’s charm lifts a slow-paced tale of an astronaut searching for his father in deep space (Photo: Francois Duhamel/ 20th Century Fox / AP)
Brad Pitt’s movie-star charm puts the rocket boosters under the slow-paced tale of an astronaut who heads into deep space in search of his missing father. On his journey from Earth to Neptune, Roy (Pitt) is exposed to the wonders but also the horrors of the cosmos – including Mad Max-style raiders on the Moon and, further out, an angry space baboon. That makes Ad Astra sound like Brad Pitt-does-Star Wars. But this is, in fact, an elegiac movie, full of wonder and grounded by a sombre central turn by Pitt. It also goes nicely OTT in the final face-off when Pitt’s character tracks down his dad – also an astronaut and played with bug-eyed zeal by Tommy Lee Jones.
