If you’ve ever read or watched The Martian and thoroughly enjoyed it, then I know that you’ll adore Andy Weir’s newest film adaptation of his novel Project Hail Mary. It’s been receiving nothing but positive reviews from people who have gone to early screenings. It even got a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it Ryan Gosling’s highest-rated movie! (For comparison, La La Land has a 91% Rotten Tomato Score! Wild).
This will be a vaguely spoiler-free summary with some of my thoughts on how I think the film will adapt the main themes. I’ll try to only cover things that have already been shown in trailers and clips, but you should seriously consider reading the book, too.
The overarching plot of Project Hail Mary revolves around the fact that the sun and almost every surrounding star is dying. A new alien microbe is consuming the sun’s energy to reproduce, as every lifeform does. However, an energy-less sun means a heat-less sun, and that means Earth is in trouble. Without the heat and light energy from the sun, Earth cannot sustain itself; crops will die, temperatures will drop, and the Earth will freeze over.
The only star that seems not to have this problem is the star in the Tau Ceti system, about 12 light-years away from Earth. So, through a whole bunch of plot that would definitely classify as a spoiler, a schoolteacher with a doctorate in molecular biology, Dr. Ryland Grace, ends up on the globally funded mission to find out why Tau Ceti is resistant, and to send that information home. He’s not the only one there, of course, which is where everyone’s favorite alien, Rocky, comes in. Rocky’s planet also has this problem, and, similar to Grace, has been sent on a mission to figure out why his own planet is dying and how to fix it.
The main thing about Project Hail Mary that draws everyone in is the introduction of this alien, of course. I originally thought they’d save that surprise for the movie by not including him in the trailers, but I get why they did. After all, the novel takes a wildly different approach to the standard first-contact trope. In most movies, such as Alien and Arrival, extraterrestrial encounters go very poorly or are characterized by seemingly instinctual violence. Project Hail Mary spins that trope on its head and wonders, “What if aliens are just as curious and prone to problem-solving as humans?”
I think Rocky is the real star of the show in the book. Obviously, we relate more to Grace, the humans, and the Earth problem, but Rocky is just as fascinating a character as any human. He’s uncannily smart, even being described by Grace as potentially smarter than the smartest human on Earth, but he’s still a person above all. This point is really hammered home time and time again. Yes, there are certainly parts of Rocky’s personality and culture that are wildly different from humanity’s. But Rocky is also sarcastic, feels fear and wonder, expresses joy and anger, and is just trying to save the people and planet he loves. His lack of anthropomorphism (really, if anything, he kind of proves the validity of carcinization) doesn’t stop him from being less of a person compared to Grace.
These two go through a lot together. The first main hurdle in the story is communication, considering Rocky only speaks in music notes and chords (like a whale, really), but once they’re past that, the two geniuses work together to help each other save their home planets. Grace and Rocky become the best of friends, and they don’t let that communication hurdle get in the way of navigating through their problems. They laugh together, they cry together, and really, I did all of that too when reading this book.
If the movie is going to be anything like the book, it won’t be afraid to show the ramifications of everyone’s actions, both big and small. There are some things I hope they expand on, such as Grace’s emotional state, considering him being 12 light-years away from Earth, or Eva Stratt’s calculated but really, really callous decisions (if you do read the book or watch the movie, you’ll know exactly what I mean). I would really like to see Rocky’s culture expanded upon as much as possible, and how Grace really connects to the kids he teaches and sees them as basically his own. But, most of all, I want to see a beautiful friendship grow in the face of seemingly certain doom, and I don’t want Grace or Rocky to be afraid to talk about that. That was one of the tipping points for me when I first read the book, and I just know they’ll do it justice in the movie adaptation.
They’ve already got a stamp of approval from this film lover simply through their use of practical effects. It’s been praised for having absolutely no green screen (it’s very different from CGI and VFX, which they used a lot of; I don’t think they’d send someone into literal space just to film a movie). Every single shot you see inside the spaceship was practically built, as well as Grace’s EVA spacesuit. In fact, the directors and creatives behind the set and costume design teams stayed in close contact with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in order to make sure everything was as accurate as possible (Adam Savage, a former host of Mythbusters, got to look at the suit a little while ago, and he was amazed at the detail!). Even the Rocky in the movie was real — he’s a puppet! As someone who’s always campaigning for more practical effects in movies, this bit of knowledge cements that I’ll thoroughly enjoy watching this film for the (at least) four times I plan on seeing it.
If nothing I’ve said convinces you to see Project Hail Mary this weekend, I really don’t know what will. It’s a fantastic book filled with heartwarming scenes, devastating events, and just great humor overall. Andy Weir’s previous adaptation of The Martian ended up being one of the greatest sci-fi films of its time for these same reasons, and that’s more than enough for me to see it. I hope you want to watch it now, too. And, if you’ve got a few hours to spare some time beforehand, pick up the book! It’s a great read that I just know will turn into just as great a film.
Project Hail Mary premieres Friday, March 20th (and it has some awesome popcorn buckets depending on the theater you go to). I’ll be seeing it on Saturday evening, and I hope you’ll be able to see it, too!