Is It Better If You Don't Read?

            Project Hail Mary is an apocalyptic story for our planet, but it focuses mostly on one man. Ryland Grace, who wakes up in space with severe memory loss. Initially, he is unsure of where he is, and once he figures out he is in a spaceship, he is unsure of why he is there. Eventually pieces of the story slowly start to fall into place in his head. He is on a mission to save Earth, not because there is an imminent threat on his planet, but there is an imminent threat to the sun.

            There is a tiny organism called astrophage, and it is bouncing back and forth between the sun and Venus. It uses Venus to reproduce, then the new astrophage go back to the sun, and they are zapping its energy, and in a few decades, the sun is going to lose enough power so that earth will start to freeze causing an event that will wipe out a large swath of Earth’s population.

            However after looking out in the vast universe, they discover a planet that has potentially been able to fend off astrophage, so in a rare moment of unity, Earth bands together under the leadership of Stratt, and they create a spaceship capable of interstellar travel, so that a group of scientists can go and hopefully get a solution to their problem. Ryland Grace was not initially intended to be one of these scientists, but after continually proving his worth, he ends up on the ship, and he has a chance to save Earth.

            Ultimately, this is a story of friendship and sacrifice (although sometimes the sacrifice was forced). There is a long build up to get to the interstellar friendship between Rocky and Grace, but it is really the heartbeat of the movie. They are just two bros out trying to save their worlds, but that does not stop them from making plenty of jabs at each other. This movie is honestly a lot funnier than most contemporary comedies are. This does make sense, because the directors of this movie also did 21 and 22 Jump Street Gosling’s chemistry with a rock is honestly amazing. I do not know what they used as the stand in for Rocky, but it is very impressive how well acted it is. They create a potent emotion from their relationship, and it choked me up a couple of times.

            As for the sacrifice, it becomes clear towards the end of the movie that Grace’s sacrifice was not of his own volition. He was forced onto this death mission. Then due to his relationship with Rocky, he is willing to make some sacrifices. He cancels his potential trip home, so that he can go save Rocky and make sure that Rocky makes it home. He also is very attentive to Rocky and his needs. Rocky also makes sacrifices for Grace, when their ship is being pulled by the gravity of Adrian, Rocky breaks out of his container to steer the ship to safety, even though it results in him seriously getting injured.

            The use of Ryan Gosling is an interesting one. He is a star undoubtedly, but this a tough role for him, he has to play a scientist, and let’s be honest, he is just Ken. There are times it feels like he just does not fit the roll exactly. This changes the tone of the movie. As mentioned, it takes a very comedic turn, which is fine, but in a movie that is about saving the world, there also need to be moments of stress and tension, and for the most part this gets glossed over, except in the escape from Adrian scene. On Letterboxd, I wrote that they exchange science for comedy, which works for it and against it at times. It makes it more palatable for a general audience.

            As a book reader, I had the comparison, and there was some minor changes that I felt did not matter, but there were some larger changes too. The largest change to me came from the glossing over of the taumoeba disaster. In the book, it is a huge deal that the taumoeba escapes. It gets into the fuel lines, and basically the whole system needs to be cleaned. It works almost as a second climax. Like this world saving solution came with some serious problems aboard their ship, and it is basically skipped over for the sake of getting to the conclusion faster, and I almost never wish a movie is longer, but an extra ten minutes could have helped this movie out. Also there is zero chance book Strat would have sung karaoke.

One movie that I constantly thought about while reading (and now watching) Project Hail Mary is Arrival. This is another Sci-Fi masterpiece by Denis Villeneuve. It stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, and it is about a linguist meeting with aliens on their ship, and they had to figure out how to communicate with them. Adams’s character is a linguist, so that is why she is called upon, so they take the time to dissect their written language, so they can communicate.

            The similarities go beyond just that. Just like Rocky, these aliens are in a shape similar to that of a hand, and they have no discernable eyes. Also, when Adams’s character is brought upon the ship, there is a barrier between them. Now there is no elaborate explanation for this like in Hail Mary, but it can be assumed that it is for a similar reason. The aliens need to be contained in an atmosphere that is composed of different gases, and they also probably do best in a different temperature. The biggest difference is that Arrival takes place on Earth, and Hail Mary takes place in space. This leads to a more amicable feeling from the start, because if a ship lands on our home, this could feel more hostile.

            The visuals in this movie were solid, thankfully. In a world of ever-present crappy CGI, I am now always worried especially in a movie so heavily in space that it is going to look awful. Interstellar is clearly the gold standard. Everything in that movie looks real, and although this movie does not quite reach those heights, it still does an amazing job. The planets looked awesome. Adrian with its two gases converging at a middle line, and then they showed the planet that Rocky lived on, which also was incredible with its vertical rings. I love seeing planets in space movies!

            Overall, this was a great movie. I really think reading the book before seeing the movie hurt my experience, because I was thinking about it the whole time I was watching. It was two and a half hours, and I did not feel its run time, which is great, because once a movie is over two hours, I get really antsy. This never gave me that feeling. I did check my watch once just for pacing purposes, and it was about where I expected it to be. I do not know if Gosling was the best choice, because he was so goofy, but I do not have a better choice off the top of my head. I would recommend watching the movie, and I have it ranked number one for the year right now. Although, Bone Temple is probably interchangeable with this. I also recommend reading the book, especially if you love science and physics. Movie 4 stars. Book 3.5 Stars.