yuerstruly

About three months ago, I read Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary, intending to watch the movie with my cohort when it came out. I had no expectations going into the book because even though this read was a "recommendation," the merit of reading the book was more about the community I've stepped into and less about determining which authors could drive the next generation of science fiction (of which, Andy Weir is far from qualifying as a candidate, in my opinion). It should not be a surprise to anyone when I say the book was just okay, not groundbreaking, but still scratched an itch for the more nerdy/STEM side of me that probably would have not vibed with many others. In some ways, that bit of the experience reminded me of my feelings toward Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, which I have yet to finish to this day.

Anyway, I went to the theaters for the movie last week, with my cohort, as we had planned for since last November. My overall experience can be summarized in one word: fun. This doesn't mean I found it to be particularly good movie; it just means I enjoyed my time at the theaters. I do not think I would have enjoyed the movie as much if I had not read the books, and it's one of those instances where the adaptation is only enjoyable in any fashion because the original work is so mediocre. Compared to the "fun" I had watching the movie, my book-reading experience could only be described as "weird, just weird" in the most neutral possible way. I found that the movie made the story funnier, and brought to life some of the humor that did not hit as I was reading.

The story kicks off with a man waking up in a spacecraft, not remembering a single thing about himself. He's addressed as "Grace" as he moves about the spacecraft, trying to figure out who he is, where he is, and why he is in a spacecraft of all places. Through multiple flashbacks, they slowly unveil him, as Ryland Grace, a middle school science teacher and a scientist who had quit his field for challenging the idea that all life forms are made of water. His unique stance though, earns him a ticket to solve the world's current biggest crisis, the dimming of the sun, through an invite by Eva Stratt who all but saunters into his classroom with his controversial research paper (if one can call it that).

The organisms contributing to the dimming of the Sun are known as Astrophage, and researchers are working to figure out why all the stars but one in the solar neighborhood are dimming. They plan to send three astronauts on a suicide mission—hence the name Project Hail Mary—to the solar system centered by the lone star not dimming, Tau Ceti, and study it. The discoveries would be sent back to Earth while the astronauts would live their remaining days in space, as there would not be enough Astrophage to make the journey back to Earth.

By the time Ryland Grace wakes up and manages to maneuver around the spacecraft with less confusion, we learn that Commander Yao and Engineer Ilyukhina have died during the trip, so Grace is the only one left. He's lost, drifting in space, until another spacecraft appears in vicinity. Another spacecraft that is far larger and with intricate architecture. And who does it belong to? Aliens! Grace ends up naming the alien that communicates with him "Rocky" because he (deemed a "he" by Grace) well, looks like he's constructed using rocks. Through collaboration, they try to figure out why their respective solar systems' stars are dimming while Tau Ceti is not. How they communicate? By Rocky using echolocation and Grace attempting to record the sonar patterns word by word, then using a translator that processes it to spit out sentences.

The process isn't so smooth-sailing, as goes for any type of scientific discovery, but they manage to find a solution, along with a way to generate enough fuel for Grace to head back home. With the solution in hand, Grace and Rocky go their separate ways, until Grace runs into a problem: the counter to Astrophage is eating at his ship, demolishing the fuel. In a bout of panic, Grace turns around and toward Rocky to save him. While Earth receives Grace's discoveries, Grace himself joins Rocky on his planet, adjusting to life with the aliens.

A horrible TLDR on my end, I know. Though I found the first half of the movie stronger than the corresponding scenes in the book, I wished the movie had spend more time in the "Who am I and why am I in a spacecraft? In space, away from Earth!" agony period Grace has to go through. I know adaptations tend to cut things, and the released version is also a cut version of something that was originally four hours. While four hours may be a waste of time and money to some, I had enough issues with the movie that I would pay to see the extra one and a half hours! The other portion I wished had been expanded on was everything from the fuel leak to the secondary panic Grace had thinking about how Rocky's ship would complete collapse because of the Astrophage loss.

The way Rocky and his species communicates feels like it was brush past too quickly, with little transparency on the usage of echolocation and sound frequencies. I don't know if it was ever made clear enough to audiences that have not watched the movie.

I was relatively happy as a book reader with the adaptation, but I would be lying if I said the movie was good as a stand-alone. A lot of things are left unsaid or underexplained, and had I not read the book, I would be quite confused. It is much better enjoyed as something complementary with the book, where they enhance each other. Do I recommend that people go watch the movie? Only if you've read the book and didn't dislike it. Otherwise? You're better off taking money out of your wallet for a movie with good cinematography AND a properly paced, clearly understood story.