QS stands for “Quickshot”, a series of short form review/preview/opinion articles.
As someone who goes to the theaters fairly often, I was familiar with the trailer for Project Hail Mary. I love sci-fi, but usually the kind that involves hyperspace, laser-blasting spaceships, and galactic wars. It didn’t quite look like a movie I’d enjoy, and it reminded me of another movie that I’m sure is good but I’ve never seen, The Martian. Ironically, both films are based off of books written by the same guy, but I didn’t know that at the time.
My sister, however, really wanted to see the movie. And to prepare, she decided to read the original novel that the film is based on. She then twisted my arm into agreeing to watch the movie in theaters with her, and by proxy, that meant I also had to read the novel first.
So I did…and I didn’t like it that much.
I ended up rating the film 3/5 on my Goodreads profile, which in my book ranking system equates to “I don’t regret reading it, and it’s fine enough in at least some regards, but I’ll never read it again“. I found the pacing to be off, the story structure not exactly to my liking, and I really didn’t care for how the main character was written. And for that last point, I’m speaking from a writer’s perspective. His character (in terms of his growth and arc) was fine, but the word choices and sentence structure for his 1st-Person POV narrative was a mess.
I don’t care who you are, but if you wake up from a nap and find out that you’re suddenly in space, you don’t go “oh golly gee, I guess I’m in space“. That’s not how a real human being would react.
Now, it’s not exactly uncommon for me to end up preferring film adaptations to the books that they are based on. In common Contrarian Corner fashion, I tend to find the film versions just do a really good job of getting to the meat of what a story is about, while buoying it with additional fun things like great acting performances, cool visual effects, and awesome soundtracks. This isn’t me saying that every film adaptation in existence is better than its book inspiration, but I do think that I’m probably an oddity in terms of just how many film adaptations I’d argue outshine the original.
So I expected to end up liking the Project Hail Mary film more than I did the book…I just never could’ve expected how much I’d end up loving the movie.
It’s to the point where it’s almost a little hard for me to find things to say about a movie that feels, in just about every regard, perfect.
But I’ll try to find some things to talk about! Starting with…
Our story follows Ryland Grace, a man with coma-induced amnesia who wakes up in an interstellar spacecraft far, far from good-old Earth. He has no idea where he is or how he got there, and slowly pieces things together via context clues and a series of flashbacks that show how events unfolded on Earth that led Grace to where he is now. Essentially, he’s on a one-way mission to save humanity by finding a way to rid the Sun of a alien microorganism that is sucking away its energy.
It’s a unique premise that ends up having theroetically high stakes, but the movie itself doesn’t become suffocating with tension since it’s almost entirely centered around Grace being on his spaceship. In fact, aside from the flashback scenes, Ryan Gosling is just about the only actor in the entire movie…well, aside from a certain rocky individual. So it’s a good thing that Gosling does a fantastic job at just being really relatable, funny, and sympathetic in ways that his book counterpoint was never able to be.
The flashback scenes are also handled even better in the film, which is great, considering they were already the best part of the original novel. They feel more natural and anchored in the plot than in the book (where they felt sudden and egregiously convenient, which broke my immersion). And the way in which the flashback scenes and the present action tie together to inform the film’s core messages and Grace’s character arc is just magical. The final five minutes are sublime…not to say the rest of the movie isn’t as well.
You know what else is ‘sublime‘? The film’s effects. This movie is beautiful to look at, in every possible way. The design of the spacecraft, the distant planets, the space walk scenes, a certain rocky individual…they all look awesome. The sets themselves are really cool too, and definitely seem like they made for fun environments to film in. And the cinematography lent itself to some breathtaking shots and wonderful composition. There’s a scene where something explodes in the distant background that almost took my breath away even though I knew it was coming.
And the praise train isn’t stopping anytime soon, because I’ve yet to discuss the soundtrack. It wouldn’t be a Contrarian Corner article without mentioning a soundtrack, and Project Hail Mary‘s score is phenomenal. I don’t think I’d particularly describe the music as ‘hummable‘ in the way that you leave a theater humming the theme song to Jurassic Park or Star Wars, but multiple times during the course of the movie I got goosebumps from just how good it all sounds. It’s a very choral-led soundtrack that is both fantastic to listen to, and lends the movie a unique auditory soundscape from a lot of its contemporaries.
I’m not going to go into dramatic spoilers here, but the single greatest thing this movie does is improve upon the original novel in every conceivable way. Things that just didn’t work in a novel form (the flashbacks, Grace’s uncanny POV) work perfectly here, like this story was always supposed to be told in the form of a film. And then the film makes some creative decisions that deviate from the book…and guess what? Literally all of those decisions are for the better. From a wonderfully charming visit to a location never explored in the book, to a thematically resonate character beat in the final minutes we were deprived of in the novel, Project Hail Mary consistently makes every correct decision possible.
I think it’s to the point where I almost have nothing to say in terms of flaws or negative feedback for the movie. Maybe a little bit of the minutiae might go over your head if you didn’t read the book (though the film does an admirable job of condensing chapters and chapters of science jargon into quicker exposition). But I’m positive you’re not going to be lost or confused if this film version is your first exposure to the story of Project Hail Mary…and honestly, it’s really the only exposure you need.
If you’ve seen this movie, I hope you can agree with my extremely-high opinion of it. If you haven’t seen it yet, please find a way to watch it as soon as possible. Heck, even if you have seen it already, watch it again. It’s just that great, and has instantly become one of my new favorite movies of all time.
And if I alone can’t convince you, maybe my sister can!
To put it in her words: “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a movie in theaters and just thought ‘now THAT was a good movie‘”.
10/10
The Contrarian Corner 