Breinthewild

A couple of weeks ago, I went to see the movie Project Hail Mary with some friends. I found it notable for two reasons. First, that it was a good movie and well worth the increasingly high price and effort to see it in theaters. Second, that it was the first movie in about a year that I felt any sort of inkling to go out of my way to see. I attribute this to one simple fact: I’d read the book and loved it. (And forced my friends and family members to read it—many of those who did were in attendance that night).

I don’t think my hesitancy toward the theater experience is unique. What used to be a cheap and easy entertainment option has become expensive and inconvenient. Streaming movies for quick, at-home access has become the norm but I often don’t feel drawn to watch many of them. In the last few years, many of the movies I have taken the time to watch turned out to be either utterly forgettable or just okay. Last summer, I made the trek to theaters to watch Superman by James Gunn. I recall it being enjoyable but not much more comes to mind. I would even say it was a good movie and worth the price of admission. But it didn’t stick with me.

Growing up, I used to catch several movies a year, often attending cheap double features at local theaters or going to midnight premiers. Hell, a large portion of the 2000s-2010s was spent watching every Marvel release so I wouldn’t be lost when Endgame came out. Theaters were an enjoyable and non-bank-breaking way to spend a few hours. They felt like a routine part of American culture. Until they weren’t.

Covid killed a lot of things, so perhaps it’s unsurprising theaters have been hit hard. In my own life, I’ve noticed a trend of movies declining in quality, particularly in the writing. Streaming may have diversified the content coming out but it has also diluted the quality. It’s not just a low-budget problem either. Movies with massive budgets will have CGI characters rendered to perfection spit out lines even George Lucas would shudder at. Unwilling to spend upwards of twenty dollars suffering through a potentially hackneyed and obnoxious script, I find myself far less willing to take risks on new movies either in or out of theaters. Often the movies lucky enough to get a bit of pre-release buzz end up vanishing without making much of a splash. This only confirms my bias that I’ve made the right choice in not wasting my time on them.

Which brings me to Project Hail Mary. This is the kind of film that, a decade ago, I would have gone and seen casually with friends for $4-10 at a local, cheap theater. Now, I would likely have skipped it entirely, if not for the fact that I’d read the book (by author Andy Weir of The Martian fame) and loved, loved, loved it. When I finished the book, I immediately started it again and did a second read through. Then I talked to all my friends and family about it. Then I started recommending it nonstop to everyone in my life who enjoyed reading: friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, even the occasional stranger. (A similar situation happened with Dungeon Crawler Carl). I could not stop talking about it.

Project Hail Mary is, in my opinion, the perfect recommendation book. Even if you’re not a fan of the Science Fiction genre, it’s a hopeful and heartfelt story about humanity at its best, using our brains and tools to help one another in crisis, and rising to the occasion despite our many mistakes and doubts. The plot centers around a man with amnesia who wakes up alone in a spaceship. As he regains pieces of his memory, he realizes he’s on a “hail mary” attempt to save the earth because our sun is slowly dimming, dooming most of the planet to an ice-age extinction event within the next few decades. Science ensues as he tries to solve the problem and it is awesome.

The story expands quite a bit beyond that simple summary but to avoid spoilers, I’ll leave it there. (Though the movie trailer does spoil at least one major twist so be warned. Don’t watch it, just go see the movie. It’s great.) The movie follows the book’s plot almost exactly, with a few minor additions that allow what were sections of internal dialogue in the book an external outlet for movie format. It is one of the most accurate book-to-movie adaptations I have ever seen. I was also heartened that the movie did not overly-dramatize or heighten the tension of the plot beyond what was already present in the book. At its heart the story is one of hope and the movie captures and maintains that theme beautifully.

As a side note, it was wonderful to watch a movie that wasn’t violently averse to cute or earnest moments. I feel like so many movies I’ve seen lately use awkward humor to undercut any potentially memeable or “cringy” scenes in an attempt to make everything look epic and hardcore. Project Hail Mary steers clear of that pitfall with plenty of funny, goofy, and heartwarming scenes that are meant to be taken at face value. As a bonus, those moments were ALSO not immediately followed by witty jokes or scathing banter, another pitfall I’ve noticed that turns most modern movie dialogue into a sarcastic, and distancing Rifftrax-style narration by overly-self-aware characters who nearly break the 4th wall in the process and not in a fun way.

Project Hail Mary was, to me, a breath of fresh air in the midst of a terribly stale time for Hollywood. It is not a groundbreaking, life-changing literary or cinematic event, but it is a good time. If you’re looking for a fun, family-friendly movie full of hope and science, I highly recommend it. If you’re a fan of lighthearted and grounded science fiction stories that are easily accessible even for those unfamiliar with the concepts, I recommend the book. And if you’re a nerd like me and have time for both, go for it!

Project Hail Mary (movie): 9/10 potato rating

Project Hail Mary (book): 10/10 potato rating