Written by Jordan Coolbeth
Art by Jordan Coolbeth
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
This next year is looking like an exciting one for movie lovers. I’m particularly looking forward to a couple of interesting releases, including Wicked: For Good, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, and Wake Up Dead Man. However, the film I’m most excited for is Project Hail Mary. This one is a cinematic adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel by the same name. If you enjoyed The Martian, you’re already familiar with his work.
Published in 2021, Project Hail Mary is Weir’s latest novel. It’s now his second book to be adapted into a film. Having read both stories, I can see why. They are both fascinating, humorous, and cleverly constructed sci-fi stories. If Project Hail Mary is as good an adaptation as The Martian, this could easily be one of my favorite movies this year.
– In case you didn’t notice the title, spoilers ahead! –
Project Hail Mary follows the story of Ryland Grace, an unassuming middle school science teacher who finds himself isolated on a spaceship 11.6 light-years from Earth, with only the bodies of two fellow astronauts to keep him company. He wakes up unable to remember who he is or how he ended up on the ship, and must now attempt to complete his mission as his memories slowly return. The story bounces between the present day and his memories as he recalls them.
The Sun is rapidly dimming. In just 30 years, the Earth will be plunged into an ice age, and all of humanity will die. After some study, the task force assigned to stop this from happening discovers tiny, energy-eating microbes draining energy from the Sun. They name these microbes astrophages. They also discover that the Sun is not the only star affected; every star within a certain area is, except for one. Ryland is the only surviving member of the suicide mission to this star and now must uncover its secrets alone (or so he thinks).
Ryland soon meets Rocky, an engineer and the sole survivor of the Eridian team sent to figure out why their star is dimming. Together, they discover the natural predator of astrophages and breed them to survive in their home solar systems. They even discover a way for Ryland to return home from this suicide mission. However, due to complications, this plan fails. Ryland still manages to send the information home and saves Earth, but he ends up stranded on Rocky’s home planet, Eridani. The story has a bittersweet ending, with Ryland choosing to stay on Eridani and become a middle school science teacher in space.
One of the things I love about Weir’s books (or at least the two I’ve read) is that the characters face a lot of problems, but they aren’t random. Ryland runs out of food because this was a suicide mission, and they never planned for him to survive. Rocky’s crew dies because they are from a planet with a thick atmosphere, and they didn’t know radiation existed. The selectively bred taumeoba learn to get through solid xenonite because they were bred in xenonite containers and needed to escape the high levels of nitrogen. Every solution to one problem causes another problem. It’s even more obvious in The Martian, but Project Hail Mary still follows that general rule.
Weir also clearly puts a lot of thought and research into his books. The science isn’t perfect. He takes quite a few liberties, especially in regards to alien biology and advanced technology. However, his story is grounded in semi-realistic physics and he at least somewhat explains why the aliens evolved the way they did. It’s not as accurate as The Martian, but it’s also not supposed to be. The Martian did not take place very far in the future and was grounded in mostly real technology, while Project Hail Mary takes place in the more distant future and is grounded in more hypothetical technology. It follows its own rules, and that’s what matters in the end.
As for the writing, the nonlinear style works really well for this story. It provides helpful context to events, while still keeping key plot points a mystery until it’s time to reveal them. Is it unrealistic that Ryland just happens to get his memories back at the perfect time and in chronological order? Yes. Do I care? Not really. As much as Weir likes to write about everything that can go wrong going wrong, his characters are very lucky.
It’s also very clearly written and well explained. There is a lot of science in this book, so if science is a subject you really struggle with, you might need to reread some parts to understand it. However, you don’t need too much prior knowledge to read it. Ryland is a middle school teacher explaining science concepts to an alien. He breaks the concepts down a lot, so it’s fairly easy to understand.
I did, admittedly, find the book a little slow at first. The first several chapters are just Ryland arguing with a computer and occasionally recalling facts about his life. But once Rocky showed up I found it a lot more interesting. Ryland and Rocky have a really fun dynamic. They may be similar, but they still have to spend a lot of time learning how the other species works. They have to learn what the other can and cannot do. They have to learn what the other species does and does not know. They pick on each other a lot, especially about the limitations of human and eridian bodies.
“Good. Proud. I am scary space monster. You are leaky space blob.”
All of their interactions are amazing. I love the way Rocky talks, both in the book and audiobook. Eridians are completely blind, but they have very sensitive hearing and multiple voice boxes, allowing them to effectively communicate in chords. Weir shows this by using music notes.
“‘Iron,’ I say. I point at the necklace. ‘Iron.’ He points at the necklace and says, ‘♫♩♪♫♫.’”
Why does an alien race have to use words? Why can’t they talk like walking keyboards? It’s a fun way to make the scary alien race different, but also clearly understandable to the reader. Ryland and Rocky are ultimately very similar characters. They have similar senses of humor and experiences. The music notes and, later on, different sentence structures are a way to make sure the Eridians aren’t just alternate world humans, while still being relatable to the reader.
Andy Weir likes to write stories about bizarre situations and the perfect characters to survive them. Of all the crewmembers who could have gotten left behind, the astronaut stranded alone on Mars in The Martian just happens to be an engineer, botanist, and the person specifically selected for his sense of humor and ability to handle stressful situations. It could have been any one of them, and yet it was the one most likely to survive. In Project Hail Mary, the one surviving astronaut happens to be a science teacher who knows all the perfect science fun facts and a molecular biologist who knows more about astrophages than anyone else. He is the perfect person to be left to study astrophages. The alien he gets stranded with just happens to be a species that communicates similarly to humans and is really good at learning languages. It isn’t very realistic, but it makes for a fun story.
I have also noticed, at least in the books I’ve read, that Andy Weir’s main characters are often just himself, but smarter. My copy of The Marian even includes an excerpt from Weir about his characters and stories. They make a lot of pop culture references because he makes a lot of pop culture references. They make a lot of jokes because he had a funny idea. The only difference between Weir and his characters is the fact that Weir has a lot of time to research the things they just know. A lot of the other characters are very cliche. The Russian drinks vodka all the time, the boss lady is scary and always gets what she wants, and the teacher knows a ton of fun science facts. Ultimately, it’s up to you whether or not that ruins the story for you.
Other than that, a lot of the complaints I see about it are people taking it way more seriously than Weir intended. It’s not a super realistic story about logical events, real technology, or well rounded characters. It’s a last ditch attempt to stop a bizarre alien invasion that somehow works. I think a lot of people went into this expecting The Martian again: a well thought out, peer reviewed, realistic story about an event that could happen in the next couple of decades. They instead got a story about a relatively smart guy who gets very lucky and were left unsatisfied.
If the Project Hail Mary movie is as good as The Martian, I have high hopes for it. Based on what we can see in the trailer, it looks like they’re sticking fairly close to the plot of the book. It makes sense. The rights for the movie were sold before the book was even published, and the book is written almost like a screenplay. It was made to be turned into a movie, so why bother changing everything?
The same writer who adapted The Martian into a screenplay, Drew Goddard, will be working on Project Hail Mary as well. It unfortunately will not have the same director. Instead of Ridley Scott, the new film will be directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. They have a widely different style than Ridley Scott. Scott is known for films such as Alien, Gladiator, and Blade Runner. Lord and Miller are known for their work on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Lego Movie, and the Spider-Verse franchise. Project Hail Mary will likely have a very different style than The Martian, but it is a very different story. Project Hail Mary is much more speculative and fantastical. Even with the different directors, I have high hopes for this movie.
Whether you choose to read the book first or walk into the theater blind, I hope you enjoy this film as much as I expect to. See you in March!