Project Hail Mary movie

[fub]

We went to see the Project Hail Mary movie. Very long runtime, but time flew by!

Project Hail Mary was one of the books I read last year that got a five star rating from me. So I was kinda interested, but I would also have been fine with missing the movie — I already read the book, after all. But when the trailer passed by on my feed, I showed it to klik and she was interested. And my mother had won two movie tickets in a lottery that she gave to us, so we decided to go.

Of course the movie is different from the book — there’s some visual elements in the movie that make for great scenes but are not present in the book, like the immersive video-wall. And the book is more of a “science detective” vibe: looking at the evidence and then forming a hypothesis and then using the instruments at their disposal to reach a conclusion and build on that. The movie glosses over most of those aspects and instead focuses more on the emotional aspect, like the bond between Grace and Rocky and how Grace gets involved in the whole project in the first place. I thought that was a good idea: a movie is better suited for emotional storytelling after all.

We had a great time with it. Whether you have read the book or not, you’ll appreciate the visuals and the focus on the emotional aspect.

Crossposted from my blog. Comment here or at the original post.

Comments

[wantedonvoyage]

I keep hearing people talk about that movie but I don't really know what it's about. I'd be more likely to listen to the audiobook than either read it or see the film.

[fub]

I have seen rave reviews of the audiobook, so that might be the best middle ground between movie and paper book.

(I can't read audiobooks myself, I just can't keep focus. Same reason I can't listen to podcasts. Though I can watch video recordings of podcasts...)

[tabular_rasa]

I saw it this weekend and really enjoyed it, though I have not read the book. It makes sense that scientific detective work as a narrative doesn't translate well as to screen-- though even as it is, frankly I thought this was a refreshingly more accurate representation of the scientific process than in most science-centered films I've seen. In so many movies it's all sterile labs and straightforward tests (or the all-famous "guy finds ~the equation~ on the chalkboard" due to sheer brilliance and insight!) when the reality is indeed there is a lot of improvising, ad hoc jerry-rigged solutions (going to the hardware store, lol), and plain old persistence. That Grace was a student scientist and then a middle school teacher (all with NO budget for anything, ever) was honestly the perfect training for having to make do within the hard limitations of living on a spacecraft 😂

[fub]

Two moments stood out for me. One is the look of utter defeat on his face when Grace discovers that the heliophages do, in fact, contain water. Obviously that is not remotely the point, but he just can't let go of it!
The second is when they are at the hardware store and Grace puts the packets of candy on the belt and that little wordless negotiation ("can we take this?" "I'll allow it!") and then the next scene you see the two federal agents chew on the candy.

It made it so much more human rather than just genius dudes in a lab.

[millionbubbles]

I'm not a huge sci-fi person but I am intrigued by the book. Is it really long? Do you think it's essential to read the book first or is seeing the movie only enough?

[fub]

I think the movie and the book emphasize different aspects of the same story. You absolutely do not have to have read the book to enjoy the movie, and vice versa! But I do think that they sort-of complement each other because of the different emphasis, if that makes sense.

If you're into audiobooks, I have heard really good things about that version. (I read the Dutch translation, because that is what my library had.)