Click/tap for images I found in my gallery lol A while back, I read Project Hail Mary before watching the movie. I’ve been hearing about this upcoming book-to-movie adaption ever since last year, before it ever came out. At first I was not really interested, because I’m more into high fantasy and psychological books. But once I’ve been hearing others I know (such as at school) picking up on the book, I figured I could give it a read. And after that, I thought, why not give a review on the book and compare it to the movie? So that’s what I’ll be doing today! Of course, this is going to be filled with spoilers because this is going to be my honest review on the book and movie. Please be aware of spoilers if you haven’t read the book or seen the movie! Book Review As mentioned above, I am mostly into fantasy and psychological books. So, by far, reading sci-fi was a newer genre to me. I don’t recall reading many sci-fi books, but I didn’t expect myself to enjoy this one a lot! It balanced out comedy and heart-felt moments all the way through. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is the story about Ryland Grace. He was to set off on a lone mission to save the sun from dying down from energy that’s been decaying its light: astrophages. It’s like a single-cell parasite, and it’s going to be a huge problem within years on Earth. Grace, however, isn’t an astronaut but is a huge science geek. He doesn’t know how to moon walk or operate a ship—so clearly, he is scared and confused about being chosen for this mission. But when he was told that he has the genes to survive a coma, he was forced into this mission with other people—leaving him the only one alive on the ship after waking up from the coma. He was alone on the ship for some time, piecing back together his memories and even figuring out who he was. It was satisfying to read out how he recalled his memories, simply by small things on the ship that reminded him of his life on Earth. He was a science teacher. A science geek. He has kids—well, students, who he loved dearly. But he was also nothing of an astronaut. Once he recalls his memories, he feels isolated and abandoned. He has to learn how to operate the ship on his own. As someone who suffers from loneliness, I was beginning to relate to being alone. Maybe not on a ship, but just feeling like the world depends on you for everything—even if it’s just a small thing on the outside. It’s rough to be set out on your own, especially if you feel like you’ve been forgotten and even hated (as someone who has experience with that). It was not until Grace met Rocky, who is an alien from a faraway planet that has problems with the sun, too. I love Rocky! I’m sure everyone does. He’s sweet and funny, which I think was a good way to keep Grace sane and having a good buddy on his side in the absolute darkness of space. They were a perfect duo and were able to save the sun together, where Grace joined Rocky afterward to go to his planet. I thought that it was funny that Grace had his own so-called school there, where he had his own alien classmates. I don’t know, I thought that was pretty adorable. Rocky’s backstory interconnects with Grace’s in particular ways. It even shows how both of them are suffering from loneliness, which I think is one of the core themes of the book. Some think that it’s redemption, and while that is one too, I just thought that Grace and Rocky coming to terms with isolation and forging a hearty friendship is a pivoting point in all of the book. After all, how could Grace have accomplished his mission without Rocky? Grace’s character is well thought-out. I never knew that I’d become more interested in science after he figured out about the astrophage and how to sample then send back to Earth. However, I would honestly feel as devastated as him to be forced out on a mission he never wanted to do. It hit me in the heartstrings for how much he had to leave behind, and how confused and scared he was to go on his mission. Either way, it was really satisfying to read into how he dealt with this pain and pushed through the entire story until the very end. As someone who loves character-driven stories, seeing Grace and Rocky work out the problem together was an enjoyable ride. Overall, the book was amazing! I finished it in under a couple days, which is not something common for me since I’m a slow reader. I would definitely recommend reading this book, especially if you’re thinking about seeing the movie. Seeing books come to life on the big screen is ethereal, because it just shows how others interpret the story. And although I interpret in many other ways, I’m still wholly fascinated by the movie. (Continued)
(Continued) Movie Review The day after I read the book was when I watched the movie. And wow! It was spectacular! However, one thing I’d critique (and probably my only critique) was when the first line of dialogue of the movie was not the first line in the book: “What’s two plus two?” Anyway, moving on. Firstly, the soundtrack is phenomenal! I loved it all the way through. One of the best soundtracks in my opinion is where they went fishing, such as collecting the energy of the astrophage. Even how they made that scene blew me away. I had to save the song to my Spotify for how good it was! Secondly, speaking of the visuals, the visuals were amazing. The scene where Grace encounters Rocky’s ship was comedic and fascinating—and honestly, I didn’t expect Rocky’s ship to be that huge. Either I missed that small detail in the book, or I just thought his ship was small for the size of the aliens. Other scenes like the fishing scene were phenomenal. Another one I really enjoyed was when Rocky came into Grace’s ship and started trashing the place—it gave a good laugh. The ending was also amazing, where we could see Grace’s new home and his own classroom with a plethora of aliens. Aside from the visuals, I also thought that every character was portrayed well in the movie. I couldn’t think of another great way to make Rocky, for seeing him in the movie just made me love him more. His jazz hands and brisk, funny movements were hilarious—and seeing Grace copy along to it just added heart to it. Love those small moments that forge true friendships. It sounds cheesy, but would you really reject the friendship of an alien like Rocky? And of course, most people say that the book is better than the movie. And I agree on that—as much as I’ve connected to the book emotionally and enjoyed the story better, I can still say that the movie was great, too. Aaaaand that’s my review on Project Hail Mary! Amazing book! It makes me want to read the author’s other books, such as The Martian. I’m trying to get into other book genres now aside from fantasy, for it’d be nice to expand what I read for a change. I If there are even people who even read the blogs, feel free to drop some book recommendations! I would love to add more books to my reading list, and read them with a good cup of tea. I’m so glad you made it to the very end! Thanks so much for reading my second blog. It’s been really fun writing these, because I thought that writing things other than my own books would be good for a change. I hope you’ll continue reading the blogs. Until then, I’ll see you on the next one!
