By Dominic Larson ’27
Updated at 11:50 a.m. EDT, 17 April 2026
Book-to-movie adaptations are infamously hard. They are either huge box office hits or they anger entire fanbases and studios lose millions of dollars. When I heard that Andy Weir’s 2021 novel Project Hail Mary was being adapted into a high-budget blockbuster film, I was both highly skeptical and nervous. Last semester, I wrote a STAR book review stating that, “Project Hail Mary is the closest thing to perfect sci-fi storytelling that I have ever seen or can even imagine” and gave it a 5/5 score. The movie adaptation had a lot to live up to.
The film’s opening minutes added to my skepticism. They breezed through the contents of the novel’s first chapter, leaving out details that made the first chapter iconic. In the book, Grace spends the entire first chapter trying to figure out where he is and what is going on. He is highly confused and disoriented after waking up from years of cryosleep. In the film, Grace recovers almost instantly and answers his questions in minutes. The first third of the movie plays out like a montage of events from the first quarter of the book, replaying scenes from before Grace left Earth. It features Grace alone on his ship, called the Hail Mary. This segment of the film is still highly enjoyable, but the pacing feels off. However, the pacing notably settles in with the introduction of Rocky, the secondary main character in the story.
Despite the uncertainty I held around the beginning of the movie, from the moment Rocky’s ship approaches until the very end of the film, Project Hail Mary is a hugely satisfying adaptation of its source material. The scene in which Grace spots Rocky’s ship is highly entertaining. Grace tries to outrun the approaching vessel in the Hail Mary and fails when Rocky’s ship mirrors the Hail Mary’s every move, foreshadowing future interactions between the two characters. The film takes its time building a heartwarming companionship between Grace and Rocky, which ultimately serves as the driving force of the remainder of the story.
Grace and Rocky’s friendship would not have worked without Ryan Gosling’s masterful performance as Grace. Gosling spends a majority of the film acting alone, even when he is acting alongside the animated rock spider puppet. Every moment appears equally real, genuine and believable to me, which is what made the acting stand out. Rocky, on the other hand, was brought to life using a mix of puppetry and animatronics, with James Ortiz working as the main puppeteer and providing his voice. Rocky is as endearing on screen as he was in the book. The filmmakers did a remarkable job visualizing a character who is essentially a faceless rock spider. I could go on about the character of Rocky for an entire review, but I will spare you. Just know that he is potentially the most lovable character I have ever seen on screen.
The strength of the film’s visuals goes far beyond Rocky’s design. Producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller made it their goal to use as little CGI as possible. In addition to bringing Rocky to life in the most practical way possible, they had full sets built for the Hail Mary itself and found ways to believably film Grace’s spacewalks. As a result, the film is easily able to fully immerse the viewer in every scene. The visual that struck me the most was the Petrova line, a line of radiation-consuming astrophage that travels between stars, which was visualized by a dazzling, ethereal red trail of light that was impressively also filmed without CGI. It was a magical sight to see on a large theater screen.
Due to the movie not having enough space to fit everything from a nearly 500-page book, some things are inevitably cut short or left out. The scientific elements of the novel took the biggest hit. The book features extensive exposition diving into the science of astrophage and taomoeba, two fictional entities that are very important to the overall narrative, which was removed in the film. My guess is that this choice was an intentionalchoice to make it more accessible to casual viewers, but fans of the book may be disappointed. Most of the other omitted material is from the flashback segments of the novel, such as the bombing of Antarctica to slow climate change and building a giant astrophage-breeding farm in the Sahara Desert.
All in all, the last two-thirds of Project Hail Mary more than make up for a slightly rocky (or rather Rocky-less) start. With Rocky’s arrival, the film reaches a flow state, combining exciting sci-fi sequences with huge amounts of heart in a package that is sure to delight die-hard fans of the novel and newcomers alike. Amaze! Amaze! Amaze!
Final score: 4.75/5 ★
