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A small subset of you are outliers, but in good ways. When you sit at a table, heads swivel in your direction when it comes to choosing the best wine that will pair with everyone’s dining choice. Some of you incite excitement when you enter the same dinner party with a bookstore bag in one hand. Those in attendance, especially if their birthday is anywhere within sight, sit up with glee, knowing that you may have curated the next month of their spare time with the utmost care.
Over the years, I have bought about half a baker’s dozen of Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary as gifts for others. Genres such as literary fiction or canonized classics, such as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, are often safe choices as gifts, for there is close to a hundred percent chance that the person in question will enjoy the title, if they are a reader. Science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, thrillers, and crime novels are not to everyone’s liking, unless the work is exceptional. Like his previous title, The Martian, Project Hail Mary manages to propel itself into the rarified air of being liked by everyone with a literate pulse.
Being universally likable is hard for anyone or project to achieve, yet this book and movie achieved this through charm, humour, and leaning into the better angels of our nature. Kim Stanley Robinson, for instance, tried this with his, somehow, heralded title, The Ministry of the Future, and failed miserably – my full book review of this title will be released in early April 2026. The casting of Ryan Gosling simply leans into the maximum charm offensive, yet this could be seen as a negative, and we’ll touch upon this before we come to a close.
What separates this title from The Martian and Artemis is the notion of connection. The idea that two souls from vastly different backgrounds can form a deep connection through shared values, humour, an appreciation of topics such as science, and general selflessness is noticeably absent in our post-pandemic world. It is hard to have such convictions rise to the forefront of one’s worldview without it being disregarded as puerile whimsy. We are living in an environment where our neighbours enjoy foreign cuisine, yet express joy when members of their community who immigrated from such lands are manhandled and dehumanized. The ramifications from the weight of the isolation felt by many over the pandemic has fostered such an environment, and Project Hail Mary’s premise is one that springs an optimism that has long been dormant in us. It rekindles the element of expectancy of kindness in our interactions moving forward. This is what makes a work of art powerful. It does not need to be an overly sophisticated book, painting, song or screenplay to accomplish this. This is one of the rare occasions where, if you have seen the movie, you do not need to read the book. However, if you have read the book, seeing the movie for its visuals, production, and viewing the author’s own realization come to life on screen is a must.
The only drawback of the movie is the casting of a megastar like Ryan Gosling. If any of you have spent time in a metropolis, you have come across staff in various service industries who are primarily immensely talented artists and actors. This is especially true if you visit Manhattan for more than a few days. Though Mr. Gosling is the prefect casting choice as the movie’s lead, all of his past roles, and his own personality, which saturates every feed during his press tours, cannot help but pollute his performance on screen. While watching the movie, the audience does get the impression that he is playing himself, but with the staggering intelligence of a world-class scientist and some personality flaws which help bring some much-needed depth to the movie’s final act. No matter how perfect a casting of actors such as Mr. Gosling, Emma Stone, Robert Downey Jr., or Tom Cruise may be for a particular movie, the galactic powerhouses that are their innate personalities overwhelm most screenplays and the characters they play. This does lead to much better box-office sales and a fair degree of comfort when it comes to shutting one’s brain off and enjoying a movie, but the movie’s ability to serve as a vehicle for escapism suffers. Even within my own limited circle of influence, I know one actor who has to work two separate jobs in unrelated fields who would have done a better job playing the lead character in this movie, that is, if being swept away had been a priority.
Project Hail Mary is a must-see for literally everyone, and seeing it in the theatre maximizes the movie’s potential, thereby leaving you with a sense of awe. Fans of Mr. Gosling will be overjoyed to see him on screen and the overwhelmingly warm performance he brings to the table. If you cannot see the movie while it is in theatres, then it is easy to recommend the book to tide you over until the movie is available for rent or when it lands on Paramount+. Reading the book in advance will rob you of some of the wonderment in several parts of the film, but you will find yourself giggling in many places of the movie because of the slight and passive nods the excellent director and parts department placed throughout the movie, which are covered in the book in greater detail.
Time of writing: April 1st, 2026