‘Project Hail Mary’: Full of Grace, Courage, & Friendship
- Joshua Budimlic
- 15 hours ago
- 10 min read
As a teacher,—and an English teacher at that—it would seem as though I have something of a moral obligation to read the book before I watch the movie. Unlike my wife, whose parents made it a rule that she and her brother had to read the source material before watching any given adaptation, no such rule existed in my household growing up. To my own shame, despite being a lifelong fan of The Lord of the Rings, I must admit that I only just read through the entire trilogy this past Christmas.
And so, when Andy Weir’s debut novel, The Martian, was being made into a film by director Ridley Scott (known for classics like Gladiator, a personal favorite) back in 2015, I made sure to read the novel before enjoying the film in theaters—a practice I’ve attempted to maintain ever since.
Both the novel and the film, in my opinion, were excellent.
This being the case, I, for some mysterious reason, neglected to keep tabs on Andy Weir’s writing career in the years that followed. Weir’s meteoric rise to popularity as an author is actually a really interesting and inspiring story—from teenage self-proclaimed nerd, to software engineer, to part-time blogger, to the author of a best-selling novel which, in the very same week that it landed a publisher, was also picked up by one of Hollywood’s most esteemed directors.
But, I thought, perhaps the success of The Martian, as enjoyable as it may have been, was more of a fluke for Weir than anything else. Maybe he was just a one-trick pony—surely he couldn’t capture lightning in a bottle twice?
To be perfectly honest, I didn’t even know the book Project Hail Mary existed until I saw the trailer a few months back for the newly-released film adaptation. To my pleasant surprise, it looked rather intriguing—something of a blend between Interstellar and Arrival (another two of my favorite films). And, being the good teacher I am, I purchased the book (which I had only heard great things about) in order to read it before my wife and I went to see the movie in theaters this past week. And in case you missed the buzz online, the film adaptation is being widely hailed as one of the all-time great science-fiction films ever made, garnering rave reviews from seemingly everyone, ranging from The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh to The Gospel Coalition to Scottish YouTube reviewer The Critical Drinker.
Expectations were high, to say the least. And, having now finished both the novel and the film—I can see why.
With Project Hail Mary, Weir’s third novel, he not only captured lightning in a bottle for a second time—he obliterated the bottle entirely, leaving nothing but molten glass in the resulting crater. The novel exceeded my expectations, so much so that I devoured its nearly 500 pages in only a handful of sittings. I watched the film a few days ago, and I must admit that I’m having trouble getting the story out of my mind—for all the very best of reasons. It was a breath of fresh air in so many ways, bringing life and light and warmth to an entertainment industry that has been in a steady decline for decades.
While my intention here will be to review Project Hail Mary as a whole, my primary focus will be on the novel—though, given how faithful and excellent an adaptation the film was, I will touch on it throughout. Lastly, this review may function less like a formal review and more like a reflection—a rev-flection, if you like.
Project Hail Mary
Much like Andy Weir’s first outing in The Martian, Project Hail Mary is an example of what’s called ‘hard science fiction.’ Hard science fiction is a subgenre within science fiction, “characterized by a strong emphasis on scientific accuracy, technical detail, and the logical extrapolation of established natural sciences like physics, chemistry, and astronomy.”
As an astronomy and overall science nut, Weir enjoys putting his characters into high orbits with even higher stakes, forcing them to use their wits and scientific acumen to get out of tight situations. However, at no point is all the science and math just a gimmick, nor is it ever at the expense of the story—in fact, science is almost a character itself in the novel. And yet, through it all, at the beating heart of Project Hail Mary is an incredibly warm and human story; a tale beaming with hope and humor, full of grace, courage, love, sacrifice, and above all, friendship.
The central mystery of Project Hail Mary is that the Sun is growing more and more dim. A strange space-faring microbial, dubbed ‘astrophage,’ has infected not only Earth’s star, but countless other neighboring stars—that is, all but one. If the threat is left unchecked, all life on Earth, and any other worlds, will perish in only a few short generations alongside their respective stars. In an effort to investigate this lone, uninfected star, global powers rally to construct the Hail Mary, the first interstellar spaceship of its kind. The ship is designed to take a select group of highly-trained scientists and engineers lightyears from Earth to the uninfected solar system where, hopefully, answers can be found.
The novel’s protagonist, Dr. Ryland Grace (played by Ryan Gosling in the film), is sent aboard the Hail Mary with two others as they embark on history’s loneliest expedition. Their task is to investigate why the lone star has not been infected, with hopes of solving the cosmic mystery and sending their findings back to Earth before it’s too late. Like a Hail Mary play in American Football, the ship and crew of the Hail Mary serve as humanity’s desperate, last-ditch effort to save the species before time runs out. Only, upon awakening from his induced coma years later, Dr. Grace finds that his two crewmates have died in their sleep at some point along the journey—leaving him alone in a strange solar system lightyears away from home to solve humanity’s overwhelming existential threat. Only—is he alone?
Full of Grace
To my knowledge, Andy Weir isn’t a professing Christian—in fact, I largely doubt that he is one. Nonetheless, Project Hail Mary, both the novel and its motion-picture counterpart, is absolutely brimming with religious themes. Take, for instance, the not-so-subtle fact that the ship’s name is the Hail Mary, and that it’s only occupant is named Grace—thus, Hail Mary full of Grace.
The Biblical themes go much further, however. Though his worldview is most likely a naturalistic one, Weir asks interesting questions throughout the novel about life and what makes it worth living. Whereas the logical conclusions of his espoused naturalistic worldview are pessimistic and nihilistic, Weir is, oddly enough, the furthest from either in his approach to storytelling. Just like The Martian, Weir places a high premium on human life throughout Project Hail Mary. The Imago Dei (the image of God upon our souls) is hard to shake off.
Indeed, Project Hail Mary is full of grace. It was refreshing to see several genuine and sincere references to God throughout the story—both in the novel and in the film. This is somewhat surprising for several reasons, not least of which because most of the characters in the story are purely naturalistic in their presuppositions about life and the nature of the universe—as is typically the case in many science-fiction stories. In my opinion, however, Project Hail Mary is not your typical science-fiction story. Consider this comment from the book, made by a hopeful scientist to Dr. Grace explaining why, in light of what very well may be the end of the world, he remains optimistic:
“Do you believe in God? I know it’s a personal question. I do. And I think He was pretty awesome to make relativity a thing, don’t you? The faster you go, the less time you experience. It’s like He’s inviting us to explore the universe, you know?... It’s like... the coolest thing ever! Again, God’s just handing us the future!”
While this little conversation is cut from the film, it’s equivalent communicates a similar truth: “Do you believe in God?” Dr. Grace asks, to which the director of the Hail Mary project replies, “Yes. It’s better than the alternative.”
Despite the existential threat looming over the galaxy, each and every page of the novel is awash with warmth, hope, humor, and love—so much so that I found myself smiling ear to ear on more than one occasion and chuckling aloud on several others. Unlike other science-fiction stories,—even those of which I am a fan, such as Dune or Interstellar—at no point do the existential stakes of Grace’s situation become dreadfully overbearing. There is always a glimmer of hope and happiness woven into the chaos, almost as though a sovereign hand were gracefully directing all roads to some joyful end. Among other things, Project Hail Mary is a very smart, very touching, very optimistic, and very funny book (and movie).
However, at the very heart of Project Hail Mary there is not so much a story about science or evolution or even survival, but one of friendship. Without venturing too much into spoiler territory, I’ll simply say that the emotional weight of the story is found in the unexpected relationship that slowly blossoms between Grace and Rocky, a benevolent alien whom Grace befriends near the beginning of his journey.
Like Grace, Rocky is also on a mission from his home-world to determine why their own star is dying, hoping to find answers in the same unaffected solar system that the Hail Mary was sent to. In no time, a sweet friendship evolves as the pair work to solve the mystery together, drawing on the expertise and experiences from not only two completely different lives, but two utterly different worlds—“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10). Over the course of the story, this Biblical truth is borne out time and time again as Grace and Rocky put their lives on the line for one another—and by extension, for those back home as well.
John Beeson, in his brief reflection on Project Hail Mary, encapsulates this point well when he emphasizes the friendship between Grace and Rocky as the bedrock of the film’s narrative:
“One of the most compelling aspects of [Project Hail Mary] is how friendship transforms Grace. When we first meet him, he isn’t the stereotypical hero. He’s not naturally courageous. He’s not particularly self-sacrificial. In fact, part of his backstory reveals that when confronted with a moment requiring bravery, he failed. That’s what makes his eventual heroism so powerful. Grace becomes courageous not because he suddenly discovers some hidden reservoir of bravery, but because friendship draws it out of him.”
A Story Told With a Christian Accent
Andy Weir gets friendship absolutely right—and it’s not because of anything remotely to do with the naturalism or evolution espoused by many characters throughout the novel. Indeed, Project Hail Mary speaks with a distinctly Christian accent on the topics of love and friendship in ways that evolutionary biology can only lisp and blabber about incomprehensibly. In a purely naturalistic worldview, no such things as love, grace, courage, or friendship exist. These are owing to, and only possible within, a Christian worldview. Clumps of cells cannot befriend one another.
And yet, despite the naturalistic worldview held by many characters within the story, love, grace, courage, and friendship nonetheless permeate every story thread of Project Hail Mary. It would seem that Weir’s characters aren’t nearly as consistent with their worldviews as they ought to be, just as many scientists, academics, and self-proclaimed ‘intellectuals’ in our world fail to live out the nihilistic conclusions of their own belief systems.
Stories like Project Hail Mary impact us at a deep level and stir our innermost affections because they are seeking to unfold to us that which is good, true, and beautiful—a phrase I’ve come to appreciate a lot these days. Because humans are made in the image of the One true God, we make and relate to stories that are reflective of this ultimate reality. We strive to tell good stories and—to borrow a phrase from Rocky—“Amaze, amaze, amaze” one another because we stand amazed with the very best story of them all: Christ Himself.
Goodness and truth and beauty have infinitely more authority than mere authorial intent. This is why we as Christians can enjoy those books and movies not even penned by believers, as is the case with Project Hail Mary, because these tales are nonetheless communicating something genuinely beautiful to us. Whether it’s the warm characters and emotional plot points of the novel, or the stirring soundtrack of the film, coupled with its mesmerizing cinematography, there is a peculiar kind of artistic beauty present throughout the story that can only be possible because of who God is and because of the many wonderful truths that make up His universe.
Never underestimate art’s ability to become a vehicle for the good, the true, and the beautiful—for many a Gospel truths have been communicated therein, however silently or imperceptibly. As C.S. Lewis said, God has laid traps for the unbeliever all throughout the created world, ensnaring them with His love and beauty no matter where they might find themselves. Indeed, for a piece of Christian art to be truly beautiful, it need not have Christians in it or even name the name of Christ. Filling it with those good things Christ has made is often testimony enough of His beauty. As Martin Luther once said,
“The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”
If art of any kind is well-crafted, having been executed with grace and precision, all the while seeking to communicate something true well beyond itself, then there will be some good to be found in it. This is why art, particularly Christian art, is of such importance—be it poetry, novels, paintings, or film. Truth has a way of prevailing in even the unlikeliest of places; such as in the sweet relationship between a formerly cowardly scientist and his unlikely friend, a rocky alien named Rocky. Their sweet friendship, though fictional, points us towards the very best of human friendships, which are in and of themselves but fleeting glimpses of our best and dearest Friend who loved us and gave Himself for us.
Floating masses of atoms and star-dust simply don’t become friends or sacrifice for one another, let alone give their lives for millions of others whom they’ve never met—this is antithetical to all the core tenets of evolutionary biology. Such love, however, is at the beating heart of the Gospel. Evolution says that life depends on the “Survival of the fittest”—in stark opposition, the Gospel says that life, life everlasting, depends on the Fittest giving His life for the survival and salvation of those who are weakest: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
For these reasons, and many more, I cannot recommend Project Hail Mary—the novel and the film—highly enough. It accomplishes with seeming ease what only the very best kind of art can do—that is, to “Amaze, amaze, amaze!”
Images captured by cinematographer Greig Fraser, Project Hail Mary, distributed by Amazon MGM Studios
Would you enjoy reading more of my work? Subscribe by simply scrolling to the bottom of this page and entering your email. All future articles, essays, and short stories will be sent directly to the address provided. However, be sure to check your ‘Junk’ or ‘Spam’ folder and mark me as a trusted contact should my posts fail to appear in your email.
If you’ve been encouraged by my writing, I’d be humbled if you shared my work with others who may also benefit from reading. And, if you’re looking for a way to support my work financially, you can do so via my Patreon Page.