I'd love to know if you've seen Project Hail Mary and what you thought of this movie. It was an incredible success, far exceeding everyone's expectations, I think, and I'm really happy about that because I loved it so much. Maybe all it really takes to bring people back to theaters is a good movie.
Yes! Great movie! One of the many things I like about PHM is it does
"subverting expectations" correctly, like a magician whipping away the
table cloth, leaving all the table's contents perfectly balanced. But
hack writers nowadays just yank the rug out from under you. The twist in the third act on why Grace ended up on the mission in the first place
was both surprising, and also made perfect sense because the reveal
held up in retrospect. Until then, Grace's character was a little
lacking, but then the reveal retroactively added depth to both Grace
and the plot. Grace's journey needed to be told this way because it
made his decision to save Rocky much more meaningful, Grace found
somebody to be brave for. Both Rocky and Grace save each other by
choosing to risk it all for eachother. Both are heros you can't help
but root for.
The movie has a lot of sincere heart. Like when Grace tells Rocky
that he's okay dying for the mission due to not having enough fuel to
go home, he doesn't immediately follow up with a sarcastic or
dismissive quip, but rather by a genuine expression of relief and
thankfulness when Rocky offers fuel. It's completely relatable in the
moment, and is reinforced when we learn later how he ended up on the
ship in the final flashback scene. Then all of that is reinforced
when Grace makes the decision to sacrifice himself by not returning
home in order to save Rocky, a decision of his own volition. The
emotion of the film is allowed to stand on its own and trusted the
audience to understand what was happening without having to describe every little thing.
Eva Stratt is a great character who has to sacrifice her humanity in order to save humanity. It's difficult not to notice that her name is the play on Eve, the mother of humanity and rational thought. The "Hail Mary full of Grace" thing is already interesting from a Catholic theological perspective, but the Eve/Mary dichotomy adds to it. Eva mentions she believes in God and there's an idea of innocence lost in her. In the Bible, God promises Eve that the seed of a woman (Mary) will crush the head of the serpent. In the movie, Eva places her trust in "Project Hail Mary." In Revelations, Mary protects the stars from the dragon/devil. In PHM, the stars are dying and Eva's actions to put Grace on the Mary ship led to not just saving one star, but two, and likely the rest of the stars in the galaxy.
Lastly, just imagine the Eridians' pov. The arrival of Grace who saved their world gave the Eridians probably the most inspirational gift you could ever ask for. In one moment, an entire species found out they were in fact not alone in the universe. On top of that, they learned aliens were a friendly and curious species, just like them. And that one of them was willing to sacrifice himself for them. Grace turned the cold and unforgiving cosmic dark into a sea of potential, a sea of hope.
