I have read the book. I have seen the movie. I love both. Despite this, I find the movie a more appealing piece of art.

Why?

It comes down to emotion.

Andy Weir does a phenomenal job of writing compelling hard sci-fi adventure stories. The stories are dramatic, exciting. They’re full of neat ideas, and full of smart people doing tricky things. They’re extremely gratifying. They’re nerdy competence porn.

His protagonists are placed in truly terrifying situations—situations that would kill most people, let alone see them able to complete a difficult and technically challenging task or several. These protagonists, our heroes, are stressed and fearful and go through all kinds of emotional struggles. But for me… all those emotional struggles feel a little distant in Weir’s text.

At least, that’s true of Project Hail Mary (the book). There are multiple reasons for that.

But where those emotions felt distant to me in the text, they felt immediately present in the movie. I cried. I laughed. I cried more, I laughed more. On the big screen, Project Hail Mary was cathartic. I loved it.

Yes, they changed some details. Yes, I was sad about some of the changes. But I loved others, and the changes they made all felt reasonable. Each change felt like it was in service of meaningfully translating the story from the page to the screen, or best conveying the experience at the story’s heart.

From my perspective as a writer and storyteller, seeing this book be adapted so well also felt like watching nerdy competence porn.

I don’t know what the movie is like for people who haven’t read the book. If you haven’t read the book and watched the movie, I recommend both. The book offers significantly more science, the movie offers a more emotive connection to the main character. You probably don’t need to read the book first, but it might be more fun that way.

It’s probably fun regardless.

That’s all for now. It’s late and I must rest.