Work Text:
The Trojan Horse of Scifi: Project Hail Mary
A Review of the Film by Professor Han Sooyoung
With Editorial Interference Notes by Yoo Joonghyuk
———————————————————————————
Abstract
This review examines the celebrated film adaptation of Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary (2026) as a kind of Trojan horse for its ability to reel in the masses into becoming invested and passionate towards an otherwise lofty scifi genre film. Instead of nitpicking the details that were omitted from the source, this review focuses on adaptation theory, scientific realism, audience expertise, and the ethics of salvation. Particular attention is given to the characterisation of Ryland Grace, the adaptation's treatment of Eva Stratt, and the thresholds at which specialised audiences suspend disbelief for the sake of enjoying entertainment media.
Additional commentary was provided by both willing and unwilling collaborators, those of which included Yoo Joonghyuk, Lee Seolhwa, Lee Gilyoung, and Shin Yoosung.
Kim Dokja’s commentary was banned in consideration of the article’s word count, and his recovering health.
———————————————————————————
[Editor's Note: The author believed it best to avoid the endless ramblings of a novel purist in order to provide a more neutral presenting argument despite later parts of the article devolving into personal statements.]
— Yoo Joonghyuk (YJH)
———————————————————————————
I considered deleting this note.
Then I remembered that he can—and has on multiple occassions—edited my word documents while I'm asleep. It should also be noted that Kim Dokja has attempted to do the same, but he's just not as adept in the delicate aspects of writing as he is in reading.
When Kim Dokja woke up from his coma after The End, everyone treated him like a miracle, like a god risen from the grave. Which was hysterical to me, because Kim Dokja had always been a walking catastrophe pretending to be a miracle. His countless monikers in the name of being a Demon should be proof enough.
———————————————————————————
[Editor's Note: Counting or not counting the modifier: Person who is Loved by an Archangel?]
— YJH
———————————————————————————
Ahem.
The first movie we watched together after his discharge was Project Hail Mary. Naturally, it became a company outing. And as all Kimcom outings were since the apocalyptic scenarios, it quickly became a mess.
Not because the film was bad. Far from it, in fact. Rather it was because Kim Dokja cried all throughout the duration of the film. And because Yoo Joonghyuk pretended not to notice. And because I spent the entire movie wondering whether adaptation itself was an act of betrayal or another flimsy, humane act of self preservation in the face of the daunting world we live in.
Ironic considering how I had written and rewritten and plagiarised and gave permission for others across lifelines to write, rewrite, and plagiarise my own story.
Our story.
———————————————————————————
On the Concept of a Perfect Adaptation
There is a tedious barrage of questions that follows every adaptation:
Was it faithful?
Did it do the original work justice?
Are fans of the source material satisfied?
These questions on their own are usually useless.
A novel and a film are entirely different mediums. It is less a case of comparing apples with oranges and more a case of comparing vertebrae and invertebrates. Expecting identical portrayals is like expecting a constellation and its nebula to occupy the same space. One would undoubtedly attempt to consume the other.
Trust me, I should know.
The most successful adaptations understand this concept of not taking a source and forcing a one-to-one adaptation. By choosing to reframe the story's context in favour of filmography, it creates an alternate version to serve the same purpose and convey the same core message. I know of a faithful novel purist who would argue vehemently against this, but it is fact that cinematography can condense a long winding, exposition-dumping page into a short film scene.
The film version of Project Hail Mary succeeds whenever it remembers this principle. Many people have dubbed it as the “Ryan Gosling space movie,” and rightfully so. It is a story about two intelligent creatures choosing to save each other, and still being able to solve their respective planet’s crisis.
But overall, it really is just about Ryan Gosling making cringe, nerdy jokes at anyone, alien species notwithstanding.
Where the book leaned more into scientific problem solving and enquiring of universal possibilities, the movie was about the simple joy in companionship. It was about a coward thrust into space, who found a reason to keep living, and to be brave.
———————————————————————————
[Editor's Note: The original draft said "love." The author spent twenty minutes arguing that companionship and love are distinctly different before changing the word herself.]
— YJH
———————————————————————————
Oh, shut up.
Cinematic Probability Storms
Every audience possesses a different breaking point where fiction stops feeling convincing and we are abruptly taken out of the immersion.
"Why was the centrifuge unbalanced? Isn't that basic lab practice?" Lee Seolhwa asked, complaining as she exited the theatre. It was almost comical, seeing such an otherwise prim, proper and composed lady behave that way.
Still, her frustration fascinated me. It revealed that, contrary to popular belief, audiences are remarkably tolerant of impossible science. It is something as simple as carelessness that disrupts the story's immersion.
Astrophage consuming the sun? Acceptable. Alien species communicating through musical frequencies? Fine. Basic laboratory protocol violated by a doctorate molecular biologist and science teacher? Suddenly the illusion is shattered completely.
Lee Seolhwa's second complaint was even more aggressive. Though it is one I am inclined to agree with.
"Where are the flow boxes? Why was he just pipetting the gooey alien substances out in the open?” she gasped, utterly incredulous.
According to her, Grace handled biological samples with enough contamination risks to trigger collective cardiac arrest among laboratory researchers and even amateur biology students.
Halfway through her rant, that idiot Kim Dokja decided it was a brilliant idea to distract her with a new question.
“Why is it that these scifi films love depicting alien substances as gooey? Honestly Sooyoung, I'm glad we barely had to deal with scenarios involving goo. Haha.”
Despite his probably good intentions in diverting the discussion to ORV, he had unwittingly reignited the fire within Lee Seolhwa as she began talking about the proper handling of those gooey substances.
The explanation lasted twenty minutes, with nobody except me and Sangah surviving.
———————————————————————————
[Editor's Note: I was listening.]
— YJH
———————————————————————————
You? Remind me again who ran off to go grocery shopping?
Anyway, the younger members of our group were less forgiving, as evidenced by Lee Gilyoung and Shin Yoosung spending the train ride home discussing Rocky's rescue sequence.
Specifically:
Why did Rocky rupture his own environmental shell?
How did Grace survive the ammonia leaking into the spaceship?
The children were uncharacteristically upset.
Apparently, saving your best friend is a herculean task—biologically complicated and nigh impossible. By all rights, it should have triggered a huge probability storm.
Yet their complaints revealed the same phenomenon: Every viewer engages with a story carrying their own specialised knowledge, and it in turn causes specific frustrations.
This brings me to my own grievance with the film:
Ryland Grace is dragged from his classroom and forced onto the Hail Mary.
Fine. Governments do strange and unforgivable things all the time. My question is who covered his science classes? And where was the substitute teacher planning?
What about the lesson schedules, emergency instructional materials, attendance documentation?
You cannot simply disappear from a school. Teachers leave lesson plans when they get the flu. This man was leaving Earth's solar system.
Surely someone had the paperwork done?
On that note, I would have liked at least some kind of acknowledgement of Grace's students after the 26 year jump?
———————————————————————————
[Editor's Note: This is your biggest criticism?]
— YJH
———————————————————————————
Unironically, yes. Unlike astrophage, educational administration is real. And students of Ryland Grace would have been proud and inspired by him.
Grace and the Performance of Identity
One of the most predominant criticisms directed at the novel, especially with the film depiction in mind, is that Ryland Grace lacks strong characterisation.
I beg to differ.
His characterisation merely exists in a place many readers overlook: the self-fulfilling prophecy. Grace believes he is brave, therefore he acts brave. It is why both the film and novel chose a non-linear storytelling format. Partly due to giving Grace's amnesia more narrative whump, and partly to elevate the reveal that he was forced onto the suicide mission. Grace spends most of the story acting according to his internal belief that he was brave—even Rocky tells him such—and when the realisation hits, it's far too late to back out.
In that sense, he reminds me of a certain someone.
Kim Dokja once believed he was just a reader. So he acted like one, choosing to maintain his infuriating Fourth Wall as a distant observer, a spectator of the novel's fantastical scenes brought to life. Someone who could sacrifice himself because the main cast of characters were always more important than the expendable readers.
So when those “mere fictional characters” began to retaliate and question his idiotic self-sacrificial, suicidal tendencies, it was too late. The tragedy was that everyone around him tried to prove that his life was worth living and saving. And for a long time, their efforts proved fruitless.
That is, until we harnessed the power of interstellar adaptations of a singular tale. One so beloved, it brought that said reader back to us.
———————————————————————————
[Editor's Note: This is treading into the territory of overly personal details in a professional review.]
— YJH
———————————————————————————
Shush, I could always just add “autoethnography” somewhere in here as justification.
Eva Stratt’s Act of Cruel Necessity
Here is a character not written nor performed to be likeable by the general public. Sure, we grew to empathise with her position through Grace's foggy recollection. Hell, we even had our hearts melted and chuckled softly at the sight of her singing that one popular song by that one popular ex-boyband member.
Stratt was an incomprehensible villain who betrayed the trust of our dear protagonist. She was heartless. It's easy to view her in such an unfavourable light as the viewer, considering how we spend most of our time observing the highs and lows of space exploration alongside Grace. But if we were to pan our cameras over to Earth instead, to witness the sheer scale of what was at stake, perhaps our opinions would have been different.
She reminded me of someone I've had the misfortune of knowing, and still keeping in contact with: Anna Croft. They were the sort of person willing to shoulder intense hatred and backlash if it meant preserving Earth's future.
This realisation greatly irritated both me and Yoo Joonghyuk.
On the flip side of Stratt and Croft’s cruel yet heroic actions, you have a person who would destroy countless worlds, if only to save one soul.
How brilliant, loving, and exasperating. A person so unforgivable and truly rotten to the core.
———————————————————————————
[Editor's Note: She is referring to herself.]
— YJH
———————————————————————————
Thank you for the much needed clarification, genius.
Life Is Reason
The most profound message in Project Hail Mary is perhaps also its simplest one. The main culprit destroying civilisations, dimming the Sun, and ruining planets becomes the very same thing that saves the day.
Astrophage threatens humanity because it consumes unimaginable amounts of energy. Yet that exact property allows it to become the fuel to propel humanity's only hope into space in search of a cure.
And so, the villain becomes the saviour.
Regardless, the takeaway is that Project Hail Mary is a story about humanity's resilience and hope in spite of The End.
Just like Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint. Plus, we also had our own little Grace and Rocky in Yoo Joonghyuk and Biyoo, didn't we?
Project Hail Mary, full of Grace. (and Rocky)
Project Final Ark, full of an infuriating, bastardly nitpicky editor, and a mythical fluffy creature.
———————————————————————————
Final Thoughts
After the movie, while everyone was talking over each other on that crowded subway, I found myself staring at them.
Wasn't it funny that the movie was about saving two planets when all I could think about was how exhausting it had been to save one person?
I'm sure we would have done it again.
———————————————————————————
[Editor's Note: No Comment.]
— YJH
———————————————————————————
Internal Research Materials
Han, S.Y. (unpublished) Research on the Infuriating Acts of Self-sacrifice in the Name of Devotion and the Repeated Refusal of One Kim Dokja to Remain Alive. Personal archive.
Kim et. al (2026) Post-Screening Discussion Notes by Kim Dokja’s Company: Scientific, Biological, Literary and Emotional Complaints Regarding Project Hail Mary. Unpublished group conversation conducted aboard subway train no. 3434 bound for Bulgwang Station.
Lee, S.H. (2026) ‘On the Criminal Oversight and the Absence of Proper Laboratory Practices in Project Hail Mary’. Verbal lecture delivered against the consent of all listening parties.
Lee, G.Y. & Shin, Y.S. (2026) ‘A Critique of Rocky’s Environmental Shell Rupture and Associated Respiratory Impossibilities for Ryland Grace’. Simultaneous argument occurring during transit from theatre to residence.
Yoo, J.H. (2026) ‘Editorial Corrections to Han Sooyoung’s Habit of Turning Literary Criticism into Self-Reflection’. Repeatedly unsolicited, marginal annotations.
———————————————————————————
[Editor's Note: The author seems to enjoy citing her own unpublished work.]
— YJH
———————————————————————————
Of course I cited myself. Do you know how hard it is to save the universe by writing a novel and still meet journal publication deadlines?
———————————————————————————
< Sometime after sneakily reading the review on Han Sooyoung's laptop >
“So, remind me…” Kim Dokja began, not fully knowing how to articulate his thoughts without sounding like a fool. He was seated at the head of the table, flanked by Han Sooyoung and Yoo Joonghyuk.
It was dinner time at the married trio’s cramped apartment, just a few doors down from where the other KimCom members lived. Personal space is still needed, Yoo Sangah reasoned, and we'll all move into that huge house together… once Kim Dokja is fully recovered.
“What is it, spit it out.” Han Sooyoung grumbled, somehow already suspecting that it would be a question aimed at her. Yoo Joonghyuk quietly ate his tofu and seaweed soup. It really was true that a handsome face wouldn't be ruined so long as said person didn't open their foul mouths.
Rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, Kim Dokja continued. “What exactly is the correlation between the Trojan Horse and the movie?”
Han Sooyoung frowned as Yoo Joonghyuk resisted the urge to laugh. He failed, because even the soft exhale of breath he released was caught by her seething glare.
“Don't get me wrong, I do understand what the gist of it is… Project Hail Mary is sort of an entry point to encourage the general public into engaging with deeper storylines, right? But aside from that, it doesn't seem to tie into it so heavily that you would use it as your review title… I guess.”
Kim Dokja tended to ramble when he got excited, or nervous, or annoyed. Usually, it all happened inside his head. Perhaps it was the fact that he had been stuck alone on the train for so long that he had picked up the habit of voicing his inner monologues.
Sighing as she pushed up her glasses, Han Sooyoung turned her full attention to her loyal reader.
“Well, I guess, you have a point. I suppose, it seems like I'm trying to use a fancy title to grab attention. And you would be right in assuming so. Because every good piece of writing should always be presented in the form of deception, right? One way or another, you have to deceive your readers into suspending disbelief, right? To tell them that this is just going to be your typical regressor cultivation and post-apocalyptic story, or that this is just going to be a Ryan Gosling space movie. Because once you've caught them in your grasp, then and only then, will your readers let you string them along. Only then will you be given free reign to convey all the messages and life lessons you want them to internalise. Project Hail Mary is a Trojan Horse in the exact same way Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint is. And how do I know I'm right? Well, you being here with us—watching and reading the same story together—is more than enough to add weight to my statement, don't you think?”