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Movie Review: Hail Mary
Mar. 30th, 2026 08:46 amSuch a large proportion of my online community were raving about this movie so I thought I'd check it out, despite it not being my usual genre. And...well...it was ok? I guess? I was struck by how parallel the overall plot arc was to The Martian: protagonist finds himself the sole remnant of an Earth expedition, is improbably successful at jury-rigging solutions to daunting problems, just barely survives a dire problem of astronautics. Yes, there are any number of differences, especially the first contact plot (which, as a linguist, I have to say also involved improbable success).
It's very much old-school SF, where a lone (male) hero solves insurmountable difficulties through the power of his enormous brain. Despite Weir's evident recent claim that he doesn't do politics in his writing, the "cross-species cooperation to survive" element is solidly political (and should be promoted more often for intra-species cooperation). But it's a solidly traditional theme (see, e.g., Enemy Mine), as is the mechanics of developing an alien language translation program (see, e.g., Arrival).
I did find the late reveal of spoiler spoiler spoiler to be a satisfactory motivation for the protagonist's eventual choice of fate. (Not the self-sacrificing aspect but the later choice.) And in that context, the flashback method of showing his gradual memory recovery was also effective.
So: it was ok, I guess?
It's very much old-school SF, where a lone (male) hero solves insurmountable difficulties through the power of his enormous brain. Despite Weir's evident recent claim that he doesn't do politics in his writing, the "cross-species cooperation to survive" element is solidly political (and should be promoted more often for intra-species cooperation). But it's a solidly traditional theme (see, e.g., Enemy Mine), as is the mechanics of developing an alien language translation program (see, e.g., Arrival).
I did find the late reveal of spoiler spoiler spoiler to be a satisfactory motivation for the protagonist's eventual choice of fate. (Not the self-sacrificing aspect but the later choice.) And in that context, the flashback method of showing his gradual memory recovery was also effective.
So: it was ok, I guess?
