Project Hail Mary (2026)

I watched Project Hail Mary, which I had thoroughly enjoyed reading as a book, after hearing it was released as a movie.

In conclusion, I think it's a masterpiece that successfully adapted the original work into film.
I've seen many movies that tried to visualize original novels, but this seems to be one of the best at expressing the source material.

However, since it had to compress a vast story into a limited runtime, I couldn't shake the feeling that some of the original's characteristic meticulous scientific details and the breathtaking tension from the long problem-solving process were somewhat reduced.

Compared to the original, the most disappointing part was that the protagonist's emotional journey—gradually regaining his memory from a state of knowing nothing—wasn't deeply explored.
But if they had tried to express all of that in a movie like they did in the novel, it surely would have been boring.

It was also fun to compare how my imagination of Rocky and the decoded sounds differed from the director's vision.
The Rocky I imagined was a bit smaller and cuter, and the decoded voice was closer to that of a young child.
But the portrayal in the movie was also very charming in its own way.

Personally, the book, which infinitely stimulated my imagination, was definitely more enjoyable, which is clearly a limitation of the film medium where everything must be depicted visually.
If you enjoyed the movie, I highly recommend reading the original novel, where the details come alive.