‘Project Hail Mary’ — a book/movie masterpiece

This month I tackled another book-to-screen adaptation, “Project Hail Mary,” by Andy Weir. I was told by numerous people that this was a book I should listen to, not read, and they were right.

The narration by Ray Porter is stellar, earning him several awards. The production also brings life to the book’s supporting character, Rocky.

I have had this book on my list for so long and the release of the movie gave me the opportunity to finally tackle the read. I was slightly nervous because sci-fi and outer space are usually not my vibe, but I trusted the recommendations.

I also surprised myself with my best read of last year being “Atmosphere,” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Oh my gosh, am I becoming an outer space person? I don’t have time to ponder that change in identity.

From the beginning, I was hooked. By the middle, I was feral for this book. I was listening to it every second I had free. I even put in headphones to keep listening while I put my daughter to bed.

When I got done, I had to tell everyone. That’s how you know it’s a good book. I’m currently forcing our reporters Erin and Nick to read it, but they are both required to listen to the audio — boss’s orders.

This past weekend, we went to my parent’s house in Wisconsin. Let’s be real, they want to see their granddaughter more than they want to see my husband and me. I get it, she’s pretty great!

I pitched the idea of them watching her Saturday evening so Patrick and I could go to see “Project Hail Mary” in theaters. They went for it, and I broke the news to Patrick that he would be going to see a movie I wanted to see. He’s used to it. On his 30th birthday, we went to go see “Wicked” because I wanted to see it.

He had relatively low expectations based on my explanation of the movie’s set up, which is fair. What makes it stand out is the characters and their interactions, something I wasn’t going to spoil.

Here’s the set up — a particle in space is draining energy from the sun. Left unchecked, Earth would spiral into an ice age, killing humans, animals, plants and more. They estimate half of the earth’s population will be dead in the next few decades.

The story begins with a man waking up in outer space with no idea who he is or how he got there. As the amnesia fades, the reader (or watcher) begins to experience flashbacks as he remembers what he’s doing there.

Project Hail Mary is a last-ditch effort to save Earth. Scientists discovered the particle (astrophage) has affected many stars, not just the sun. But one star, Tau Ceti, is unaffected by astrophage. They created a spaceship designed to take three people to Tau Ceti to figure out how it is unaffected by astrophage, seeing if they can use this to save the sun.

Okay, that’s the basic premise. If you’ve seen the trailers, you know that while in space, Dr. Grace meets an extraterrestrial being — Rocky. Rocky is from the planet Erid, also seeking to uncover the secrets of Tau Ceti.

Watching Rocky and Grace learn how to communicate, share scientific discoveries and become friends is what makes “Project Hail Mary” stand apart. We laughed so hard at the two of them bickering like brothers.

Ryan Gosling stars as Dr. Grace and is absolutely phenomenal. I think most people my age think of Gosling forever as Noah Calhoun from “The Notebook,” but now he will forever be Grace to me.

The movie does something so fantastic in embracing silence. Outer space is essentially a vacuum, meaning sound waves cannot travel. In the big moments of the movie, the sound cuts out, somehow the best way to portray the gravity of the situation (space pun).

But speaking of music, the project had three music editors, one being Jeanette Surga. When I was home, my dad told me about Surga — a woman from my small hometown of Darlington, Wisconsin. “She lived just over there,” he said, pointing out the living room window.

This isn’t Surga’s first rodeo. She’s also known for work on “Transformers: The Last Knight,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.”

So obviously the movie was amazing. Both of our expectations were exceeded, and I can happily say it’s an extremely faithful adaptation. The few things they did add, like the character Carl, were wonderful additions to help navigate the fact that you can’t hear Grace’s thoughts in the movie the way you can on page.

I don’t know anything about movies except what I read in Nick’s columns, but I’ve already decided this is my pick for best movie of the year.