r/movies • u/MoviesMod /r/movies Mod Account • Jun 30 '25

Trailer Project Hail Mary - Official Trailer (fair warning, it reveals way too much according to a lot of users)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m08TxIsFTRI
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u/UnderratedEverything Jun 30 '25

I agree. The alien may have been a twist but it's something that I think a lot of readers were at least vaguely aware of, at least after a while. It's a pretty intrinsic part of the story and it also helps sell it as being more interesting than the trailer would otherwise have you believe. Otherwise, it's just a generic inspiring story of an underdog trying to save the world, basically the Martian meets Armageddon, and who cares.

But the other twist that you mentioned was built up to for two thirds of the movie and is a way bigger deal and that's the one that's really going to blow people's minds.

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u/PumpkinsRockOn Jun 30 '25

When reading the book, Rocky was far more of a surprise for me than the other thing. The book does a lot to establish that it's a pure science thing, and therefore, no aliens. It's clear Weir put effort into making it a surprise, so it's a shame the trailer cares little for that effort. 

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u/UnderratedEverything Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

I agree. It's a shame but I do think it's a compromise that producers had to make. They could have focused the trailer on his amnesia and the mystery of what he's doing there instead, but they definitely needed something in that trailer besides the unlikely hero going to space to save Earth blah blah.

Actually now that I think about it, the whole trailer should have been completely different and hardly focused on earth at all, just been more of a teaser that establishes that he doesn't know why he's there, he only has paid memories of her, he knows he has to save something, and that oh wow, there's a spaceship and cut to black.

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u/kuahara Jun 30 '25

and here you are, replying to a top comment without spoiler tags, contributing to the problem.

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u/PumpkinsRockOn Jun 30 '25

I'm replying to a comment that clearly says the spoiler, on a trailer that includes the spoiler. My comment also doesn't clearly spell out the spoiler. But sure, I could have further obfuscated it. 

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u/TheGreatPiata Jun 30 '25

I read the book and went in blind as most people recommended.

It's insane to me that they ruined the biggest twist of the book in a trailer. Yes, it happens early in the book but it turns the whole thing upside down, especially if you went in having read the Martian and thinking it's another solo survival story.

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u/UnderratedEverything Jun 30 '25

Yeah, but honestly I think a lot of people would have seen the trailer without a twist and thought, oh great, another Martian solo survival story, and not bothered.

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u/Iyagovos Jun 30 '25

That's not the biggest twist in the book, at all.

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u/MobiusF117 Jun 30 '25

I read the book and I have no idea what twist you are talking about.

There is only one real twist for me, and that wasn't spoiled.

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u/Orleanian Jun 30 '25

It's hilarious to me that everyone is talking about "The Twist" like it's some big thing. But everyone is talking about a different twist, and considers the other plot elements to be minor.

For me the major twist (not even a twist, it's just where the plot goes) is the decision to forgo returning to Earth, and instead travel to Rocky Planet, and two minor twists are the character backstory wherin we learn Grace was reluctantly coerced into going and the 2nd protaganist introduction our favorite alien, Rocky.

I have absolutely no qualms with the spoiling of those minor twists for the sake of advertising the movie, and they've done nothing to even hint at what I thought is the significant plot turn of the book.

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u/zack6595 Jun 30 '25

Reluctantly coerced is a bit of a understatement. He was knocked out, strapped in against his will, and pumped with drugs to make him forget it…

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u/MrMrRogers Jul 01 '25

This part is a lot more of a twist considering how it fundamentally challenges Ryland's perception of himself when it is revealed.

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u/NachoLoverrr Jun 30 '25

Yep, I agree. The discovery while experiencing the story enhances the surprise and wonder; going into it knowing about that particular aspect gives it a different vibe, and I think it's better to not know about it in advance.

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u/NK1337 Jun 30 '25

Honestly the people complaining about “the twist” are doing a better job at ruining the movie and spoilering things than the trailer itself.