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  Project Hail Mary Bridges the Gap

  Posted by James Milley on April 5, 2026 at 7:35 pm

  I just watched the movie Project Hail Mary. It cost 250M to create. It has made 300M as of this last Friday. Money is still rolling in. So far, it’s the highest grossing movie of 2026.

  And I hope you will go see it. Not so it can make more money. Ha Ha.

  I would propose to you that Project Hail Mary uses a number of Bridging skills and techniques to share the Christian worldview with the whole world.

  It did not, in my theater experience, claim to be a Christian movie. The movie did not have a little fish sign on the bottom right of the screen. The movie did not explicitly talk about Jesus in the dialogue. There was one scene in which our hero asks the Commanding General about her belief in God. She says something with an uncommitted tone. He says a few words about his beliefs with a wondering tone. But nothing specific. Just raising the question and providing some broad answers that represent the answers of many millions of people across the many American sub-cultures.

  And yet, the movie asserted and portrayed favorably several “truths” about reality

  1. Being wiling to die for others, especially for a friend, was of the greatest value. It brought up in my mind, “No greater love has a man that he lay down his life for a friend.”

  2. Bravery is what the main character discovered within himself. While not being able to chose to be brave, in the heat of the crisis, he chose bravely. He acted brave. He became brave. And that was a good thing. He was brave when he chose to give up his life for a friend.

  He did not play the victim. He was not fixed on taking down an evil enemy capitalist dictator. He did not justify violence against sentient alien beings to protect the earth.

  3. The good guy is flawed. He struggles. He lacks confidence. He is fully human. He represents all of us. He is NOT a superhero here to “save the day.” Not a deviant that has special powers. He sees himself as educated, smart, curious, and creative. But he feels average. In life, he has experienced being misunderstood, unfairly judged, and excluded from the “in group.” He feels “not good enough.” He feels afraid. And he needs help. He calls out for help. Yes, he represents all of us.

  4. We all need salvation

  There was not one group of humans who had power and were bad oppressors. There was only one group–flawed humans struggling to survive. This movie was not Avatar, where humankind leadership, as the evil
  oppressors, destroy another sentient alien race and seek to destroy a
  living ecosystem and indeed an entire world for energy and profits. It
  was not a remake of The Wizard of Oz, with the wizard, skin white,
  transmorphed into an evil oppressor and the wicked witch, skin green,
  the hero liberator.

  Our Hail Mary hero chose to die not just for his own people but for all the sentient
  beings in the universe. The stranger, the other, the alien can be
  included and be a friend, and become part of our joint story of
  redemption, for all of us.

  5 & 6. (Spoiler Alert: Stop Reading Here If You Want to Watch the Movie and Enjoy the Ending.) After he chooses to die, he is instead gifted with a new life on an alien planet,
  far far away, where the alien has prepared a place for him, with
  everything he needs for a meaningful life, including a way to influence
  the universe by teaching the next generation of aliens about the universe. He has purpose. There is an ending that we perhaps did not expect but it is entirely good, even better than we imagined. And his purpose is fulfilled in a much larger way than he ever imagined.

  So, to summarize my proposal for 6 ideas that are in the worldview of this movie:

  1. It is good to Give up your life for others

  2. It is good to Live bravely in the face of suffering and hardship

  3. It is good to ask for help– collaborate with others and take risks for good.

  4. It is good to find your purpose, because you have one, and the universe will help you fulfill your purpose.

  5. We are all in the same difficult situation and in need of salvation.

  6. The outsider who is different can be welcomed.

  While these may seem fairly basic to most of us, we need to realize that the cultures and worldviews with which we compete include ideas that are very different in their assumptions and assertions.

  FOR DISCUSSION: (pick 1 or 2 to answer)

  1. What other core worldview positions do you see in the movie?

  2. What are the different worldview positions that compete with the above ideas?

  3. What worldview assumptions are portrayed in scripture? In what way? Is there a dissenting voice in scripture? Can all worldviews be found in scripture?

  4. Would you take your children to see this movie? Why or why not?

  5. Picturing this movie being shown in most every major culture around the world, what do you anticipate will be the impact of the movie? (By the way, the international receipts exceed the domestic receipts.)

  6 What do you see to be the points of connection between the movie and the methodology that we affirm in BridgesUS?

  Just pick one of the 6 above and let us know your thoughts.

  • This discussion was modified 8 hours, 15 minutes ago by  James Milley.

  James Milley replied 8 hours, 21 minutes ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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