Project Hail Mary Double Review

The Lego Group released set 11389 Project Hail Mary in February, about 6 weeks prior to the release of the movie by the same name.  It is quite normal for Lego to release sets tied to a movie a few weeks prior to its release.  However, it is usually for an established IP like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel, and so on. That is not the case here.  Prior to the movie release, you would have had to read the book by best selling author Andy Weir to have any knowledge of the source material.

The pre-release hype for Project Hail Mary caught my interest for two reasons, I have always enjoyed “movies about space” and of course the Lego set. 

I do not consider myself an avid movie goer,  I definitely do not consider myself a qualified reviewer of movies. If I’m being honest, there are a million Lego reviewers that do a better job then me (Check out fellow Brick Dynasty AFOL, Tadashiroll , for some amazing reviews) . However, I cleared the Project Hail Mary movie and Lego set review idea for today’s blog with the editor (me) and producer (also me) and was given the green light ; )

I saw the movie on opening day with my family and it was incredible. In the “end of the world” genre of movies, my opinion is Project Hail Mary is one of the best I've seen, only behind Armageddon from 1998 starring Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck. Project Hail Mary has nice combination of space nerd science stuff, drama, suspense, emotion, and comedy. For the gentlemen out there, you could easily convince your girlfriend or spouse to see it with you as Ryan Gosling is the star of the show. See, it has a little bit of something for everyone.

The Lego version of the ship, The Hail Mary, is a pretty good representation from what we see in the movie. I believe there are some distinct differences from the ship depicted in the book, but that is quite common coming from Hollywood. Andy Weir assisted with the movie and approved the adaptations that were made. 

11389 earns its 18+ designation with a heavy internal technic makeup, which is necessary for stability in the structure and also for its play feature. Lego did a good job covering most of the technic pieces, similar to how they design many of the car models in the Icons theme. 

The Minifigures

Hey Ryan, welcome to Lego!

Dr Grave (Ryan Gosling) minifig in his red space suit and cool helmet has the potential to be a great collectible in the future. Minifigure collectors may or may not want to display the Hail Mary set but I could see the Lego version of Ryan Gosling doing well in the future.  This is pure speculation on my part ….so as always, do your own research.

The printing on the legs and torso are great! Well done!

Rocky

Not terrible but not great

Not really a minifigure either

Overall, I like the set and will buy it once we start seeing discounts. Beings the set is based on an IP that is unfamiliar to most Lego builders, I do not feel this set will be a huge seller. Obviously the success of this set will be determined on how the movie performs.  At the time of this writing, Project Hail Mary has surpassed $300 million in global box office revenue in just 10 days.  Off to a great start!

Will current Lego builders see the movie and buy this set?  Or will non-Lego fans be so impressed with the movie and then discover 11389 Project Hail Mary and just have to have it?  

Better question is, will you see this movie and will it command you to buy 11389 Project Hail Mary?

Let me know in the comments

Until next time AFOL’s….